97 YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! (Part 1)
"Stop there! Ballywood Police!
You're under arrest!"
Spontaneously dozens of police entered the square at full speed from all corners and surrounded all the people who were celebrating this small victory, including David and Perona.
"It seems that Fred-senpai was right" David whispered into Perona's ghostly ear. "The Police and the Marine always arrive late and then try to take all the credit…"
I this kind of situation, since he's the oldest, David should have been the one to address those agitated police officers and invite them to join the celebration with everyone. However, since David was very nervous because he had never faced this type of situation and Perona was too elated by the attention received, was she who initiated the approach.
"This…
Hello agents!
You don't need to be so tense" Said Perona proudly. Very proudly even though she wasn't the one who did all the hard work. "The bad guys have been defeated and two have been captured alive.
If you want you can take one to interrogate him, the other stays with us to…"
"I SAID THAT YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!!!" The nearest police officer shouted, aiming his gun more precisely than before at Perona's head. "Hands on your head and on your knees!"
This situation became completely incomprehensible, not only for Perona and David, but also for all the people around them.
From the moment the police arrived the police pointed their weapons at David and Perona and no one else. They completely ignored the culprits, the masked men they had caught.
For our heroes the only possible explanation is that the police were misinterpreting the situation because at the end this had been a one-way massacre in their favour.
"Hey?
But we're not the bad guys" David said as he pointed to the two depressed kidnappers at his feet. "They're the ones who tried to kidnap us and kill us.
There're witnesses."
"Is it because of the damage?" Said Perona, not caring in the least that they pointed a mere gun at her. "Our boss will pay for the repairs if that bothers you."
However, these reasonable explanations didn't make the agents put down their weapons, quite the opposite.
"OBEY! OR WE'LL SHOOT!!"
They didn't receive the expected response and that's why the police loaded their weapons, making their threat even more credible... and also exponentially igniting indignation among citizens who forcibly pay their salaries.
"But agents, these young people haven't done anything wrong"
"They have only defended themselves from some guys who were trying to kidnap and kill them"
"Are you going to shoot two children for defending themselves from some armed guys?"
"I THOUGHT THIS WAS BALLYWOOD!"
"Put down your weapons! They're not even being aggressive, neither have weapons!"
But not even the energetic, coherent and massive defense of the citizens of Ballywood could change the police chief's mind! He seemed determined to take David and Perona dead or alive no matter what they were told or what happened!
"STEP AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE CONSIDERED THEIR COMPLICIES!"
Nothing could change his mind except...
"Hello filler agent
Do you have a problem with my subordinates?"
An intimidating voice and presence that came from behind him
"AAAAAHHHH!!"
Alerted by this unforeseen and terrifying development of events, the police officer turned around with his pistol in hand with the intention of shooting at point-blank range whoever had dared to stand behind him for whatever reason.
"Huh?
When? How?"
But when he tried to pull the trigger he realized something worrying.
His service pistol, which he was so fond of, had disappeared from his hands without even knowing when he had lost it.
Instead it was in the hands of the man in front of him, although that gun was no longer the same as the one from a few seconds ago. It was completely deformed, as if it had been crushed by a hydraulic press... a hand-shaped hydraulic press…
"Here, I'll give it back to you."
That police officer didn't understand how someone could be so skillful as to take the gun out of his hands without him realizing it and at the same time have so much grip strength as to crush even steel with his bare hands. But what he was really wondering was why his subordinates hadn't fired yet after what had just happened.
However, when he looked up a little to see the face of that incredibly tall man he got the answer to all his questions.
"He… is…"
"Frederick Freed!!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Demon Hunter!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Dr. Doom!"
"Pirate Butcher!"
"Ballbreaker!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Greedy Monster!"
"Doppelganger!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Dark Mind!"
"Demon-faced Torturer!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Human Weapon!"
"Dirty Jobs!"
"Hero of Blastein"
"Venom Demon!
"Ballywood hero!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Orgy creator!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Bloody Hair"
"Beast Tamer"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Flash Dead!"
"Super Killer!"
"Ballywood hero!"
"Yeah…
That's me" Answered Fred While standing in front of the police officer as if he were an inferior being in comparison "All of them…
But especially I'm the Ballywood's hero"
With the appearance of Fred, Stephen and Hawky on his shoulder the atmosphere in that square completely changed. Everyone in that place, from the smallest child to the oldest police officer knew that charismatic one-man army that was kind to the good guys but terrible against the bad guys
His mere presence reassured all those who had been threatened by the police for doing nothing wrong, giving them the absolute certainty that he would solve this dangerous situation for them. However, his penetrating and hostile gaze worried and even scared the police.
It was as if the police understood very well that they were doing something bad and that's why they had the feeling that they were just some seconds away from adorning the walls and floor of the square, just like the corpses around them.
"I don't care who you're or if they're your lackeys!" Shouted the leader of the police officers, who was fighting against the fear he felt to be able to look into Fred's eyes with authority and thus carry out the job that had been entrusted to him. "These young people are accused of mass murder, disruption of public order, destruction of public and private property and…"
"AAANNNND!" Fred shouted, interrupting the policeman and progressively undermining the courage he had managed to muster by bringing his threatening eyes closer to his face with each sentence he intoned. "In Ballywood murder isn't a crime as long as it's in self-defense, something that's more than accredited by many witnesses with photographic evidence.
The disturbance of public order was caused by the guys who were crushed and captured, my boys are the victims just like all these good people
The destruction of property is paid in full by the person who caused that damage. There's no need for extremely aggressive arrests unless there have been collateral victims, which is not the case here.
And before taking a minor to the police station after accusing them of serious crimes, you should contact her guardian, which is me... and her lawyer...
WHICH IS ME TOO!!" Fred shouted once again, making the police officer fall to the ground with his violent tone of voice... whom he was now asking calmly and even kindly. "And now, after reminding you of the laws of the country you serve… which you seem to have conveniently forgotten…
Will you honestly answer my questions, please?"
However, both that police officer and all the police officers who surrounded him without really knowing what to do knew that the calm and kindness with which Fred was talking was a farce. A farce that they knew very well, since they had performed dozens of times in their work with the people they detained.
That's why they knew that Fred wanted to get something from them and would resort to violent methods to get the truth if necessary, even if doing so might get him into some kind of trouble.
"This.."
However, neither that police officer nor his colleagues seemed to know that the real danger lay solely and exclusively in answering positively to that question.
A deadly question that in conjunction with his Magical Pact would deliver to Fred on a silver platter several extremely compromising confessions in front of the anonymous citizens and journalists that he had indirectly gathered for this moment.
Nevertheless, that would have been too easy...
"Hello Fred, long time no see" Said a melodic voice accompanied by the rhythmic sound of tap shoes. "Have you grown a little more?"
That voice and tap-dancing sound belonged to a person that Fred and that every One Piece fan knew perfectly despite not having had a great role in the manga or anime until now
"Hello Laffitte, my favorite sheriff and tap dancer…
I was wondering when you were going to show up…" Fred said, diverting the attention of the filler police officer to focus on the highest ranking police officer in the country to direct all his hostility at him and possibly extract a confession. "Maybe when my subordinates had tried to resist the bullying acts of your minions to have a [REAL VALID EXCUSE] to kill or kidnap them…
Or maybe when I had lost my temper after seeing what you were trying to do to my people and in response I would have acted violently with all your minions and thus have [REAL VALID EXCUSE] with which to try to kill me, capture me or accuse me of a crime in order to become a outlaw…
...
But I see that you had no choice but to show up when I cornered your minions peacefully."
That man of three meters forty with pale complexion, dark hair, dressed like a stereotypical tap dancer with his certified hat, cane and of course tap shoes was none other than Laffitte, nicknamed "Demon Sheriff", the navigator, chief of staff and one of the Ten Titanic Captains as the captain of the Fifth Ship of the Blackbeard Pirates.
However, that would be something that would happen thirteen to fifteen years later after joining Blackbeard. He was now the youngest Sheriff in the history of Ballywood thanks to his incredible combat, investigation, infiltration and interrogation capabilities.
A sheriff who years later would be expelled from West Blue for his excessive police violence, or so at least that's the official version we heard from marine officers in the manga and anime, however Fred knew that wasn't the truth or at last not the whole truth. Laffitte's calculating and calm personality clashed with those alleged crimes and upon seeing him in action for a long time, Fred also understood that those charges were only a scapegoat.
Before being violent Laffitte was a corrupt police officer! An extremely corrupt as well as intelligent and calculating bastard who sold himself to the highest bidder!
Curiously in the future, coincidentally the same year that one of the mafia bosses he was covertly working for named Capone Bege became a pirate, Laffitte was also exiled and became a pirate by joining Blackbeard.
Those two facts planted a theory in Fred's mind.
Fred theorized that within a few years all of Laffitte's connections to the mafia and other criminals grups would be exposed in a way that couldn't be ignored and that would somehow force both him and Bege to escape from West Blue. However, to prevent these acts from tarnishing certain influential people involved in all this corruption, the truth would be hidden from the public with the excuse of police violence.
And that person had been one of Fred's biggest enemies in Ballywood and West Blue for quite some time.
"You're as evil-minded and imaginative as ever" Laffitte said calmly, feigning complete ignorance of Fred's serious accusations. "None of that, we just arrived, especially me.
I have had a certain setback that has forced me to slow down"
A fucking bullshit that almost no one now believed in the least after Fred's exposition, especially Fred
"Yes… you have just arrived… and yet you have gone directly after my subordinates, without asking any questions, as if you knew perfectly well who had participated in the confrontation even though there're so many people here...
And despite knowing so much, you have completely ignored the real culprits who initiated the attack. A scum that even the good people of Ballywood have pointed out as the culprits
Despite knowing that, you have only focused on criminalizing my people and threatening to kill them without accepting any explanation, to them and to those who dared to point out the incomprehensible behavior of your minions!" Fred said with such a sarcastic tone that even the most idiotic and socially incapable person was able to understand that Fred was accusing Laffitte of orchestrating this entire attack "Do I or do I not have reasons to be evil-minded?"
But obviously Laffite was never going to confess or even answer Fred's questions.
"Your imagination never ceases to fascinate me."
If at some point you want to leave the bounty hunting business you could be a great conspiracy novelist...
But in my modest professional career I have learned that usually the simplest explanation is usually the correct one." Laffitte also responded sarcastically, reciting while tap dancing the excuses he thought of before intervening: "My men were afraid of the combat capabilities of your superhuman subordinates, they got very nervous and made a mistake some mistake.
And they haven't paid attention to your prisoners because… well… they didn't seem like a threat right now."
In short, more of the typical nonsense that Fred expected. But even though they met his expectations, Fred got angry anyway...
"Oh…so…you're saying this is all a misunderstanding?" Fred asked with an exaggerated and unnatural smile that didn't hide very well his extreme desire to destroy his mouth with headbutts. "Really?"
"Yes, it's a terrible misunderstanding
I'm glad I was able to clear it up before there could have been any incidents" Answered Latiffe, hiding his hostility very well in his way of expressing himself, but his actions betrayed him "However
I would appreciate it if you could pay for the damages caused by your subordinates, hand over to me the captured suspects to interrogate them and…
I would need your subordinates to accompany me to the police station to give his version.
It'll be a moment…"
Despite Laffitte's more than obvious attempts to provoke Fred by threatening the safety and freedom of his friends, Fred played along patiently and even kindly, without a violent approach, although he was dying to do it
"Of course we'll pay for the damage, although technically the assailants should pay too, but I doubt they have money and you'll never catch whoever gave the order, so only the victims will have to pay, obviously….
And of course we'll hand you over to your collaborators… oops… this… I mean the people who tried to kidnap and kill my subordinates, whom you don't know at all…" Fred said with extreme sarcasm but an extremely kind expression… only to forget about the feigned kindness in less than a second "But neither I nor my children are going to enter your police station where sometimes whoever enters doesn't come out... at least don't come out live..."
And that accusation and obsession with undermining his authority, the highest police authority in the country, was beginning to erode Laffitte's great patience, although he knew perfectly well what Fred was looking for precisely that.
"You're so ill-considered and paranoid that you're starting to scare me, Fred," Laffitte said, with the same melodic tone as before, but with more severity and holding his cane more tightly. "But you can't refuse, we're in the middle of a police investigation.
We need to clarify what has happened and this is not the place for that, my police station is.
Please, great Hero of Ballywood, collaborate with the Ballywood police"
And now Fred, wanting to test a theory, decided to go all out against Laffitte even at the risk of exposing his secret weapon.
"Very good Laffitte, Sheriff of Ballywood.
We'll go with you and collaborate in your farce, but as long as you fulfill one condition…" Fred said, slowly but steadily approaching the Sheriff "You'll promise me that…
In the event that you had planned or simply thought about doing some kind of harm to me or my friends, either by participating in a kidnapping plan, taking advantage of your position as Sheriff or whatever...
HERE AND NOW!
You'll confess all the crimes you have committed so far including this one!
You'll denounce all the motherfuckers with whom you collaborate in illicit activities until now!
You'll kill all the scum that you have betrayed in the most cruel and painful way possible... and finally you'll follow the fate of your companions, giving yourself a cruel and agonizing death."
And that request full of venom not only left Laffitte speechless, but also all the people in the square who until now had been talking about, photographing and writing down word by word the discussion between the acclaimed hero and the suspicious Sheriff.
"…"
Until now both had mostly used sarcasm, double meanings, false humor and political language to threaten each other, but now this verbal confrontation destroyed all the previous subtlety.
This had practically been a declaration of war and the war would probably start soon if they couldn't calm down.
Glup...
The anonymous citizens and journalists who attended this event began to feel the danger just as before. Their instinct told them that they should flee or take refuge again in a distant store, but their brain kept them in the same place.
They didn't want to miss even for a second that exciting and tense thriller that was happening before their eyes.
"You just have to promise and we'll follow you.
Otherwise I won't trust you and we'll continue on our way." Fred said mockingly as he turned his back on Laffitte to indicate that he was leaving, but not before attacking his enemy's patience again in the hope of forcing him to make a mistake. "And before you insist, I'll remind you. You have many reporters here who have seen and photographed what happened in case you need proof of what happened. Even evidence of your extremely questionable actions that the king, the current president or presidential candidate won't like at all.
I'm sure that none of them, especially those who will fight for the presidency in a month and a half, wouldn't want to be involved in a scandal due to the horrible treatment that their subordinate is giving to the one who freed the country from the evil pirates and saved their lives while you...
What exactly were you doing that day? Did your feet hurt from dancing so much and you stayed home?
Oh, no... it was an unexpected and powerful diarrhea or so I could hear..."
Laffitte was holding back with all his might but...
Clack...
Laffitte couldn't let him leave yet! Much less after reminding him of a cruel episode in his life that Fred was surely guilty of and above all after undermining his authority and image so brutally in front of his subordinates and all the people in the square, which was now even more crowded than before the attack.
Soru!
At high speed, Laffitte cut into Fred's path, preventing him from meeting his men to leave.
"...Fred, you're trying my patience..." Laffitte said threateningly, wielding his cane with both hands, ready to unsheath the sword hidden inside at any moment. "I'm patient and tolerant, especially with arrogant teenagers like you, but YOU're getting in the way of my work and accusing me of very serious things.
If you continue to challenge…"
"Do you want me to make an even bigger scandal just a few weeks before the elections?
GREAT!
I'm just warming up!" Fred exclaimed, ready to corner Laffitte completely now that the opportunity he had fought and manipulated so hard was now before him "But I insist...
I only came here on vacation to disconnect from work and unlike you, I don't want trouble... However, you have tried to detain my subordinates in a suspicious and illegal manner and now it seems that you're even trying to attack me.
Fortunately we can avoid going to trial either for your illegal actions or for my... alleged... defamations and we would even follow you to the police station to waste our valuable time on your false investigation.
And you just have to take a small oath so that we can be friends again."
Fred seemed determined to provoke his enemy into carrying out one or another suicidal action that he could take advantage of to eliminate him.
'Come on! Take one of the hooks, you fuking motherfucker tap dancer!
I've never liked tap dancing!'
Meanwhile, Laffitte made superhuman efforts not to choose any of the harmful paths that Fred forced him to choose, even though it was difficult in his situation...
'Fucking demon kid...
I really want to kill you!'
The conflict could break out at any time!
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You'll be able to see 8 chapters in advance in my Pa-treon
pa-treon.com/user?u=83938371
