At the town, Ambrose sat alone on a park bench, looking at the blooming flower sprouting from the ground.
He was rather bored and wasn’t too sure what he should be doing in town.
Everyone else tried to go look for something to do, but the town was rather quiet as most townspeople were hiding in their houses’ basements.
As Ambrose looked at the flower, a hand appeared in front of him, two fingers holding a cigarette.
“Want one?” Leon asked while holding a cigarette pack in his other hand.
“Ahm, sure.” Ambrose accepted it even though he wasn’t much of a smoker.
He put it on his lips, and then Leon offered him a light.
As soon as the cigarette lit up, Ambrose took a deep puff and coughed uncontrollably.
“Do it slowly.” Leon lit up another cigarette and took a short puff before letting out the smoke slowly.
“You went to purchase cigarettes?” Ambrose asked.
“Purchasing…” Leon shook his head. “I took it from an abandoned stall, left there a few coins, and came here.”
“I see. Are all stores closed?” Ambrose asked as he saw most of the stores locked tight.
“Yeah, I thought these people would be fine when encountering pirates.” Leon thought out loud. “This is, after all, Pirate Battleground and not some innocent town in the middle of nowhere.”
“I suppose selling the “stolen” treasures we acquired is impossible here with all stores closed, et cetera.” Ambrose said.
“I didn’t expect to find one from here, anyway. We need to find a proper Black Market to get the maximum amount.”
“Yeah…” Ambrose nodded and took another puff. This time, he managed to resist coughing and instead let out a satisfied sigh.
“What were you doing before all this?” Leon asked and smoked the cigarette. “Before Mars and all this shit.”
“Nothin’ really.” Ambrose shrugged. “Running away, I suppose.”
He took a deep drag on the cigarette and let out a long, slow exhale.
“I was working for my father, selling wine and brewing in our small family vineyard.”
“How did Mars get you?”
Leon shook his head and sighed. “One day, I went to sell some samples of our wine, and then one of the customers happened to be Mars.
“He simply took a sip, shook his head for some odd reason, and walked away.
“I thought he was simply a wine connoisseur and expected some top-of-the-class wine from our small vineyard, hah.
“Then, next night, I woke up by wind hitting an open window, and at the corner of the room, Mars was sitting with a wine bottle in hand, gulping it down as if he were trying to quench his unsatiable thirst.
“The next thing I saw was a fist flying towards my face, and then everything went dark. The next time I woke up was inside Black Heart, with Apollo sitting next to me holding an ice bag against my cheek, trying to reduce the swelling.
“He explained everything to me.”
“Sheesh.” Ambrose shook his head. “It must’ve been a shock.”
“I want to return to that vineyard.” Leon said with a heavy heart. “It was so beautiful there. The vines were lush and green, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of grapes.
“It was my job to harvest the grapes, and I enjoyed it very much.”
“You will.” Ambrose took a breath and inhaled deeply. “Once we kill Mars,”
“I don’t understand where you get your confidence.” Leon stood up and stomped the cigarette out on the ground. “You have seen what Mars is capable of.”
“He hasn’t seen what I am capable of.” Ambrose replied.
“Yeah, I really don’t understand where you get your confidence from.” Leon chuckled and waved his hand lazily as he walked away. “I’ll return to the ship. See ya.”
“See ya.” Ambrose turned his gaze back to the ground and saw that the flower had finished blooming and its petals had fallen off.
“I know where you get confidence from, haha.” A figure leaned over the bench and smiled at Ambrose. “Nice to meet you, Ambrose.”
“Shit!” Ambrose jumped in surprise and turned around to face the stranger. “Who the hell are you?”
“You can call me Adam.” Adam smiled and introduced himself. He then jumped over the bench and sat down with his long legs crossed. “Ahh, fresh air, at least. I was tired of being huddled inside that fucking ship.”
Ambrose frowned and wondered why this man acted so comfortably around him. However, he was also shocked by the person’s height—he was the tallest man he had ever encountered!
Yughragh was also enormous, but Adam was clearly a human, and yet he was towering over him effortlessly.
“Your boss, Mars, is rather careless, or he simply doesn’t care.” Adam laughed. “It wasn’t hard to track you down. We also got an emergency message from here; apparently, pirates had come knocking on their doors. Luckily, we were already close.”
“You are part of Sea King’s crew, I assume?” Ambrose crossed his legs. “Seeing that you haven’t killed me yet, did the Sea King accept my proposal?”
“No, he didn’t.” Adam grinned. “You should’ve just killed the assassin. He failed at his only purpose in life; you think he’ll let him live? It was a worthless attempt.”
“I see.” Ambrose put the cigarette on his lips and took a puff. ‘Well, I expected it.’
“I am here for a different reason.” Adam smiled. “Y’know, my boss just cannot believe your words blindly that Mars has the mace. I need proof.”
“I understand.” Ambrose threw the cigarette away, and it landed on the ground with a soft hiss. “Want me to take you there or what?”
“Heh.” Adam shook his head and relaxed against the bench’s backrest. “No need. Actually, I do believe in you.”
“What?” Ambrose frowned. “Then why the hell are you talking to me?”
“Reasons.” Adam rubbed his neck. “Come with me to visit the Sea King.”
“Hah.” Ambrose laughed. “You want Mars to kill me? I am trying to kill him, don’t you see?”
“Yah, I’ll talk to him.” Adam yawned and stood up. Then he looked at Ambrose with a growing grin. “I think we’ll be friends. There are only two things I like in life: sex and fighting a powerful swordsman.
“I think our fight will be very entertaining—a student of Reinhardt.”
‘Student? The fuck?’ Ambrose raised his eyebrow and watched as the tall man walked away. ‘Since when I was a disciple of that cunt? What in the world?’
…
At the corner store, tucked away in a random alleyway.
The drunken man sighed and looked away from the transmitter.
“There is good and bad news.”
“Bad news first.” Mars said with a frown.
“Well, the bad news is that no one has smuggled anything in any major Black Markets for weeks.” The drunken man said. “It’s a bad time for that, you see. It’s that time of year when Krakens have been appearing from their underwater trenches.
“Yeah, I saw one.” Mars grumpled.
“Ah, have you now?” The drunken man asked with a scoff. “I have heard rumors from a few of my former colleagues that the Sea King himself had sent a commander to try to tame one of them.
“Apparently, it failed; what a shocker, right?”
‘Might’ve been Bonney.’ Mars crossed his arms and asked. “The good news?”
“At the Sea King’s own private island, there will be a big auction happening. All commanders and big pirate captains that work closely with him will gather there and bring treasures to be sold.
“If the heart of the Nymn Tree is actually here in the Sea King’s territory, it will be there. There is also a chance that something as rare as that will be sold, even if it isn’t the one you are looking for.”
“Hmm…” Mars nodded. “That is good enough information.”
“You ain’t planning on going there, are ya?” The drunken man said. “That is suicide.”
“Wouldn’t you like that?” Mars scoffed. “I’ll think about it.”
“Leave the town alone, ya hear me?” The drunken man looked out of the window. “They are innocent.”
“I am a man who keeps his promises.” Mars laughed mockingly and exited the store. “I’ll leave them alone.”
As soon as the store’s door closed, the drunken man sat down and grumpled under his breath.
“I hope someone kills that bastard.”
…
‘The auction…’ Mars frowned and activated the Eye of Shimon, but he didn’t see any strings of fate concerning the auction.
He wasn’t sure whether it was good or bad.
As he walked out of the alleyway, he stopped and felt a sensation of a cold blade touching his neck.
“I expected you to be able to sense me.” Adam smiled while leaning against the wall of a random building, holding an enormous sword with a grin on his face. “Mars, nice to meet you.”
“Adam Slasher…” Mars looked away from him and cracked his knuckles. “Sea King sent his First Commander to hunt me down? I am honored.”
“Hahaha.” Adam laughed. “No, no. You misunderstood. I am here for peace.”
“Peace?” Mars laughed. “Such a word doesn’t exist in here.”
Adam smirked. “Do you have my boss’ mace, perhaps? It’s basically his mistress, and he has been very sad since its disappearance.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Mars feigned ignorance.
“I almost believed ya.” Adam chuckled. “Almost.”
“What do you want, Slasher?” Mars turned to look at him, ignoring the blade that was still pressed against his neck. “Came for peace? Then questioned about mace? What do you really want?”
“Come to talk to my boss, in person, of course.” Adam smiled. “If you’ll return the mace, he’ll promise you a deal that will make you very satisfied.”
Mars turned silent.
After a short while, he frowned and asked, “Underestimating me much? With a single punch, I can decimate half of his precious island.”
“It ain’t a threat.” Adam pulled away his sword and sheathed it. “Visit him with your crew, return the mace, and you can strike a deal with him.”
“I have heard rumors of the Sea King and his bad temperament.” Mars had a feeling that he would not be pleased to see them.
However, he still shrugged his shoulders and smirked. “Fine, I’ll come.”
“Oh, another thing.” Adam added. “Ambrose shall travel with me.”
“Huh? The hell?” Mars frowned. “Why?”
“Of course, I want to talk with a student of Reinhardt himself.”
“Student of Reinhardt?” Mars frowned before his eyes widened in realization. “You mean…”
“Wait, you didn’t know?” Adam erupted in laughter. “Hahaha, did you kidnap him or what? I thought you were in kahoots with Reinhardt since his student was among your crew, but I suppose not~”
Mars’ back was slightly drenched in cold, but he then shook his head furiously.
‘The Eye of Shimon wouldn’t have led me to him if it meant my suicide. I’ll become stronger than Reinhardt soon enough; this doesn’t change anything.’
“If that was all, see you in there.” Adam smiled, turned around, and walked away while humming a peaceful tone.