| abstract | - “Could you please stop that?” asked Ibrahim of Arid as he walked with the elven woman giddily skipping alongside him. By this point the two of them were clear of the markets. All around them were office buildings owned by either the World Government, the Kingdom, the Dukedom, and or a corporation of some sort. Smaller businesses and freelancers were notably absent. It wasn't that they couldn't have been around. As a matter of fact, there were several buildings that looked as if they could have been affordable to such individuals. But rather, they were simply not around. As if there just weren't any small-timers in operation any more... “You're making me feel like a pedophile here,” “Yeah right,” snorted Arid as she continued to skip along Ibrahim, showing absolutely no signs of stopping anytime soon. “I look FAR older than you do,” “But you're sure as hell not acting like you are,” muttered Ibrahim underneath his breath. Unfortunately for Ibrahim, elves had VERY good hearing. “I'm not acting under my age. You're acting OVER your age,” huffed Arid with an melodramatic turn of her head. “Is that-” “Oh my SOLOMON! I, like, TOTALLY can't believe this!” heard Ibrahim while he was refuting Arid's claim. Ibrahim then came to an immediate halt, causing the skipping Arid to overstep because of her complete inability to move Ibrahim along with her. As Arid fell onto her but, Ibrahim slowly looked over his shoulder and onto the last person he ever wanted to see again in the entirety of his life. El. “No way. Just no way! This, like, can't be true. Bra-chan! It's Bra-chan! Bra-chan is here!” “Bra-chan?” snickered Arid in an uncontrollable. Ibrahim paid Arid no heed as his body instinctively begun to tremble at the very sight of El. Though his body may have been afraid, Ibrahim's mind was filled with nothing but rage. After a brief struggle with his instincts, Ibrahim forced his face into a glower. “W-w-whoa there! Are you okay?” “No. I am not,” answered Ibrahim as he pulled Arid around him so that he was standing face-to-face with El. “What do you want, El?” “Like, OMG! It's been, like, forever Bra-chan!” gasped El an instat before he ran up to Ibrahim and enveloped the Majin in a hug of all things. Immediately the Majin tensed up as much as he possibly could, unintentionally tightening his grip on Arid's hand as he did so. “Oh and LOOK AT DAT! Your ears are growing back in place,” “Yes they are,” said Ibrahim without any change of behavior. His body was still shaking and his face was still in a glower. But as El pulled away from Ibrahim, that glower begun to revert back into an expression of sheer terror now that El was back in Ibrahim's sight. “It's, like, about time you've gave them a trim again. Don't you think?” giggled El with his hands upon Ibrahim's shoulders. At that, Arid couldn't help but to butt in. “Why in the world would he do something like that?” blurted out Arid. Not so much as a second after Arid did so, she suddenly found herself on the ground with El's hands wrapped around her throat. Before Arid could even THINK of screaming, El tightened his hands around her throat with just enough force prevent any air from escaping it. El then placed his face only a few millimeters away from Arid's so that she had no choice to look into his crazed eyes. “Cause it would be just ADORABLE!” explained El in naught but a whisper. Arid couldn't even bother to be disturbed by El's explanation, because she was by far too busy with her futile struggle for even so much as a single gasp of air. “Probably not as adorable as your CORPSE is going to be. But hey, at least he'll get to live to see the cutness of-” “That's enough,” was all a nearly unconscious Arid heard before she was finally granted her wish of blessed relief from El's strangling. El confusedly blinked as he abruptly found himself being yanked away from Arid and then tossed through the air into the window of a vacant building. As El slid down the window into a drop onto the ground, he toothily grinned at the sight of Ibrahim having an arm outstretched towards him. “That's far enough, El!” “Was that some measure of resistance I just experienced?” asked El of Ibrahim whom proceeded to ignore El's very existence so that he could tend to Arid. “I'm sorry for getting you involved in all of this,” apologized Ibrahim in a murmur as he tried to place a 100,000 File:Bsymbol.gif into Arid's hands. Much to Ibrahim's surprise, Arid quickly clenched her fist as tightly close as she could get it. Just so that Ibrahim couldn't place the money into her hand. Arid then shook her head as a sign of discontent. “Arid, why?” “Didn't I tell you?” wheezed Arid with a giggled as she rubbed at a bruise on her throat. “ I'm not a hooker. So you can't pay me to go away,” “Is that so?” chuckled Ibrahim as he stood to his feeet and looked over his shoulder at a now-standing El. “Well this is about to get rough. For me that is. So you probably wont be getting another chance to accept this money. Sure you want to decline it?” “Absolutely!” grunted Arid as she withdrew her rapier from its scabbard and then used its foil to push herself onto her feet. “Keep all 100,000 of your beli. But in exchange, keep me around as well! I've long grown tried of being just another rat on the street! I want to be someone. Someone of worth. Come on, give me a position! You have that kind of power right?” “You're tired of being just another rat on the street, so you've decided to become just another corpse in the ground?” mockingly asked El in an honest tone of voice. “That's, like, SO lame. I think you would have been better off where you were before,” “Shut up you stupid, poopoo head!” spat Arid right before she showed El her tongue. “I think I'd rather pay you the 100,000,” “You shut up to!” “What did you just call me?” asked El of Arid at a strangely low volume. Arid and Ibrahim questioningly raised an eyebrow in unison with each other as El lowered his head in what appeared to be shame? Then, without warning, El's head suddenly caught aflame with a spectrally purple blaze. El then looked up at Arid and Ibrahim with a perfectly crescent smile on his face. “So, I'm a poopoo head? Is that how it is? Well then, that's fine. That's just grand and dandy!” “Is he seriously angry about being called such a thing?” asked Arid in complete and utter disbelif at the effectiveness of her insult. Which even she didn't think was going to get to El's head. “You have got to be kidding me,” “Mousho Mousho no...” begun El as the blaze engulfing his head begun to intensify, producing a wave of extreme heat which proceeded to wash over Arid and Ibrahim like a tsunami. It wasn't long before Arid and Ibrahim were both stickily drenched from their own sweat. And soon after that, Arid was quickly forced to drop her rapier in order to avoid having her hands burned by the heat the rapier was conducting from El's heat emissions. “On second thought, maybe we should run!” considered Arid out loud as the blaze engulfing El's head suddenly became opaque in a manner that only allowed El's eyes and his perfectly crescent smile to be seen through it. “Really, REALLY soon!” “That was my FIRST thought!” responded before he turned tail and burst into a sprint, taking hold of Arid's hand so that he could drag her behind him. “...Dabiken! (Fierce Heat Fierce Heat Cremation Fist!)” crazily laughed El as he punched towards Arid and Ibrahim in the midst of their retreat, discharging a fist-shaped conflagration from the punch as he did so. Said conflagration scorched the cobblestone streets ashen and completely incinerated all of the buildings in its path towards Arid and Ibrahim. Much to Arid and Ibrahim's combine horror, it wasn't long at before the conflagration begun to catch up to them. But just when it seemed like the conflagration was about to fierily sweep over them, a giant of a man dropped right in-between them and the conflagration. The man then wasted no time in outstretching his arms so that the conflagration would impact against him rather than sweep over him. As the conflagration slammed into the man with a towering explosion, Arid and Ibrahim couldn't help but to allow their mouths to draw into a gape. However, it should be noted that Arid and Ibrahim were not gaping from horror. By rather from amazement. For the man standing within the rising explosion wasn't burning to a crisp. His clothing surely was. But the man himself was remaining surprisingly unharmed... “That's no good sir, you know?” garbled the man in the deep voice of a true man as the explosion he was encompassed within begun to die down into sizable flame. With a huff and a puff, the man snuffed out the entirety of the flame in a single blow. And as a result of the man doing so, it could now be seen that the man was currently standing within a very large pile of ash. Where all of the ash had come from, neither Arid nor Ibrahim could tell. But from the knowing smile on the man's face, Arid and Ibrahim could tell that the man himself knew exactly where all of that ash had come from. “Vandalism is prohibited, you know?” “What about his attempted murder?” cried out Arid and Ibrahim, outraged by the fact that the man dared to simply skip over that. “Presbyterian Justice doesn't include prosecution for crimes that technically weren't committed, you know?” explained the man in another garble, eliciting a sweatdrop from Arid and Ibrahim as their only response to his explanation. The man then took the time to turn his full attention towards El. “I have business with this man. So if you would excuse us...” “Like, whatever makes you think that I, like, care at all about your business?” asked El of the man. “Because of my business, I will protect this man. And I don't think you can defeat me before my boys inform the Marines about what is taking place here, you know? I think it'd be terribly inconvenient for one such as yourself to have a bounty, you know?” “Tch,” literally spat El with an angry stamp of his foot. El then looked Ibrahim in the eyes as he said his parting words. “Bra-chan, don't you be forgetting to trim em up!” “T-t-thank you,” sighed Ibrahim in relief as El merrily skipped away from the scene of various crimes. “Thank you very much. I-I-I really can't thank you enough,” “Don't mention it, you know?” garbled the man with a bit of gurgly laughter mixed into it. The man looked over his shoulder at Arid and Ibrahim. He then gave the two of them a thumbs way. “It's the least I can do for what you're about to do for me, you know?” “Of course...” snorted a severely disappointed Arid. “...there is a catch. There is ALWAYS a catch,” “Not so much as a catch as it is a request. One I would have asked of you anyway,” garbled the man as he offered his hand to Arid. “The name is Powers. Central Powers. And you?” “Arid,” answered Arid as she took Central's hand and shook it. As soon as Arid let go of his hand, Central offered it to Ibrahim next. “Zacchaeus Ibrahim,” stated Ibrahim as he shook Central's hand. “Zacchaeus Ibrahim,” parroted Central in a garble as Ibrahim and he broke their hand shake. “Than it's just as I thought, you know? You're the S-Class Tax Collector the World Government has sent to audit the dukedom,” “Does that mean you're the good Duke Powers himself?” questioned Ibrahim in a prolonged groan of frustration. “PLEASE don't tell you're looking to get some kind of tax exemption for this duchy. Because I-” “Trouble yourself not my friend,” garbly chuckled Central as he turned to walk away, gesturing for Arid and Ibrahim to follow after him as he did so. “For I have no such request in mind. Not that I think one as practiced as yourself would surrender in the face of an obstacle as weak as guilt, you know?” “For the sake of my family, I MUST uphold my obligation to the World Government. So I just can't do things like that,” murmured Ibrahim more to himself than to Central. “As I've said, I have no such request in mind. So you should be at peace, you know?” reaffirmed Central as he lead Arid and Ibrahim to the door of a most elaborate-looking building. A building that looked as if it belonged to some kind of noble. “We should go inside, you know? It's would be best for us to have this discussion in private, you know?” “Yes! We know! So stop asking if we do!” screamed an irritated Arid as she angrily threw her arms into the air at Central's repetition. “Stop complaining,” snorted Ibrahim as Central opened the door to the building and the three of them walked inside. “THAT DOES IT!” roared an infuriated Akuginu Amimono as she rose out of one of the many smaller piles of debris that had been created by the destruction of the debris hill. Following Akuginu's rise was the rise of Dokumi. Whom looked just as pissed as Akuginu, but wasn't anywhere near as vocal about it. “ALL OF YOU DIE NOW! EVERY, SINGLE, LAST ONE OF YOU!” “Amimono Kenpo...” begun Dokumi, quietly and to herself, as she commenced to twirl a dagger in each of her hands. “Th-Th-Thoosa!” shouted Prince John in-between coughs as he pushed himself out of a pile of debris as well, heavily breathing for the air he had denied himself while the poison had been dancing about the air. “Thoosa! Are you alright? Thoosa!” “Mari-n Panku..." wheezed Aharon as he pulled himself out of being firmly embedded within a brick wall. As Aharon did so, a dart-like object protruded from the palm of each of his hands. Afterward, Aharon wasted no time in leaping into the air and then taking aim at the raging Akuginu. “....nobody will die today. Not on my watch. Mari-n Panku, Kuutaichimisairu! (Marine Punk, Air-To-Surface Missiles!)” “...Madanaifunage! (Webbing Kenpo, Magic Bullet Knife Throwing!)” finished Dokumi as the dart-like objects erupted from the palms of Aharon's hands. The dart-like objects then started what would have been a short journey towards Akuginu if Dokumi's knives hadn't seemingly flown straight from Dokumi's hands and intercepted them in mid-flight. While the dart-like objects may have dropped to the ground as a result of their impact with the knives, the knives simply continued to remain aloft before one of them eventually proceeded to speed straight towards Aharon. “What in the-” was all Aharon managed to say before he was forced to quickly lunge to his left in order to avoid being impaled by the knife that had been speeding towards him. Much to Aharon's surprise and displeasure, the knife impacted against the wall behind him with more than enough force to induce the entirety of the wall into exploding. The explosion threw Aharon into a hurtle through the air where he was soon met by a pissed off Akuginu. “Well...this is going to suck!” “Amimono Kenpo, Bokushingu Guro-vu! (Webbing Kenpo, Boxing Glove!)” seethed Akuginu an instant before she spewed a layer of silk over the entirety of her right hand. Akuginu then clenched her right hand into a fist before she used it to corkscrew punch Aharon in his right shoulder. “Satsugaite, Rasen-tsuki! (Killing Hand, Spiral Punch!) “GRAUGHAAA!” screamed Aharon as the blood vessels, bones, and muscles within his right arm were twisted out of place by Akuginu's punch. As Aharon was dropped by Akuginu's punch, he would soon be horrified by the sight of the second of Dokumi's knives. Ascending straight towards him. “This is going to suck even worse!” “I doubt that,” grunted Iroppoi as she performed geppou as a means of flying into a lash of a kick which easily knocked the second of Dokumi's knives away from Aharon. The second of Dokumi's knives would then go flying into the very building Thoosa was standing upon. Toppling the building as a direct result of its impact with it. “Jakkuhoippu! (Jackwhip!)” “H-h-huh?” stammered the lovestruck Thoosa as the building she was standing on suddenly begun to crumble beneath her feet. Having been caught off her guard, Thoosa was in no position to do anything but fall. “Wah!” “Thoosa!” anxiously screamed Prince John, having finally caught sight of Thoosa as a result of Thoosa crying out from the shock of her sudden descent. As Prince John burst into a sprint towards the crumbling building, Allied Mundi decided that it was as good of a time as any to be opportunistic. The failure of a mugger swiftly leaped into being some distance above the falling Thoosa and then raised his right hand into the air in preparation for a finishing blow. “No! You stay the hell away from her! Purinsu Cha-mingu no Ribon! (Prince Charming's Ribbon!)” “Chuusei Kentou, Juuki: Metal Guard! (Neutron Boxing, Heavy Weight Equipment: Metal Guard!) snorted Allied as Prince John thrust a spiraling blade of air towards him. The air blade spiraled around Allied just so that it coulde implode onto him from all directions. To Prince John's extreme frustration, the implosion inflicted little - if any - harm upon Allied. Allied then wasted no time in outstretching his arm in Thoosa's direction. “Chuusei Kentou: Seibi: Anchoring Fist! (Neutron Boxing, Complete Equipment: Anchoring Fist!)” “NO!” literally cried Prince John as Allied kicked upon the air behind him in order to rocket himself towards Thoosa fist-first. Thoosa grimaced at the sight of the incoming Allied and then desperately attempted to spew the brightest flame she could muster into Allied's face. When she only managed to burp out a mere spark, Thoosa internally facepalmed for forgetting about her earlier usage. Fire-breathing wasn't at all Thoosa's thing. So she never put herself through very much endurance training for it. Right then and there, Thoosa swore to become a better fire-breathing. Or at the very least a more enduring one... “THOOSA!” “You have my gratitude, Iroppoi!” thanked Aharon an instant before he outstretched his remaining, functional arm towards Allied's path of descent. Aharon then grunted as the hand of the aforementioned arm suddenly gained both a blue complexion and absurdly lengthy fingers. Dart-like objects protruded from the tips of each of those fingers only an instant before they erupted into a short flight towards Allied Mundi. “Like I said, I'm not going to let ANYONE die today! Mari-n Panku, Kuutaikuumisairu! (Marine Punk, Air-to-Air Missiles!)” “Hmm?” uttered Allied as he heard Aharon's repeated declaration. Against his better judgement, Allied looked awat from Thoosa and towards Aharon. Allied had planned on turning his attention back towards Thoosa as soon as he'd seen what was up. But the sight of the incoming dart-like objects was more than frightening enough to make Allied throw that plan right out of the highest window of the tallest skyscraper. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA...” “Tch,” snorted Dokumi as she used her teeth to disconnect each of her hands from a set of web that had been connected to one of her daggers. Dokumi then conjured a layer of webbing over her skin as she leaped into the aerial fray. “Amimono Kenpo, Dokuhifu! (Webbing Kenpo, Poison Skin!)” “Think you can handle the rough one?” asked Iroppoi of Aharon as she took a hold of the collar of Aharon's shirt and then kicked upon the air as a means of launching the two of them back up towards where Akuginu was somehow floating. “Geppou! (Moonwalk!)” “Without a shadow of a doubt!” answered Aharon as he willed his left hand into transforming even further, causing the fingers of that hand to extend to half the length of his own height and become flexible enough to be mistaken for being elastic. Aharon then balled his transformed hand into a fist that was around the size of his very own torso! “Mari-n Panku, Kikaimari! (Marine Punk, Wrecking Ball!)” “This time you're dead!” maniacally laughed Akuginu at Iroppoi and Aharon's approach. After a nod from Aharon, Iroppoi slung Aharon towards Akuginu at record speed. Akuginu grinned at Aharon's rapid ascent before she threw yet another corkscrew punch at the Petty Officer. “Satsugaite, Shukketsushi-tsuki! (Killing Hand, Bleeding to Death Punch!)” “And while he deals with that...” begun Iroppoi as she used her hips to spin in midair and from there throw a roundhouse kick in Dokumi's direction. Following Iroppoi's roundhouse kick, the air was compressed into a crescent blade which soared straight towards the approaching Dokumi. “...Rankyaku! (Storm Leg!)” “...AAAH!” the terrified Allied continued to scream as loudly as he could as Thoosa's back came within inchest of the ground, his fist came within inches of Thoosa's fist, and the dart-like objects came within inches of just about his entire body.. “First thing's first, you know? My name may be Central Powers, but I am not Duke Powers,” garbled Central from the confines of an incredibly comfortable armchair. While Ibrahim was listening to Central garble from an armchair of his own, Arid was darting about the place in awe of just about everything in sight. The very concept of an ornament was completely new to Arid. Thus, to Arid, all of the all of the grandfather clocks, paintings, rugs, stained glass, and more were each amazing in their own right. Far more amazing than what Central seemed to have to say. And thus far more worthy of her time. “I'm actually just Captain Powers, you know? As in, the Captain of the Forbsvillean Guard. The Duke Powers you've most likely been looking to meet is none other than my younger brother, you know?” “Younger brother?” questioned Ibrahim. In the background, Arid leaned back and forward in unison with the sway of a grandfather clocks's pendulum. “I vividly remember being told that the heir apparents of this duchy were always the eldest child. Never was I told that the eldest child could lose their inheritance to a younger sibling,” “You were told the truth, you know?” sighed Central rather than garble as he usually did. As he did so, Arid patiently waited for a chance to capture the bird that had been sprung out by a cuckoo clock only moments before. “As the eldest, I was indeed the heir apparent to the title of Duke. But I had far more interest in combat than I ever did in sovereignty, you know? So I abdicated my right to dukeship to my younger brother, Entente Powers. But that was a mistake, you know?” “A mistake you say?” chuckled Ibrahim as Arid was distracted from her nerfarious plot by her reflection on the surface of a porcelain ducky. “Do you long for the return of your birthright?” “Not at all. I have no interest in governing others, you know? But I do have an interest in the well-being of this duchy. Which, unfortunately, isn't an interest shared by my brother. Not even in the least bit, you know?” garbled Central with a sour expression. “The fool only cares about filling his pockets with beli. He's even gone so far as to downsize the Forbsvillean Guard of all things. I no longer have the manpower needed to protect Forbsville in its entirety. Who knows what kind of shenanigans the pirates are up to in this town,” “I'm sure the town's FINE,” commented Arid while she was offering a scrap of pastry to a piggy bank, assuming that the entity was a living thing rather than a mere depiction. “Here piggy, piggy, piggy! Here's some tasy pastry,” “As much as I enjoy a history lesson, I'm going to have to ask you to get to the point already. What does any of this have to do with me and my duties?” said Ibrahim rather bluntly while trying as hard as he could to not snicker at Arid's antics. “You've been ordered to come to this place so that you could investigate the possibility of tax non-compliance, right?” asked Central as he flicked a bullet of air into the piggy bank, causing the piggy bank to explode into a myriad of coins. Arid shrieked at the explosion, but it wasn't long before her fear was completely overtaken by the awe induced by the presence of so many coins. “You mean to tell me that piggies have beli for-” “No! It was a fake! Get over it!” abruptly screamed Ibrahim at Arid out of the fear that Arid would have begun to slaughter random pigs for beli if he hadn't done so. As Arid took on an expression of Santa-Isn't-Real-level disappointment, Ibrahim turned his attention back to Central. “That is correct. The residents of this town should be making a killing from the trade of the medicinal herbs produced by the many farms on the town's outskirts, yet the recent taxes we've intook from this town do not reflect the existence of such a profit any more. The World firmly believes that Forbsville has been skipping out on it, and I have been dispatched to see whether or not there is any merit to this belief,” “If only it was as simply as that,” sighed Central. In response to Central's disuse of his trademark garble, even Arid finally started to pay attention to what Central was saying. “This town would be far better off being subject to embezzlement than what it's being subjected to at the moment, you know?” “So you're saying that the duchy isn't appropriating funds from the citizenry's taxes?” “That's exactly what I am saying, you know? The problem isn't embezzlement, it's piracy!” “I think I'm starting to understand,” chuckled Ibrahim with a nod of his head. “In hopes of keeping more of the treasury for himself, your brother downsized the Forbsvillean Guard. And because of that, the duchy is no longer capable of defending its assets from pirates and the like. And it's the loss of those assets that have brought down your profit and thus the amount of taxes you pay. Embezzlement isn't the issue. The issue is a security crisis that has gone unreported for rather obvious reasons,” “Close but no cigar, you know?” garbled Central much to Ibrahim's displeasure. “The Forbsvillean Guard's duty is simply to defend Forbsville. Patrol of the duchy in general is the duty of a detachment of the Royal Guard. And those guys haven't been downsized in centuries, you know? The issue isn't a security crisis. Or at the very least, it isn't a security crisis yet. The issue is bribery, you know?” “You have got to be kidding me!” groaned Arid with a facepalm to Ibrahim's face rather than her own. Needless to say, Ibrahim was not amused. “When in the world did pirates start to travel in bandwagons instead of ships? I was bribing Royal Guards before it was cool!” “The one responsible for my problem is a man named Axis Mundi,” restarted Central in a garble as you've surely guessed by this point in the story, showing a picture of Axis Mundi to Arid and Ibrahim as he did so. “While the one responsible for your issue is a man named Allied Mundi,” “The Mundi Brothers,” groaned Ibrahim while he was tugging on the both of Arid's cheeks as due recompense for the facepalm. “Both of them have a personal bounty of 56,000,000 File:Bsymbol.gif, giving them a combined bounty of 112,000,000 File:Bsymbol.gif!” “Indeed. The Mundi Brothers. Axis Mundi has been raiding farms for about three years now. Strangely, he doesn't steal any beli or personal belongings. Nor does he take any captives. The brat only takes the most recent harvest of medicinal herbs, yet there is no evidence of him participating in any sort of black market. It's as if he is jut trying to sabotage us rather than make any sort of profit, you know?” garbled Central with a few shakes of his head. “In the meantime, Allied Mundi has been robbing anyone and anything he can. Been amassing ridiculously enormous amounts of wealth just so that he can hand it to my brother as a bribe. He tributes to the “Good” Duke every month in order to protect Axis Mundi from the repercussions of his raids, you know? Though now that I think about it, the kid didn't tribute this month. Or at the very least, he hasn't tributed yet,” “And now I do get it,” laughed Ibrahim once more as he released Arid's cheeks. Only to have his own cheeks yanked upon by Arid as the next portion of their cycle of playful vengeance. “Embezzlement isn't your problem, but it is what you want me to charge the duke with. With an embezzlement charge on his doorsteps, Duke Powers' only choices would be to either suffer imprisonment or report the actions of Axis Mundi to the World Government. If Duke Powers is taken to prison, you'll return to being the Duke and thus have the power to order the duchy's detachment of the Royal Guard to take action against Axis Mundi. And if Duke Powers reports Axis Mundi to the World Government, the Marines will take action against Axis Mundi. One way or the other, Axis Mundi goes down and peace will return to this duchy once again, you know?” “Yeah. I know. I know. You've got it all figured out now. World Government sure as hell chose a smart one to send my way,” laughed Central...in a garble of course. Kishishi... “So, what do you say? Would you mind doing this old man such a favor? Tax Collector!” “I wouldn't mind at all, Captain!” laughed Ibrahim in turn as Central and him stood up from their chairs and shook hands on it. “As a matter of fact, I'm kind of looking forward to it. It's not every day that a tax collector gets to save the day!” “Ooph!” grunted Thoosa as she crashed into the rubble of the building she had once been standing atop of. It looked as if her crash was going to be followed by a punch from Allied Mundi, but the failure of a mugger up and vanished into thin air only a few seconds before his fist would have collided against Thoosa’s face. Not longer after, a large number of dart-like objects soared over Thoosa’s face. Each of them having been only just a few inches away from coming into contact with Thoosa themselves. “Well that was conven-” “THOOSA!” heard Thoosa only a moment before Prince John threw himself upon her chest and pulled her into a tight hug. At first Thoosa could only blink at the sheer abruptness of the Prince's glomp, but it wasn't long before Thoosa was warmly hugging the weeping Prince back. “I thought I was going to lose you too!” “Come on now. Give me some credit. I'm not so weak as to be taken out by a single punch. No matter how strong it may be,” chuckled Thoosa as she ruffled Prince John's hair in an attempt to soothe the Prince. “I should have protected you,” sniffled the Prince as he lifted himself from Thoosa's chest and looked straight into Thoosa's eyes. “I-I-I will protect you! I'll protect you, Thoosa! I promise that I will!” “Nah,” snorted Thoosa as she took Prince John's hands into her own so that the both of them would stand to their feet in unison with one another. “To protect someone, is to keep them away from the dangers of life. And I'm just not the kind of floozy that can just sit on the sidelines while someone she cares about is in danger. So want nothing to do with this being protected business; however, I could surely use a partner! Someone who will fight by my side. In sickness or health. In poverty or wealth. So, my Prince. Do you want to be my partner, till death do us part?" “Thoosa,” happily laughed Prince John as he readied himself to say the two most important words he'll ever say. “I d-” “WAAAH!” heard Prince John an instant before Akuginu Amimono crashed into the debris right next to him with enough force to be bounced back into the air. Akuginu would then hurtle for some time before inevitably crashing into a lengthy skid THROUGH a cobblestone street. Much to Prince John and Thoosa's astonishment, Akuginu immediately stood up as if nothing had happened to her at all. As a matter of fact, it looked as if Akuginu's descent had only managed to induce anger rather than inflict harm. “THAT TEARS IT! THE MARINE BOY DIES! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!” “Trolololololololololol,” laughed Aharon as he started to land right next to Prince John with his “wrecking ball” still in place. However, before even the both of Aharon's feet could touch upon the ground, an individual flashed into Thoosa and Prince John's view. The individual was much too fast to be seen as anything other than a silhouette. A silhouette which slammed a full-fledge haymaker into Aharon's stomach before it simply vanished into thin air. Aharon retched as his rear foot touched upon the ground. He then stumbled around for a bit before inevitably falling face-first into the ground, unmistakably unconscious. Leaving a spooked Prince John and Thoosa in the wake of his sudden defeat. “You're one of them too, right?” heard Prince John and Thoosa in the direction of Akuginu. As the both of them turned towards Akuginu, Prince John and Thoosa were both surprised to see a man striding towards Akuginu. A man neither of them had seen till now. Said man had spiky, black hair which was all slicked back with the sole exception of a singel strand that hung over his face. His eyes were as luminescently yellow as the finest of gold bars and he was firmly clad in an elaborate suit of black armor. “One of those who were fighting with my brother,” “Shut up and get out of my way!” demanded Akuginu of the man as she threw a corkscrew punch at the man's heart itself! “Satsugaite, Shinfuzen-tsuki! (Killing Hand, Heart Failure Punch!)” “That was foolish of you,” scolded the man as he effortlessly caught Akuginu's punch within the palm of his hand and then squeezed with enough force to completely rip apart the silk Akuginu had gloved it in. As Akuginu staggered back from the shock of having been so thoroughly trumped, the man suddenly dropped as low as the ground itself only to just as suddenly rise into an uppercut. Said uppercut struck Akuginu right in the jaw and as a result Akuginu was launched into the air where she would hurtle far out of sight before eventually crashing through the window of a building. “Chuusei Kentou: Rising Star! (Neutron Boxing, Rising Star!)” “B-b-but those guys were strong,” stammered Prince John as the man turned away from the direct he'd sent Akuginu flying and towards Prince John and Thoosa. He then grinned at Prince John and Thoosa in a manner that displayed far more predatory lust than even Thoosa herself could muster. “H-h-how could they...how could they go down so quickly?” “Last two,” said the man an instant before Prince John and Thoosa could hear a pair of crashes take place. Prince John looked to the right and gawked at the sight of an unconscious Dokumi lying within a crater and Thoosa looked left to see that Iroppoi was in an identical position. Prince John and Thoosa then looked back at the man whose grin had considerably widened while they had been looking away. “R-r-run Thoosa!” stammered a visibly trembling Prince John as he quickly repositioned himself in-between Thoosa and the man. Much to Prince John's absolute horror, the man somehow managed to grin even wider after Prince John did so. Nevertheless, Prince John had no intention of hacking down. He had no intention of simply allowing things to be taken from him once again. No this time around. Not ever again! “Run as fast and as far as you ca-” “Baka,” snorted Thoosa, playfully chopping Prince John in the head as she did so. Thoosa then walked up to Prince John's right side before she raised her fists in preparation for combat. “I don't need your protection. I need your partnership!” “R-r-right,” said Prince John with a nod and a smile. A genuine smile which presence was a complete mystery to him. Though if he had to guess, Prince John would say that it was love. “Let's take him on then. Together,” “No!” heard Prince John and Thoosa as Allied Mundi dropped in front of the both of them with his arms outstretched. Prince John and Thoosa couldn't help but to be a little confused by the sight of their former enemy trying to protect them of all things. “Stop it right now, AXIS!” “I shall return to my vessel and use the Den Den Mushi I brought along with me to deliver my report,” said Ibrahim as Arid, Central, and he were moving to leave the building. “If something has happened to that Mushi, which a certain someone better hope isn't the case, I will simply have to resort to using one at a local inn or hotel,” “Sounds good,” garbled Central as he opened the door just in time to have a chubby man fall into his hands. An terribly injured, chubby man dressed in a white uniform of sorts. “But this sure doesn't look good thought. This doesn't look good at all,” “Onii-tama,” drooled the chubby man onto Central. Blood that is. The man was drooling blood, for his mouth was one of the many places from which an absurd amount of blood was leaking. “Help me, Onii-tama!” “Aren't you a little...” begun Arid with a grimace as Central pushed the chubby man of of him and into a stand. “...OLD to be using -tama?” “Entente has always been like this,” garbled Central with a shake of his head. “THAT'S ENTENTE POWERS?” screamed Arid in complete disbelief. “THAT IS DUKE POWERS?” “Afriad so,” garbled Central as he pulled Entente indoors and quickly sat Entente down in an armchair. “Brother, what have you done to yourself this time?” “He was strong. Too strong,” wheezed Entente in-between sobs that were completely and utterly failing to induce any amount of pity within anyone in the room. “All of the Royal Guards were defeated after only a few seconds of engagement. Please Central! You're my only hope!” “Please do not tell me you just tried to double-cross a pirate,” scowled Ibrahim at Entente, prompting Entente to spit blood upon Ibrahim's face. “Impudent commoner, do not presume that you are worthy of speaking to me just because I am in this admittedly sorry state!” snarled Entente at Ibrahim. At that very moment, Ibrahim decided that Entente was going to lose his dukeship. Ibrahim wasn't sure how he was going to make it happen, but Ibrahim KNEW that it was going to happen. One way or another. “I am Duke Powers. DUKE Powers. Know your-” “Shut up about that and explain yourself!” demanded Central of Entente. “Entente....were you really stupid enough to renege on your deal?” “W-w-what deal?” stammered Entente much to everyone's displeasure. “I have no idea what-” “There will be no games,” stated Ibrahim. Not ask. Not demanded. Stated. As a simple fact of the matter. A fact that was NOT up for debate. And as Ibrahim did so, he removed a flintlock pistol from his person and pressed its barrel up against Entente's crotch of all things. Just daring Entente to give him a good reason to avenge himself on the spot. “Speak. Now!” “N-n-no! Please don't-” “I said speak. Not cry,” warned Ibrahim as he manually cocked the flint on his pistol. “So what are you waiting for? Speak!” “A-A-Allied! Allied Mundi missed his deadline! S-s-so I amassed the Forbesvillean Detachment of the Royal Guard and marched out to capture him. But I round up running into his brother, Axis Mundi, instead. Thinking that I could use him as leverage against Allied, I decided to capture him. That way I could make Allied collect even more of the duchy's wealth for myself. But after some things were said, that Axis boy suddenly went berserk! He defeated all of the Royal Guards. And then he even had the nerve to beat ME to the very brink of MY life, leaving ME for dead after he finished doing so!” “So you drove him over the edge while monologuing did you?” groaned Ibrahim as he facepalmed Entente for being so stupid. “How classically cliche,” “I never thought that Axis Mundi could be strong enough to do such a thing,” garbled a troubled Central with plenty of shakes of his head. “It would appear that I have SEVERELY underestimated the boy,” “Aha!” laughed Arid with a finger pointed at Entente. Entente tried to bite Arid's finger out of spite, but the elven woman managed to pull her finger away in time to prevent Entente from doing so. “You got your just desserts! And now Axis is probably going to destroy everything you love in retaliation for you coercing his brother into doing your dirty work! Hahahahahaa! This is just fantastically karmatic! If it wasn't for the maniac almost strangling me to death, today would have been the most awesome day ever!” “You laugh weird,” pointed out Ibrahim, receiving nods of agreement from Central and Entente after he did so. “And you seem to be forgetting that Entente probably loves the city from which he gets the most taxes. As in, the city we're in NOW. So you better hope what you've said isn't-” Cue the sound Akuginu's crash. “Gosh dang it!” screamed Ibrahim in frustration, throwing his hands into the air as he did so. “Gosh dang you Arid. You're a freaking jinx! First El and now it's probably Axis Mundi!” “Shut up! No I'm not!” vehemently denied Arid with a stamp of her foot. “As a matter of fact, the jinx is probably you!” “Doesn't matter. We need to investigate. Well, I need to investigate. The two of you can hang back if you'd like,” garbled Central as he turned to leave. “Not a chance. This situation is apart of my job now. And I never leave a job unfinished,” declared Ibrahim as he followed after Central. “Well, you heard my boss. We're coming along,” giggled Arid as she skipped behind Ibrahim. Ibrahim was tempted to deny being her boss, but in the end he chose not to. For you see, most people hated Ibrahim. But for once, just this once, there were people who didn't hate him. Arid may be a woman-child and Central may be heading out of the frying pan into the fire, but Ibrahim very much enjoyed their mere presence. Thus he was not going to drive Arid away. Nor was he going to leave Central hanging. But rather he would keep them by his side. Not just because they were the only ones that wanted to be there. But also because they were the only ones he wanted to be there. They were not bodyguards or assistants. They were his friends! “Yeah,” whispered Ibrahim to himself and himself alone as he stepped outside, ignoring complaints and pleas from Entente Powers as he did so. “You heard the boss!” “Stop it right now, AXIS!” demanded Allied of Axis while he was standing with his arms held up in defense of Prince John and Thoosa. The cyclops and prince duo simultaneously tilted their heads in confusion as Allied did so. “Please! You can't fight here. If you do-” “Your contract with the Good Duke will be null-and-void,” finished Axis for Allied, prompting Allied to gape in surpirse. Axis then started to angrily grind his teeth together and shed tears of sorrowful rage before he continued. “You want me to stop so that you can keep on protecting me from behind my back? You want me to resume my work while my little brother spends every day of his life fighting to keep the heat off of me? You want me to be a scumbag who chases his dreams at the cost of his baby brother's dreams! Is that what you're asking of me? Is that what you want me to do? Allied!” “How did you-” “I went to that personal hideout you begged me to let you have. The one you claimed to be for meeting with the boyfriend whose very existence I have now come to doubt! Using my homophobia as a cover for your shenanigans, smart but low Allied! Very, very low!” Axis begun to explain in-between sniffs, surprising Allied with every word that came out of his mouth. “I decided I wanted to meet the man whom was dating my brother. Even if I found the very idea of it a bit nauseating, I still wanted to accept the person whom accepted my brother for THREE WHOLE YEARS. But do you know what I found when I got there?” “The FDRG lying in ambush,” sighed Allied as he resigned himself to the fact the cat was no longer in the bag. “Entente Powers...you impatient fool!” “That's right. The Forbesvillean Detachment of the Royal Guard!” confirmed Axis with a shiver. “I would have been less worried if it had been the freaking Marines man! At least the Marines bother to capture people. The FDRG operate as judge, jury, and executioner. The just up and kill people on the spot! I-I thought you were dead,” “What's going-” started Thoosa an instant before Prince John covered her mouth with his hand. “Shh!” hushed Prince John before he turned his attention back to the Mundi Brothers. “I'm watching the drama unfold,” “I've never known despair until that hour! That hour where I thought you were dead. Taken from this world far before your time. I was more than ready to just let the FDRG kill me so that I could follow after you, but then the Good Duke's blabbering let me know two things. The first was that you were alive, thank Gan Fall for that! The second was that I had been deceived and you enslaved!” “I was not a slave!” snarled Allied at his older brother, catching Axis completely off guard with his vehemence. “I was not a slave, Axis! I CHOSE to do this. Duke Powers didn't come to me. I came to him! I made the offering. I set the terms. I even upped the ante every now and then to compensate for your increase in activity. None of this has been shoved on me. As a matter of fact, I shoved it on the Good Duke. I even went so far as to threaten to kill him if he didn't take it,” “But why Allied?” growled Axis with confused shakes of his head. “Why did you do it? Why did you put yourself through this? There was no need. I'm strong! Stronger than you for Gan Fall's sake! And you know that. If you were confident in the fact that you could avoid capture and or execution for these three years, surely you must have been more confident in the fact that I could have done the same! So why did you cover for me when I can take care of myself!” “BECAUSE YOU CAN'T TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!” screamed Allied with a stamp which shook the ground enough to topple a nearby structure. Allied then accusatively pointed a finger at Axis. “Stop kidding yourself, Axis! If you want me to come clean, you need to come clean yourself! With yourself! You can't protect yourself. You never could, you will never be able to do so. You're too SOFT!” “S-s-soft?” stuttered a surprised Axis at Allied's accusation. “H-h-how am I soft? You're the one who-” “No!” interrupted Allied with a wave of his arm. “It's you! Not me! You're soft! TOO soft! You're the one who comes out of hiding to be a Good Samaritan. You're the one who knowingly takes on stowaways like the Good Duke takes on pounds! You're the one who cries yourself to sleep every time you kill someone. And you're the one who has spent THREE YEARS on this Gan Fall-forsaken island collecting leaves in a flat-out RETARDED attempt to cure everyone in the West Blue of the disease that destroyed our village. It's been TEN YEARS brother! GET OVER IT!” “Allied,” whimpered Axis with a crestfallen expression on his face. “I-I-I don't understand. Sure those things may be true, but what do they have to do with-” “That's right! You don't understand,” interrupted Allied once again. “Well let me help you understand. I'm not protecting you from other people. I'm protecting other people from you! I'm keeping them from making the mistake of crossing you, so you don't feel bad about kicking their ass!” “He didn't look like he was feeling bad about it to me...” grumbled Thoosa as she looked around at the fallen forms of Aharon, Dokumi, and Iroppoi. Though Thoosa could have used her Cyclopsian vision to take a look at Akuginu as well, she didn't do so because she didn't feel like exerting herself any further. “...but then again they had been involved in a fight against his beloved brother. So that might be-” “Shh!” “And I wanted you to succeed brother. I wanted you to fulfill your dream. But that dream was impossible for you - a man with a bounty of 56,000,000 File:Bsymbol.gif - to complete. So I made you a man without a bounty, so that you could make your dream come true. So that you would stop feeling so guilty about having infected our village with the Lunar. You were an asymptomatic carrier. You couldn't had known. The only ones who are responsible for anything, are the farmers you've been stealing from. The farmers who were cruel enough to up the price of their previously useless herb once they realized there was a need for it. The farmers who allowed hundreds of villages like our own to go extinct for nothing but the sake of making a profit!” finished Allied with a deep sigh. And then there was silence. Voiceless and noiseless silence. And the silence reigned surpreme for the longest time. Until... “Allied and Axis Mundi,” called Central as he led the entirety of the 100-man force of pikers that was the Forbesvillean Guard into surrounding Allied, Axis, Prince John, and Thoosa. To Central's left was the perky Arid and to Central's right was the stoic Ibrahim. The three of them were standing within the circle of guardsman just like Allied, Axis, Prince John, and Thoosa were. “The Forbesvillean Guard hereby places you under arrest for bribery, conspiracy, and piracy! You know?” "Wait a minute, do you really expect me to believe that this place even has guards?" asked Prince John with a single droplet of sweat trickling down the side of his head. "After all of the crap we've managed to pull so far without any kind of interference from any sort of authority, you expect me to believe that such an authority exists at all? Get real!" "Thanks for letting us know of your involvement in this mess," said Ibrahim rather dryly, prompting a facepalm from Prince John as he did so. "That admission to guilt is going to be really useful in the courtroom," "I just had to go and open my big mouth, didn't I?" grumbled Prince John under his breath. "Well, when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter. I very much doubt that my father would have allowed me to remain unwanted for very long, so this is naught but an earlier than necessary occurrence of the inevitable. Rather than some kind of worst case scenario," "Fudge the police!" enthusiastically hollered Thoosa with her hands placed around her mouth as an ineffective means of projecting her voice over a long distance. "The people shouldn't be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of its people!" "Stop trying to instigate a random uprising!" snapped Ibrahim at Thoosa. Only a moment before... "Wait a minute, you're right!" ...Arid wholeheartedly agreed with the cyclops. "Viva la revolucion!" "Don't agree with the enemy!" snapped Ibrahim at Arid this time around, but to no avail. For Arid was now firmly under the possession of the spirit of rebellion! "B-b-but that boy has a good point!" stammered one of the guardsmen out of the blue. "The FD used to be a state-of-the-art law enforcement agency. We were the best of the best of Presbyter. Even the FDRG itself wasn't as capable as we were! But nowadays, it's like we don't even exist! Take a good look around. Everything you can see has happened right under our noses! Can we really call ourselves guards when we can't even guard our own people?" "Listen, all of you!" shouted Central as more and more voices of dissent begun to arise from the very ranks of the Forbesvillean Guard. "I understand your discontent with the current situation, but don't you think we should all be focusing on the matter at hand?" "Captain Powers is right!" vividly cried Arid, eliciting a sigh of relief from Central and Ibrahim as she did so. However, immediately afterward, Arid begun to say things that horrified the both of them into a paralysis. "Forget these guys. Let's focus on the matter at hand. We need to overthrow Entente Powers, otherwise situations like this are bound to happen again and again!" "That's right little lady!" cheered a guardswoman as she lifted her pike in earnest agreement. "I've had quite enough of Entente Powers' incompetence!" "Incompetence?" snorted Arid a moment before she begun to say things that would have induced Central and Ibrahim into an eternal gawk if the two of them hadn't already been paralyzed by the sheer horror of Arid's former declaration. "Pah! Try corruption! The dirtbag hasn't been failing to deal with piracy. He's been actively coercing pirates into bribing him for leniency!" "Hey!" interjected Allied Mundi with a quake-producing and thus attention-grabbing stamp. "You take that back right this instant! The Good Duke didn't coerce me into doing anything! You hear? I bribed him of my own free will! Thank you very much!" "Hold on for just a second..." begun a guardsman who was trembling from the explosive rage he was working hard to contain within. "...are you trying to tell me that Duke Powers knew that all of this was going to happen? He knew about this...this....this DEVASTATION?" "That's it!" snapped another guardsman as he dropped his pike to the ground. "No more! I don't care!" "Here, here!" concurred a differnt guardswoman from before as she dropped her pike onto the ground as well. "I can't take it anymore either! Ever since Entente has taken the throne, it's just been one thing after another. Enough is enough!" "Forget Entente!" "Forget the abdication!" "Yeah, forget the abdication!" "That's right!" "I agree with you guys all of the way!" "Forget the abdication!" "FORGET THE ABDICATION!" "Take it back Central!" "Take your words back" "Take back the abdication!" "Take back the throne!" "Take back out our safety to the man whom has sold it to pirates!" "Well..." snickered Thoosa as the hundred men and women whom had been amassed to arrest them were throwing down their pikes one-by-one. Those men and women then proceeded to surround Central Powers instead, begging Central to take responsibility for the consequences of his selfish abdication as they did so. "...that escalated quickly!" "Thankfully, the escalation was in the right direction. I really think this city is going to be fine now. Now that its citizenry has taken its well-being into their own capable hands," snickered Prince John in turn. The Prince then took Thoosa's hands into his own before he begun to lead the cyclops away from all of the action. "Shall we take our leave of this land? The kingdom next over has way better food than the meals offered here either way," "After you my Prince," answered Thoosa with a warm smile. "Please, call me John!" laughed Prince John as Thoosa and he got gone while the going was still good. "Allied," sighed Axis with a shake of his head. Allied warily eyed Axis as Axis made his way towards him. “For three years, the both of us have been doing our OWN thing. But I think it's about time we got back to doing just OUR thing," "R-r-really?" stammered Allied in a tone of voice that was dripping with suspicion. "A-a-are you even sure about that? I don't want you turning in your sleep from regret!" "Absolutely!" chuckled Axis as he ruffled Allied's hair, earning himself a purr of approval from Allied as he did so. "You were right. Absolutely right. I was being soft. And because of that, I took a guilt trip which sidetracked the both of us from our journey through life. But no more. That's over and done with. I have no interest in atoning for anything if that atonement threatens to divide my beloved brother and I!" "If you say so..." begun Allied with a thoughtful expression on his face. "...but I see no reason why we should let these three years go to waste. How about we take all of the herbs you've collected over these three years and disperse em throughout the West Blue as you planned. Cure our home sea of the Lunar once and for all. And then we can finally resume our adventure," "Sweet," was Axis' only answer. But that was all Allied needed to hear to know that Axis was down with the plan. With a more than just a little bit of hesitation, Allied did something he hadn't done in three years. Allied outstretched an arm towards Aixs and then presented the arm's palm to Axis. At first Axis questioningly raised an eyebrow at Allied's gesture, prompting Allied to begin to hurriedly pull the arm away from Axis. But before Allied could finish doing so, Axis gently smiled and then took the hand of that arm into his own hand. Allied couldn't help but to blush a bit as Axis held his hand for the first time in three years. Something Axis used to do all of the time, but hadn't exactly had the time to do while he was obsessing over his atonement. As his way of coping with the embarrassment, Allied focused his gaze upon his feet and his feet alone. But as soon as Axis started to lead him away from scene of the crime, Allied immediately looked up with a toothy grin on his face. He looked up at his brother. The brother that he loved more than anyone or anything in the world. And the brother that loved him just as much. "I can't just usurp my brother!" Central tried to explain to the people around. "That would be setting a very bad precedent! You just can't do things that way!" "That's fine," snickered Ibrahim with Arid at his right side. All of the guardsmen were about to disagree with Ibrahim, but Ibrahim continued before they could begin to do so. "You don't have to usurp him. Because I'm going to remove him. With that charge of embezzlement we were discussing beforehand. I'm sure that if enough of the citizenry provide me with "proof" of having paid the same amount of taxes they were paying four years ago, I can surely make the case that Entente Powers has been keeping some of the World Government's due for himself. Not only that, but I can use the assets he bought with Allied's bribes as proof as well. There is no way he could have managed to afford such assets without having committed such embezzlement. And as far as any of us know, there isn't anyone else he could have gotten that kind of money from. Particularly not from pirates as a bribe. Wink, wink," "Sounds about right to me!" "Totally!" "Nice thinking, Ibrahim-sama!" "Indeed," garbled Central right before I end this story with a running gag. "Ibrahim, you're quite the guy. You know?"
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