| abstract | - “You see,” Marshall Rihawk explained, “there are five ‘Jobs’ that have had to be done for quite some time.... it’s just that most of the islanders are a bit scared, and won’t do it.” “What kind of jobs are these?” Art asked, raising his eyebrow. “Well, I’ll tell you the first one,” Marshall said, “there’s this, for lack of a better term, mountain troll keeping our miners from heading into the mountains. I was wondering if you’d be interested in exterminating it for the extra money...” “Well, not that that doesn’t sound THRILLING,” Stormy replied, “but we-” “-Will do it!” Knave said happily, placing his foot on the table, “just leave it to us, Nice Sword Guy!” “Wait, wait, wait, hold on!” Stormy said quickly, then seized Knave and dragged him back over to the still huddled-group. “What the hell are you doing?” she hissed. “What d’ya mean?” Knave asked, “it’s some money, sounds like fun...” “We have plenty of money!” she replied, “we got all our supplies at Nexxas free, right-?” “No such thing,” D’Artagnan butted in. “Eh?” she asked, looking at him. “No such thing as plenty of money,” the Majin said dead seriously, his eyes replaced with Beli symbols, “there’s never ‘plenty’.” “I see,” Stormy replied, sweatdropping, “so I assume you’re all for this.” “Yep,” Art said, leaning back, having said his piece. “Okay....” Stormy looked at the other members, “anyone else say no?” Sid shook his head, and Gopher quickly followed. Sighing in defeat, Stormy turned back to the swordsman. “Sorry about that,” she apologized, “we’ll take the job.” “Excellent!” Marshall said, standing up, “then you’ll work with Pura to kill the creature! You... don’t mind, do you?” “Yes,” Pura answered. “No,” Knave said simply. The two scowled at each other, while Marshall sweatdropped, then quickly cleared his throat. “Well,” he said, “I guess that settles it.” “How?!” Knave and Pura asked, their heads snapping to face him. “I’m using my right as an uncle to say that you will go with them,” Marshall replied. “But, Uncle-” Pura began again. “Not now!” Marshall barked back, “you will go with them or you will do 300 repetitions of the same exercise tommorow!” “Hmph,” Pura glowered, crossing her arms and sinking lower into the cushion she was using as a seat. “Then it’s decided,” her uncle replied cheerily, “you’ll depart in the morning, is that alright?” “I’m booorrreddd....” Knave drawled, allowing his lower lip to jut out. “We’re almost there, okay?” Art asked, from his position at the head of the small procession that was heading into the mountain range, following a small trail. “We’d better be,” Stormy sighed, allowing her arms to hang loosely as she plodded up, near the back of the group, “this is taking way too long...” “I’ll carry you, Stormy-chwan!” Sid cried, his eyes becoming hearts as he started to move downwards towards her position. “I’d rather die,” she retorted, causing the navigator to huddle in a nearby corner, depressed, until another idea popped into his head, renewing his energy. “What about Pura-san?” he asked, moving towards her position, near the front. “Drop dead,” the swordswoman said simply, breaking Sid’s spirit and causing him to sulk behind even Stormy. “Hey!” Knave complained, taking umbrage with that comment, “what did we ever do to you?!” “I’ve never trusted pirates, and I never will,” Pura replied curtly. “Meanie,” Knave grumbled, picking his nose in annoyance. “You guys quiet down!” Art said, looking at a map he had in his hands, “if Marshall-san was correct, than we should run into it about-” Something crashed down in front of them, causing dirt and debris to spray the area around them! As the Marimos and Pura rubbed bits of dust from their eyes, the cloud cleared, revealing a massive, almost ape-like beast, with thick brown fur and only lighter skin that was visible in patches. It let out a snarl as it faced them down. The mountain troll had come to protect its territory. Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
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