Katastrof Blood - Chapter 21: Two Dogs

"Haki!" He who was donning orange sunglasses called. He raised his finger and made sure the dog was fixated on it. He then pointed to his ankle, gripped it with his hand, and took off his shoe. He then pointed to the end of the dock where a pirate snored. The golden retriever, panting as a canine does, trotted over to the pirate resting against the gold painted wooden railing. His beige cloth headwrap drooped over his eyes as he drooled. The dog sniffed his boot and turned back to face the man who sent her there. He had a deviously enthusiastic grin on his face and nodded twice in quick succession.

Haki turned back to the slumbering pirate, gripped his shoe with her teeth and growled as she attempted to remove it. Surprisingly, this did not wake the sleeper. Eventually, the shoe tore and was then easily pulled off. When Haki was on her way back to her sender, she stopped in her tracks at the sight of him gripping his ankle with his hand. Her head tilted to the leftside for a moment as she thought. After watching him for a couple seconds, she returned to the snorer and lowered her nose to his ankle. Once again, she looked back to the man who was still squeezing his ankle. She turned back around to the rested foot and lunged at it, making the man erupt with shrieks of agony as she chomped down.

She finally let go and moved swiftly back to the sunglasses man who was now sporting an obnoxiously hearty laugh. Haki retrieved the shoe on the way back and earned a prideful, although delicate, grab and rub of her head. She nuzzled her furry cranium against the man as he continued to laugh and as the pirate verbally fulfilled his role as a sailor. He seemed to have even created some new swears in his fury.

"Here's your shoe, jackass," the man said as he raised the sunset shades just below his hair. He cackled when he flung the boot at the pirate and left a bright red mark on his forehead.

"The hell was that for, King?!" The pirate shouted as he fought back tears although it was clear in his voice.

"You fell asleep first. I decided to take it upon myself to judge you. Call it a misuse of power if you want, but you should actually perform the contrary; thank me. They told John to prank you first but no one really wants that. I don't know what he was gonna do but I'm sure I wasn't gonna like it. Anyways screw you, keep your damn hands off my shirt."

"What shit?!" Finnigan cried.

"Silence, boy! I'm crushing your hands next time and evicting you from The Golden Households."

"What?! You aren’t making any sense!"

"Silence! We have an hour to get to… Enroh?” King scanned his deck. Billy, where the hell is that!" Blassadahl shouted.

"Southeast. And it's actually just ten minutes away. It’s not the first time we’ve been there."

"Perfect! Billy, you'll be the team leader for mining the Bulwarkite."

"My name isn't Billy."

"Doesn't matter, both are horrendous names."

"Okay mister 'Bulwarkite," he mumbled.

"You're talking mightily for someone who suckles on my teat. I pulled you out of the shit heap, it's about time you start making the rest of your own path, damn bum. You can start by showing me if you can lead a group of drunken, cow shit-smellin' dumbasses. Or give up and throw yourself into the ocean, I give no damns."

"Woah… That's odd to hear from you, Captain Blassadahl. Usually you'd just call me a fuck up and send me on my way… yet you're expressing a bit of empathy… are you alright?"

Blassadahl cringed. "Shut up, Bailey. "I gave you an order now ready to work, Belaney.”

"Where are you even getting these names from?"

"Doesn't matter. But what does matter is that our operation might get a bit choppy. Seems like a heavy rain back there, might be a storm coming so we need to move our asses quickly. Prepare to take those things with you and show them how to do how we do."

He sighed. "Alright, Cap. I'll see what I can do."

As the golden ship pulled ashore, the well-rounded deck dweller(reluctantly)summoned the others. The lot of raggedy pirates crawled themselves from the ship's shadows; corners and the underdeck. As they gathered, Blassadahl took to the peak of the deck near the steering wheel and observed from above.

"Benjamin here. My name isn't hard to remember," he sneered as his eyes cut to the captain above. We have a job to do today. I believe this is your first mission - good news! Do this right and you'll be on good terms with the Cap. It'll help you get on good terms with him seeing how much of a pain in the a- uh… how he isn't easily swayed."

"So what are we doing?" one asked.

"There's a neat little material found on only three known islands under his control. Blassadahl's, I mean. He loves this liquid-stone-like thing because of how durable it is when hardened. Matter of fact, much of the architecture has been built out of it back at his land. But digging up the uh— raw Bulwarkite can be tricky because of its sheer density if it is not harvested correctly. So we've tested out neat ways to bring it up through a process we call 'Scrape and Fill'."

"Are you gonna explain what that means?" Interjected black-toothed Hall.

"Y...yeah. If you had waited an extra tenth of a second, John. You’ve been here longer than they have I’m sure you know. As I was saying, Scrape and Fill, or Scraping and Filling, is the process of finding the underground source of Bulwarkite, which is usually identified by small seepage coming beneath the dirt. Fortunately, we as humans are significantly less dense than the semi-liquid, in other words raw, Bulwarkite so we can at least tread on it if careful. Which is what we must do to remove the dirt sitting on it with a simple, yet lengthy, metal instrument. We call it a scraper - pretty self-explanatory. It requires two people - one on each end. Together they will pull it and mostly dirt will be removed since it is not heavy enough to sink into the Bulwarkite. Smaller, single-person scrapers are easier to use, typically, but less efficient.

After scraping away the dirt on top, we fill the bed of the raw Bulwarkite by depositing a bunch of grainy material of higher density into the semi-liquid Bulwarkite. Or best of all having a Wind wizard who can just fill the bottom with air and rise it to the top but if I’m not mistaken none of you have magic. Anyways, this will eventually result in the rise of the raw resource as the 'fillers' settle and take space from the bottom. You all still, uh, following along?"

"Are you done talking about it so we can get to work?" Spat another.

Benjamin smirked. "We aren't ready, but yeah go retrieve it if you want, ma'am. Anyone else who feels prepared and wants to join… uh—Klara and Hall, I believe, is free to do so as those of us who feel inexperienced can wait and observe."

Hall and Klara tread into the small island of no more than a few hundred feet. Recalling Benjamin's instruction(frankly it was easy to identify)they found the gray bubble-like liquids seeping from the dirt. The pair utilized their hands to scrape the top of the dirt, earning uncertain gazes from the other newbies, shameful shakes of the head from Benjamin and a face palm from Blassadahl. They continued their shenanigans before a rage from the ship froze them.

"Get your asses back over here!" Blassadahl roared, "I'm going to scoop your damn guts out your ass with the bark of a palm tree if you don't cease all that degrading of my money you damn duo o' dumbasses!"

They shuffled back to the group with their heads seeking shelter between their shoulders. Benjamin smirked at their faces and turned back to the full group when the two unrightfully bold ones completed the reformation. "As I previously informed, we use scrapers to separate the dirt from the Bulwarkite. Most of you will be using the single person scrapers since this is a smaller operation so we're only using a single two-person scraper. Simply push it down into the grayish areas at one end, and pull it to the opposite. King will be observing and, ahem, perhaps silently scrutinizing all of your work. Don't mess up too badly."

Wielding the scrapers in hand, the trainees got to sweating as King's overseer became increasingly heavy. Fortunately, the winter months were around so the workers did not have to endure a heated beating from the near-Sun. Instead, their gradually increasing heart rates began to provide them furnaced blood and at the cost of gained exhaustion. Blassadahl gestured a shameful shake of the head when one cut themself and fell face first into the freshly exposed Bulwarkite. Haki brushed up against King's leg, melting the man into a gooey mess of affection.

"Daddy has idiots to watch over right now, Haki," he sweetly crooned, "How about I get Benjamin to take you for a walk around this place?"

Blassadahl scanned the island from his mighty ship until he found the man. "Barney!" He screamed with a mischievous grin of petty accomplishment on his face. Benjamin groaned and moved to the old wooden board placed on the side of the ship for boarding. "What?" He responded.

"Boris, I need you to take my dog out for a walk. It seems these people are too far stupid be handled by just you. I'll take care of the rest. Don't let her eat anything out here or I'm killing your ass right here."

"Okay… thank you for the warning, King Bastard…"

"Run that back one more time?"

"I said yes sir, I will make sure she doesn't even as much sniff a bush!" Benjamin announced with a salute.

Blassadahl cringed again. "Get the hell going…" he ordered, sending Haki down the board to Ben. Although the island was pretty petite, there was still a strip of a dense compact of palm trees and bush on its far-northwestern side. Contrary to his expectations, Haki behaved rather nicely with Benjamin. Still, he couldn't bring himself to smile with the canine. He was angry at something. Angry at something that he knew wasn't near, but the only thing with him was the dog.

But Haki, seeming to be in her own joyful world, eventually caused Benjamin to crack a small grin of teeth. Seeing as there wasn't much island to traverse, he rested himself on a rock for a moment to view the shimmering ocean as a small set of trees provided some shade. Despite the serenity, Haki's focus was faced left like a magnet tracking a large metal ore as if uneased. Benjamin rubbed his tired eyes and jested, "Find a bird that you're trying to gore?"

Haki kept her vision to the left, which only had some trees when Benjamin took a peek. Without warning, Haki galloped to the target and began barking at the anomaly only she was aware of. Ben, despite his legs wishing to remain rested, followed her but moved silently into the compact foliage and peeked through bush and bark. And that’s when he alas caught on. Haki growled and barked at two navy soldiers with guns at their side. They were on the shore pushing a rowboat back into the water. The barking and growling startled the shorter guy, triggering him to draw one of his weapons. A breath of relief settled his nerves and slowed his heart.

"You think it's his?" He said, returning the flintlock back to its holster.

"Well, yeah. Who else's? His ship is right there."

"Haki... Goldilocks? A golden retriever. And his magic is… You're kidding, right?"

"Blassadahl is just that self-absorbed. But we confirmed his location for Admiral Jawn, so let's get going."

"What about the dog?" Kyle asked.

"What about the dog?" George retorted.

"I'm taking the dog. King's going down anyways. It will need a new home, no?"

George sighed one irritation. "That’s stupid. We aren’t taking the dog."

“Why not? What if the dog goes back to him angry and he knows what’s up?”

“Kyle, we’re not taking the damn dog. Leave it be.”

Kyle stroked Haki's head attempting to soothe her incessant growling, only to yelp as he earned a bloody hand from her aggressive jaws. "Son of a bitch!"

"Do you still want to keep it?" George mocked, "You got what you deserved."

"See, I told you! She’s already aggressive and is loyal to him! If we don’t take her, she’ll bark and growl until he realizes something’s up! It's not her fault… she just trusts a bad man, she'll get over it eventually."

“Fine, you know what, take the damn thing. I have nothing to do with this and you’re the one going to watch it as we sail back. If you get court martialed that’s all on you.”

With less than smooth sailing, the two navy soldiers managed to settle the dog in - somewhat. Benjamin's sweat could be mistaken for that of a waterfall as his mind screamed at him for not stopping them, but his legs froze in fear at the risk of being shot.

Nothing they do can compare to what Blassadahl will do to you… but either way is death. Which death would be worse? At least Blassadahl would make sure I die… a bullet could just result in me suffering. And it's not like King would care if I were to get shot either. Why did I join this shit? I'll get the dog back, screw it! They're just right ther-

After his contemplation, the row boat was long gone. It had nearly reached the, frankly misplaced, dense fog in the distance. Ben's right leg jittered like the tail of a rattlesnake and his chest filled with nervous pain. His teeth gritted nearly to the brink of blood and he entered a state of hyperventilation as the thoughts of his doom once again ran over his mind before filling his throat like a delta on the sand spilling into the sea. When it all went quiet and he sat in dismay, he jumped in fright when a palm touched his shoulder. It was one of the trainees, John, eyeing him nonchalantly.

John waved to him. “Aye, Mr. Instructor, we collected what we needed for today. The Yellow Guy said we can get going now. Or, in his words, ‘Tell him to bring his dirty, gangrened ass back here!’ He wanted me to relay it to you, verbatim.”

Benjamin just stared, barely even breathing.

“That wasn’t all,” John continued, “He also said that you ‘can feed off of the naked palm trees’ all you want as long as you bring his dog back first. I’ll catch you at the ship– oh here comes now! Clearly you’re in some sort of a pickle. Have fun with that.”

Benjamin collapsed to the ground, but stopped himself from falling face flat on the ground with the support of a single arm. The crunching of sand grew distant. Then, the crunching grew nearer again. Roughly, Ben’s shoulder was gripped and he was pulled up by the sleeve of his worn shirt by a bruised knuckle.

“Are you chomping on sand?” The person gulped down something and their throat raspy, but a belch seemed to clear its throat, bringing it back to a familiar voice. “If this is a ploy to get an increased wage, it’s not happening. Matter of fact, keep doing it. It’s funny as shit. Maybe then I’ll forgive you for making me walk all the way over here.”

Ben’s skin shrunk in on itself and he remained silent like a child that knew it committed an act of misconduct. Although he knew it was a futile effort, he refused to look at the man in hopes it would prevent them from becoming Blassadahl. The man leaned down to him with his hands resting in the pockets of his mighty uniform and his sunset shades over his eyes. His hair seemed to be flopped down lower than usual as if stressed. Although he could not see his eyes, Benjamin knew King was probably giving his typical gaze of shame or pity with his lips sitting dull.

“Nothing to say? No roll of the eyes? No slick shit to spew? Ah, I see… You fucked something up, didn’t you? What was it? What did y—you… Where’s Haki?”

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Benjamin involuntarily attempted to curl in fear, but the grasp on his shirt prevented him from performing the cowardly action. King lifted his shades and scanned the island, not taking too much time seeing how small it was. He turned his sights back down to Benjamin, who was still in his clutch like a leashed animal. King became increasingly louder and aggressive. “Where is Haki, Benjamin?!” His voice quivered, fists clenched.

Hearing his name come from Blassadahl sent Ben into a spiral. A spiral that only went further down into a red hot pit of terror and pain. The grip on his shoulder was released, but then it went to his collar. Blassadahl flung Ben around to a tree and pinned him up against it with his left fist underneath his neck at the collar of his shirt. His throat seemed to have closed its airway in fear and his soul seemed to burn as King’s hell-fierce eyes pierced into its very essence with his unordinary rage. “Where’s Haki, boy?!”

He man’s eyes filled with water as he was deduced to the state of a child. “I-I don’t know! Th-th…”

“You what?! You’re telling… That you do not have Haki?!” Blassadahl roared, nearly ripping the veins out of his face. His hands shone brightly as his knuckles encased themselves with his Gold. They formed a weapon similar to that of brass knuckles, except reinforced in King’s Gold magic.

“They took her! The people in the wavy–er, navy! They had guns, I couldn’t do anything! They would’ve killed me!”

“I don’t fucking care what they had; I don’t fucking care what they would’ve done! You are to put Haki above yourself, dumbass! I thought I made that abundantly clear! Now what you’re going to do is trade yourself in for her! If you have an objection, you may speak up if you believe it’s worth your skull being smashed into meat chunks right god damn here!”

“But then I’ll go to jail! Or they might even execute me for being part of your crew!”

“I don’t care! Now you’re going to drop a rowboat from my ship, and you’re going to sail your happy little ass into that storm until you find them and get my damn dog back! Do you understand my words?!”

Feverishly, Benjamin nodded before King released him, dropping him onto his bottom. He scurried away like a rat, only getting onto his feet when he felt he was a safe distance away. As he fled, the thundering sound of wood bursting grabbed his attention. It happened again when King struck another palm tree with his fist and obliterated it, sending chunks aloft. The raging man turned to tree after tree, shouting a plethora of curses as he went on with his furious destruction. At the ship, Ben followed King’s orders, quickly dropping the little boat into the sea and frantically paddling towards the low, thick clouds in the distance where the two soldiers rowed.

Fuck that guy… am I really going to give myself up to them, for him of all people? He thought, studying his enforcer from afar, who pulled a glass bottle from his pocket and took a swig from it as he stood amongst his destruction. He set the rum bottle beside a shattered tree when it was empty and turned directly to the rowboat Benjamin floated in. If I don’t, he’ll probably kill me. No… he WILL kill me. I think he made that pretty damn clear. And knowing him, if I run he will dedicate his time to finding me just to put me in the dirt himself… God Dammit… Why did I get myself into this shit… And I’m getting to those monstrous looking clouds pretty quickly. Guess this is a sign to just get it over with. Hopefully the navy will just execute me in a much more humane way. Wait, why isn’t the water rough? Why’s it so hot?

Soon, he disappeared into the dense wall of clouds. The heat became a lot more intense, as if he was sitting in a spring. His eyes could not pierce more than a few feet into the clouds. But below his boat, a red glow caught his attention. The water bubbled like it does in a pot upon a flame. Carefully, he peered into the waters below his rowboat and discovered numerous Fire Magic circles beneath the water’s bubbling and steaming surface. He heard barking echoing throughout the unsettling world of mist. What the heck is going o-

A heavy bump jolted him, cutting him off. His rowboat collided into something big. A large thing before him towered high above. An elongated part stretched out the front of it, seeming to be bowsprit. It was way larger than King's frigate, though, fooling Benjamin into believing that he had bumped into a very massive, odd-shaped stone that was able to breach the water from the seabed. The barking became louder as the sounds of aged metal raising something sounded. Distant voices soon began after the metal stopped.

“Where did you get that dog? No… Why did you get that dog?”

A familiar voice began to respond. “Well, uh, we’re about to arrest or kill this guy, right? No reason to bring his dog into it… right?”

“His dog… Who’s, Kyle?”

“It’s… his… King’s. King Blassadahl. Who else’s, Admiral?”

There was a pause amongst the water. Only the sound of the sea clashing against the sides of wood and boiling water could be heard. “I told him it was a stupid idea, Admiral Onfroy…”

“Kyle. Why would you take the dog when the only order I gave was to scout the area for anyone besides him that could prove formidable? Do you not believe he would realize that his damn dog is missing?” The admiral scolded.

“Well… maybe he thinks it ran into the sea and drifted away,” Kyle awkwardly rebuttal.

“Kyle… he named a golden retriever Haki Gold-ilocks. You know, named after the color of his ship. And magic. And ego… I’d have to give him that - it’s unmatched. Do you really believe he would let something he prizes that much run around an island unattended? You may have soiled the entire operation.”

“Wait! Admiral, no one else was in the immediate area! We swear!” Kyle insisted.

“And you two are sure?”

“Yes!” Kyle said.

“No,” said George. “I thought it was a stupid idea to begin with. I even told him that he’s going to have to be the one to explain this to you. I am no part of this. I am not his superior so I have no jurisdiction over him.”

“Yeah, I know, George. You can just say ‘I’m saving my ass from getting court martialed’ next time. You’re fine. As for you, Kyle, you may not be so lucky. If we’re found out because of you, you’re going to be–”

“In the water!” shouted one of the Fire wizard soldiers, “They’re in a rowboat, Admiral Onfroy!”

Boots colliding with wood grew closer and closer to the rowboat, making Ben attempt to lie lower and lower with each step. Soon the stepping ceased, and a blond-haired and bearded face eyed off the massive structure and downward. He just stared at Benjamin dolefully for nearly twelve seconds, contrary to Benjamin staring back with great unease. The man turned back and stared at something with great disappointment - presumably Kyle - and briefly glanced back at Ben before sighing heavily and mumbling. He disappeared for a moment before returning and shouting down, “He knows doesn’t he?”

Mouth agape, Benjamin nodded slowly, refusing to blink or turn away even slightly. The admiral was obviously upset despite his calm demeanor. He continued his interrogation, “What does he know?”

Benjamin stared like a lost child.

“Aye!” Onfroy shouted, “What does he know?”

“I-I-I’m not sure,” said Benjamin, “I only told him that they took her. I don’t know if he construed that word as if there are many of you or a little… either way he just wants me to bring his dog back… i–if you don’t m-mind… please. It’s kind of a life or death situation for me.”

“What do you mean by ‘life or death’? Are you part of his crew?”

“I… guess you could say that… He wants me to turn myself in for his dog. A trade, if you will…”

“He puts the dog above you? What, are you shit at pirating? What’s your name?”

“I’m Ben. And yeah, he puts many things above me… doesn't give much constructive feedback for me to know what I'm doing wrong. Wait a minute, what’s it to you? Aren’t you an admiral? I expected you all to be more professional than this.”

“I’d be worried less about my professionalism and what’s going to happen to you.”

"Death?"

"No? Unless you force me to… not that it seems your noodle arms could really cause damage."

"Imprisonment?"

"Likely not. At least not since you're lucky it's me who's here and not one of the others."

"So… what?"

"Do you want to stay out of jail?"

"It would be preferable…"

The admiral nodded. "Alright I'll tell ya what - help me out with taking this guy down and you'll stay free. And no, I'm not asking you to jump into a potential scrap with him. Pretty sure you'd just get your ass bea-"

"Yeah, I’ll help you. Fuck this guy. What do you need me to do?"

“Well first you can come up here. Come around the side, I’m tired of shouting. We’ll raise you up."

As told, Benjamin paddled to the side of the ship where the boat-raising contraption was fixed. A platform with many small holes beneath it was connected to two bars on each side. It lowered in the water and Ben was beckoned to paddle the rowboat onto it. Upon doing so, it slowly moved up again as the seawater drained beneath it back into the ocean and he was brought aboard as it completed the ascent. Two men were standing next to a large wheel with a metal bar sticking out of it right next to the boat-raising device. They rested against the border of the frigate in fatigue. The deck was rather clean. The soldiers aboard stared at the dragged in pirate almost scoldingly. But one in a bulky uniform, similar to the one Blassadahl wore although a different color scheme, stepped towards him - no doubt the admiral. He donned a huge white overcoat and green at the end of the wrists of the long white sleeves. Underneath the coat a black and green checkered-pattern shirt can be seen and his pants an indigo. Gold tassels are on the shoulders of the white coat, along with many other gold badges and such on the black and green checkered shirt underneath. He tried to keep a nonchalant demeanor with a serious tone, but it was obvious that he did not want much to do with Benjamin. Onfroy scratched his yellow beard. “You said ‘fuck this guy’ right? As in Blassadahl? Are you trying to fool me?”

Benjamin laughed a hearty laugh. It boomed as if he were in the depths of a canyon and his noise bounced off the walls. “Are you kidding? For three years I’ve put up with this guy’s shit and all he does is find more to give me. I’m done with that. And after the events that have transpired over the recent… Kill that guy, do whatever you can to him. He won’t go down easy, I’m sure you are aware.”

“Admiral Onfroy was in the Battle of Vitality,” One sailor barged, “a deadbeat like Blassadahl stands no chance!”

“Please, spare me humility… as for you, Ben– You will simply stay in the back. I’m not going to have you do anything, I was just testing to see where you stood. And I gotta say, your feet are in some pretty golden sand. Not that I trust you one hundred percent, but…”

“...Wh–what?”

Onfroy pointed to stairs leading below the deck. "Stay in there. Things will probably get rough with this guy. Or if you have the balls, you can stay up here and watch. Not that being underdeck is all that much of a ward to begin with…”

“Far east and far west lines!” The admiral shouted and assured the eyes of both ships two rows over were facing him. “Head to the wilderness island by the dropping sailboats - twelve of you total, Magma users only. Admiral Onfroy pointed to an usually tall woman in a red and gold-trimmed uniform. “Pumis," He continued, "Seeing as you can use your magma abilities the most efficiently here you will act as leader. I will be watching over you and actively be providing you all with rejuvenance for the duration of the mission. If the sea starts to boil too much though, I’ll step in."

As ordered, groups of three boarded four sailboats of Magma magic-duelers. They emerged from the mist aboard their floating woodcrafts and immediately felt the weight of King's gaze. They rowed slowly to the island until Blassadahl decided they were close enough and shouted, "All of you are dogs but not one of you is mine. Where's Haki?"

"She is safe on the ships. If you want to keep it that way you'll stand down," one cautioned.

"Well shit, you don't have to toot my horn for me. You're making me seem all arrogant!" King smirked, sniffing once through his left nostril. "But unfortunately for you all I'm not in a playful mood, although I will be unusually patient with you guys' bullshit. Are you bringing me my dogs?"

The magma users were statued with dumbfound, turning to each other briefly. Even the whisper of, "Were there two dogs?" could be heard, despite the waves of the sea.

"Will you come along quietly?" Pumis said with her voice following that of a snake’s rattle.

King stepped over to the broken tree stump where the glass bottle sat and lifted it to his lips. As he went to take a sip from it he became visibly agitated. “Where’d all my shit go? I don’t remember drinking it a-”

“This isn’t a joke, King,” Pumis interjected, failing to conceal her growing agitation. “I will ask one more time: do you surrender now or do you want to go down dirty?”

“Going down dirty with who? Certainly not with you… any of you for that matter. Oh, you mean as in scrapping right now? As in folding the lot of you? That's certainly more… Enticable… what the hell did I just say… I think the drinks' getting to me… aww man it is a bad time for this…"

“King Blassadahl, you are under arrest by the Grand Nav-”

A shard of Gold shot into Pumis’s adomen and immediately spilled blood. “I’m tired of you interrupting me. I'm gonna need you to remember that this is MY island with MY resources. Don’t walk onto MY property giving me lip.” Pumis painfully pulled out the large chunk of magic-borne gold and dropped the now red & yellow piece onto the sailboat's deck. Almost as if triggered by the blood, a titanic green light fell from the heavens! Blassadahl gawked at the thing, quickly realizing its origin. A massive magic symbol filled the sky, shining viridescent light down. It dawned a great green cross at the center of its rotating symbols between the outermost circle. Although she was impressively stoic from King’s previous assault, great relief grew on her face as the huge gaping wound once in her abdomen healed perfectly in a near instant. King grasped his empty bottle tightly. “I knew something was up when a bunch of fodder was thrown at me. I know the Grand Navy isn’t a wise organization, but I know damn well they wouldn’t throw some rats to deal with a lion unless they had some powerful armor. Or in this case, among the greatest of protection: Healing Magic. So that must mean it’s definitely Jawn back there in the steam that’s obviously supposed to be a very shitty camouflage. Fucking embarassing… First you stalk me all day, steal my dogs, and then take me for an oblivious ape… I ought to knock your boot licking asses all t-”

A grand wave of molten rock from the combined efforts of twelve burned through King's breath, rushing the small island and immediately incinerated much of the island's plant life before even making landfall. King shielded himself with his arms and Gold casting circle formed before them, conjuring a wide, dense golden wall. “Interrupting me again, huh?” he cackled excitingly. Still holding the wall up before him, he eyed back for his new recruits, spotting them bawling in terror aboard his ship. “You damn daffodils can at least make yourself useful by getting my ship out of here for god sake!” He shouted, “I expect at least one of you to know as minimally as how to get the bitch moving! I swear if I see even a drop of red-hot-rock near my ship I’m rocking every single one of y’alls shit!”

Like lost chimps, the fresh recruits began running around the ship looking for ropes to raise the anchor and to open the mast. This damn wall isn’t going to hold for long… The magma is destroying it like ice in the sun. I see why they’re all lava users. Damn Jawn made a wise call, but if he thinks choosing my counter matchups is going to make me fall over like his walrus of a mother he’s lying to himself!

King, still holding the ever-weakening wall, stomped his left foot on the sand, opened four circles beneath the sailboats and erupted massive golden spikes from them, piercing each of the ships in half. Several soldiers were badly injured by the piercers and the rough descent to the ground, but the healing circle repaired their lethal wounds like a blessing. The stomp also ejected him away from the wall by summoning a high-velocity pillar of gold beneath him, saving him from the magma. He rolled across the sand before stabilizing and supporting himself on a single arm and his knees. Orange glew before him and his head heated. As he looked up to it, he was met by one of the soldiers’ standing before him with his arm outstretched with a blasting of lava ejecting into his face. Like a cat, King rolled to the side and delivered a powerful blow to the soldier’s brain with a Gold knuckle, shattering it and tearing away much of the man’s face. King began to cackle. “Should’ve stayed in your lane, bud-”

The fighter’s face repaired and he continued his attack, pooling King in a pit of magma up to his knees. “You should’ve surrendered, Blassa. Now you’ll have to suffer,” the magma martialist said simultaneously with King’s cries of “Oh shit! Oh shit!”

King rose himself with a pillar and stared down at the now bare skin of his legs. “Really?! That’s how it’s gonna be, huh?! Your pitiful ass couldn’t turn me into mush with your rock soup, so you burned off half my damn pant legs?! Petty! God damn petty is what you are! Let me get this straight: You mess with my mining, steal my favorite dog, steal my least favorite dog, take me for a fool, and burn the uniform I trophy?! You all are full of shit!”

“Do you think this is some big game hunting?! You robbed that uniform from the admiral you murdered!” the young man yelled. The other soldiers rushed over, casting their magic circles in advance.

“You wouldn’t get it, boy. Us adults do things you kids can’t ever understand in your soft, chest-suckling years. But since you have royally pissed me off, I’ll teach you something you’ll never forget! Hell, your friends can observe this lesson too!”

Once more, King enhanced his knuckles with gold and summoned a casting circle beneath the brave warrior’s feet, trapping his lower body in gold. He assured the attention of the other soldiers was on him and the young’n judging by their frantic advancements. Once he was sure they all were watching, he lunged towards the young soldier, striking straight through his cranium with fist and protruding out the other end of the skull. He then snapped the fingers of his free hand and erected an extra dense dome of gold around him and the dangling body. The body twitched and spasmed for some time. He waited as magma was pelted at the sphere until the body stopped moving, then that is when he pulled back the arm, now laced in the consequential red and pink matter. As he deconstructed the gold from his legs, the young man fell back. Although the dome provided a shield from the outside, the Healing Magic illuminated its darkness and his skull along with his legs broken by the impact repaired fully, but he did not move. King smirked. “Just as I figured.”

The gold dome broke down and the body still lay on the sand before King, who was shaking his head in disappointment. “That’s just embarrassing,” King said, “Mr. Admiral Jawn Onfroy didn’t consider the fact that I once did professional bitch slapping for a living and that punching a kid in the face would be like popping a pimple with a mallet.”

King looked around at the others. “You jackasses seem perplexed. Your little leprechaun magic not working out for you? Since you clearly don’t realize what’s going on, let me explain it to you: Brain take severe damage equals body no work. Put brain together doesn’t make dead brain work again. The brain is a precious organ that controls all of you, yeah? Once it dies, you die. And although your boss’s magic…" he said, catching a glimpse of a trail of black smog rushing aggressively towards him from the steam field, "...is great at healing things, that’s all it does; it can only repair - not revitalize. And just in case some of you are visual learners…”

Blassadahl reached into his pocket and pulled out the empty alcohol bottle. He then launched it at Pumis, gruesomely implanting it straight into her head and dropping her into a spasm on the ground. “I suppose we’re even now; One body for each pant leg. Or we can keep going if you’d like. Do any of you other ten miserable reprobates want to make up for the scratches on my suit? I don't mind shitting on the rest of you too if you'd like! Anyone else want a piece of this before daddy arrives to save your sorry asses?”

The remaining ten seemed to have been rooted in their positions and stood their ground, but their eyes were screaming the very opposite of their demeanor. "Just as I thought," King mocked with a smirked and disappointed shake of the head.

The black smog touched the beach at last and dissipated, revealing the admiral within it. He used his heavy gaze to weigh down King for a brief moment before stepping over to Pumice. Admiral Onfroy removed the bottle from her head and set it aside before observing the gruesome slaughter. After a pause, he raises his hand upward and casted a spell of Healing, repairing the gore although the previous mess of blood and skull matter still remained on the sand. He then lifted Pumice and carried her to the nearest sailboat. Upon returning, he strayed past King who was staring at his wrist quite condescendingly despite lacking a watch. He kneeled to the corpse of the dead man. "I'm sorry, Nyevo," he said Calmly, "You nor Pumis deserved to be murdered because of my miscalculations. I will make sure that your deaths aren't in vain."

He raised Nyevo from the sand and carried him over to a sailboat, the same one he first set Pumice in. "The rest of you head back to the ships and get out of here," Jawn commanded.

"Yea, Admira-"

"Now wait, wait, wait just a mermaid's ass of a minute…," King Blassadahl interjected, "Y'all aren't sailing your kidnapping asses anywhere until you bring my dogs back!"

"Your going down right here, right now you dumbfuck," Jawn growled, "You can shut your dumbass up now if you want or continue to piss me off more before I tear you apart you insane bastard."

"Now, now Mister Admiral J, let's not act as if you weren't the first to impede on my work this fine day by stealing my dog."

"There is certainly an odd situation regarding that… but for you to act as if you are an innocent individual is impertinent. The countless villages and kingdoms you've marauded? The ships you've obliterated for monetary gain or just for shits and giggles? The people you've murdered on the basis of 'Them signing that deal'? You're a monster, Blassadahl. A monster that needs to be put down."

"You may have a point there. Hm, maybe you're right… kidding, not really. Your first mistake was believing the world we live in is one set by order, fairness, and justice. It is an unfair place as it has always been and it always will be. With work we can at least bring the odds a bit in our favor, right Jawn boy? Y'know how we have those with magic and those without? How from birth a lot of us are already set at a disadvantage? Not all bad is it? It's just those without it have to work a bit harder to compete in the big open blue don't they? The thing is very little choose to endure that trial, but if they do, they come out superior to most magic users. It's rare, but it happens and I commend them. But it is more likely that most don't and suffer the consequences, which is the choice they made. Or some of us may be born with a magic ability inferior to others in a way. Do we all just accept that? I sure as hell didn't.

Hell, we can move away from the topic of magic and more to the natural sense… such as the hundreds if not thousands or even millions of sea beasts in the world? Did we just give up on defending against them and accept the role as being seafood? Those who did can't speak anymore. Those who refuse to submit to them are spread between the categories of 'can't speak anymore' and 'thrive.' Just like those who choose to become powerful enough to rise above those who threaten their lives. Some of the strongest still fall, some of them still prosper. Unfortunately for the many I crossed, they decided it wasn't worth getting off their heavy asses to stop me so they had no chance to begin with. Perhaps it was a tactic of theirs? Certainly less people ended up being killed since they stayed out of my way. Maybe being undeservingly lazy is a great survival tactic? Anyways, I'm sure you catch my drift. The world is chaotic and it isn't my job to fix that.

But I have decided to make it my job not to be a sorry son of a bitch relying on others to carry me. Others choose the contrary. Like the many insects who turned to your fetid nest of lost bugs looking for some sort of worth: the Grand Navy… a place that wholly relies on those who didn't want to fight for their own thriving lives. A mass of brittled small minded cockroaches turning to something that provides them with food, clothes and shelter yet those same roaches will still look at themselves in the mirror and pat themselves on the back claiming to have pulled themselves out of the shit hole alone while being cradled in the cold arms of a foster parent with guns and ships telling them 'good job.' I wish I could slap every single one of you personally. Damned piss turtles… How many of you have respect from the sea? I bet not much. Hell, I even have more respect for a hairless sasquatch I met in a bar once! At least he's making his own path. Maybe one out of his own shit, fiber and wood but still…"

“Damn, you said something pretty incoherent yet understandable. Unfortunately it doesn’t identify the reality of the Grand Navy. We give those with nothing a chance in this world, and those who want to do good in a grand way. To believe that people who aren’t striving to be supreme leaders of the world are lazy no-goods is simply overesteem and expresses an extreme disconnect from reality. Not that I mean to imply you of all people express any sort of respect for another person, but I’m sure you get the jist."

“‘Not striving to be supreme leaders of the world’ coming from the armed forces playing the judge and executioners of the seas,” King sighed, “Whatever… wait, did you say that I don’t respect people?! Of course I respect others. Are you fucking insane?! I outta rip your damn tongue out!”

“Of all things, that’s what struck a nerve? Here I was left to believe you cared about nothing. Maybe you’re a bit different than I thought. Not anything good seeing as you will kill those you deemed no threat to you, but maybe something else a bit less shitty is within you.”

“Of course! To imply that I didn’t enjoy every moment with your mother is a disrespect to the damsel! It’s no surprise that sweet spinster sent your ass to die in a war; you never once called her beautiful!” King cackled, “I might have to take her out on the sea after this little scuffle later tonight. Don’t worry though, boyo! We’ll make sure to visit your grave afterwards to talk about all of your faults in life!”

Jawn rolled his eyes. “Fuck this guy…” he mumbled. “The rest of you, head back, I’ll see what I can do here.”

“Yes, begone you toe suckers! Move far on! When I’m done here, if I see even as much a scratch on Haki, all of you are dying! And I’m gonna need the other one to remain safe too! But that’s enough chatter- it’s time for the big boys to talk!”