56 Chapter 53
(Author: Surprise, second chapter! Didn't post two days ago, so had to make up for it. Hope you enjoy!)
"Fiery Pistol!" Carmen cried out as her index finger was pointed at Carina. The fight initiated with the small balls of fire being blasted towards Carina from her finger.
Carina effortlessly dodged Carmen's attacks. "That's it?" She dashed towards Carmen while holding a dagger on her left hand.
Carmen didn't seem to be worried as she watched Carina approaching her. "A metal? Do you really believe that the weapons as puny as that will manage to wound me?" She transformed into a ball of fire herself and began to blast towards the dashing Carina.
"And you think you will be able to touch me?" Carina bickered as she sidestepped Carmen's body slam and took out a small bag of flour from her pouch. "Guess what I stole from your kitchen?"
Rowan and Dan's eyes widened sighting Carina's action.
"Shoot!" Dan cursed as he ran backwards, followed by Rowan who quickly propelled himself away from the battle.
Carmen cried out in shock, "N-no, my flour, how dare you!!"
"And that wasn't the normal kind either." Rowan muttered. "Weird flour from somewhere in the Grand Line."
Carina threw the bag of flour towards Carmen's fire, before immediately dashing away.
*BOOOM* The flour instantly exploded and generated a bright light that momentarily blinded Carmen. Dan had to shield his eyes from the intensity, while Rowan squinted his eyes and continued to watch the battle.
When the light died down, what they sighted was Carmen, who was down on the ground, with a Seastone cuff on top of her.
Dan seemed confused. "What? Just like that?"
The fight was anti-climactic. Carmen's eyes were half-closed as she felt weak from the Seastone.
Carina yawned while standing in front of Carmen. "Want to go for another round? Nothing will change though." Carina removed the Seastone cuff on Carmen, who instantly growled in fury and turned her body back into flame,
Only to slump back down as Carina dropped the Seastone cuff onto her. She once again lifted the Seastone cuff, and Carmen tried to escape from her current position as soon as possible, but Carina was just a lot faster than her. When her fire-transformed body moved into different location, Carina simply appeared on top and dropped the cuff.
"Isn't this just a game of tag?" Rowan was trying his hardest to hold back a laughter. The supposedly serious fight turned into a comedy.
"URGH!!" Carmen growled in frustration as Carina lifted up the Seastone cuff once more, before blasting herself off in the air, only to see Carina on her side once again, who predicted her move and jumped along.
"F***!!" Carmen swore for the first time after becoming part of Rowan's pirate crew as she felt the weakness consume her once more.
Grabbing her gently, Carina landed on the ground smoothly. "Again?" Carina gave a lively smile to Carmen, who weakly shook her head frantically in negative. To her, Carina become the manifestation of a demon.
"If this was the death match, I won..." Carmen grumbled to herself, before quickly shutting her mouth as Carina raised her hand that was holding the Seastone cuff.
Rowan and Dan turned to one another and shrugged.
"You've gotten better Carina. Quite a surprise I'd say." Dan expressed his surprise as Carina and slumped Carmen walked back to them.
Rowan nodded in agreement. With his eyes, he noticed that Carina seems to be in an attempt to master Soru they saw from Baten; he saw her kicking the ground thrice to gain an instant boost in speed, although slightly.
"Let's just go..." Dejected Carmen walked in the direction of the town with a shopping bag on her hand.
"You know what to do." Rowan said as he distributed a good sum of money to Carina and Dan. "I will try to look for stuffs that we can add onto Prominence. Like engine for instance, since we got Carmen for firepower."
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Upon reaching the town before any other crew mates, Carmen continued to walk in the bad mood.
As she looked around for the store, one particular scene irritated her for some reason; there was a beautiful-looking man with blond hair and blue eyes, sitting with his legs crossed and sipping on a glass of wine. A butler was seen standing next to him formally, and a white horse with a diamond-shaped mark on its face was sitting on his other side.
Around him, there were numerous corpses with gashes all around body, lying dead.
"Haa, all of my subordinates dead, simply because of this cursed... my condolences." The man frowned and smashed the glass of wine onto the ground, shattering it. Looking up, he sighted Carmen, and seemed annoyed. "Why, are you awestruck by my handsomeness?"
Carmen grew a tickmark and clenched onto her shopping bag. "Awestruck?! If anything, it should be you to be awestruck in my flamboyance!! How can the member of the great Grimheart pirates be awestruck to the likes of you?!"
The man seemed to have been offended, as he stood up with an anger visible on his face.
"Alfred, sword!!" He held out his hand, to which the butler bowed and handed him the long-sword next to him.
While bowing, the butler calmly stated, "Master Cavendish, that woman is known as Carmen the 'Flame Empress,' known to have eaten-" Before he could finish, Cavendish already dashed towards Carmen and began to slash furiously towards her.
*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* His attacks were incredibly fast, but unfortunately, they simply bypassed her body, which turned into a fire.
"WHAAT?!!" Cavendish's jaw opened wide before he growled in frustration.
"-Flame Flame fruit, the Logia-type devil fruit. Recently, she was given 200 million Beli for sinking numerous marine ships of G-11." Nonetheless, the butler finished his words with a calm demeanour.
"Devil fruit... I need my haki! Where is my haki, Alfred!!" Cavendish shouted.
"I am sorry master Cavendish, but you haven't mastered them yet."
"How can that be-" Suddenly, he fell asleep on the spot, rendering Carmen confused.
"Oi Carmen, what are you doing there?" At the same time, Rowan waved his hand towards Carmen as he approached her. "Hm? Who's that dude?"
"Oh captain, it seems that this man just yielded in sight of my superiority!" Carmen said while dramatically raising her chin and stretching one of her arm.
Suddenly, sleeping Cavendish disappeared from his spot in a blur. At the next moment,
*BOOM* "What the... what's wrong with this dude?" Cavendish abruptly crashed into the building as Rowan simply slapped him in the cheek by using his bounce.
Alfred walked in front of the fallen Cavendish calmly. "Master Cavendish, this man is Rowan the 'Grimheart,' known as the captain of the Grimheart pirates, notorious for their recent decimation of the marine base G-11. He is wanted for 205 million Beli, and him along with the Flame Empress are considered as the newest Supernovas."
Cavendish was lying on top of a pile, with his eyes dazed out. "H-he can beat Hakuba?"
'Finally, someone capable!!' Cavendish inwardly celebrated, only to sight Rowan and Carmen casually walking away. "Hey, wait for a second!!!"
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"Oh, what is this? Rocket?" Rowan asked in curiosity.
"Hey, captain Grimheart, let me join-" Cavendish suddenly fell asleep, before raising his head with a devilish grin.
*BOOM*
"Stop." Rowan simply said and slapped him.
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"Uhh, where do I look for stuffs like engine? Do they even sell stuffs like that?" Rowan scratched his head while asking a blacksmith, who shrugged.
"I am the handsome Cavendish, fated to sail with you-" Cavendish fell asleep.
*BOOM* Without looking, Rowan slapped him, causing his face to be planted on the ground.
"Nice one, captain Rowan." Alfred said with one of his hand holding onto the rope that is connected to the horse.
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"Stop following me!!!" Rowan shouted as he ran, only for Cavendish and Alfred, who were riding on the horse, to chase him from behind.
"Accept me into your crew, captain!!!" Cavendish cried out.
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"Hey Rowan, do you see this?" After coming back to the ship, fully restocked, Carina showed the Log Pose to Rowan. "The needle is pointing up."
Dan jumped up in an excitement, "Up?! A floating island?!!"
"One above... but how do we get there?" Rowan muttered.
*BANG* *BANG* "Hey, let me in!!!" A voice was heard from the outside of the Prominence, causing Rowan to sigh once more.
"Cavendish? Was that his name?" Dan asked in curiosity, and Rowan nodded with a visible fatigue.
"That guy pestered me all day. Literally chased everywhere I went, telling me to allow him to join my crew, before falling asleep and attacking me all of a sudden. I am confused if he wants to join me or kill me." Rowan said tiredly.
Carmen storm out onto the deck and faced against Cavendish. "Scram, femboy!! You dare to speak of joining our crew and yet attempt to kill us in every chance you find?!"
Cavendish sighed in exasperation while rubbing the back of his head. "Those hideous acts aren't done by a handsome being such as myself, but Hakuba. Let me up!!"
"No, I will go down." Rowan weakly stated before jumping down Prominence and facing Cavendish. "So what now?"
"A prince such as myself deserves all the attention—a pirate crew that attracts all the attention, such as yours, is where I belong!" Cavendish tried to persuade Rowan. "Additionally, you are one of few who are able to defeat Hakuba; you have the right to become my captain!!"
"And why would I agree to that- oh come on." Rowan groaned as Cavendish fell asleep once more, raising up his devilish face.
Annoyed, Rowan raised his hand up once more, only to see Cavendish, who was grinning creepily, to sweat profusely and jump back, with the sword in his hand shaking in fear.
"Haha, it seems that he's scared of you Rowan." Carina laughed from the top of the deck, which made possessed Cavendish to turn his gaze to her before dashing,
*BOOM* Only to be slapped by Rowan once more.
"Haa, are we going to do this all night?" Rowan asked to Alfred, who was standing formally.
"No, captain Rowan-"
"Don't call me captain."
"-it seems that you have managed to subdue master Cavendish's other personality, Hakuba." Nonetheless, Alfred finished his words calmly, completely ignoring Rowan's interruption.
Possessed Cavendish knelt down in front of Rowan, while still shaking in fear.
"Listen buddy." Rowan crouched down to meet Cavendish's face, with a visible annoyance on his face, "If I see you attacking me or my crew again, my hand might slip, and you might die. Am I going to see you doing that again?"
*Slap* *Slap* Possessed Cavendish slowly raised his shaking hand and began to slap himself over and over.
"Ouch..." Dan winced as he saw Cavendish's cheeks becoming even more puffier than they were.
"AHHH!!" Cavendish suddenly jolted up with his hands onto his swollen cheeks. "Wha, ish haffened afain?!!"
"Welcome back, master Cavendish." Alfred bowed. "So captain Rowan, will you let my master into your crew?"
Rowan shook his head in denial, "Sorry, no can do-"
"I haf 490 illio eli witsh e." Cavendish spoke.
"He meant that he has 490 million Beli to help the crew." Alfred translated Cavendish's words.
Hearing this, Rowan froze on his spot and Carina perked up with an evident joy in her eyes.
""Oh boy."" Dan and Carmen rolled their eyes from the behind.
"Why didn't you say so sooner? Welcome to the crew, Cavendish, Alfred, and... cool horse." Rowan held out his hands to Cavendish and Alfred with a warm smile. Carina jumped down next to Rowan and smiled just like him, rubbing her hands together.
Cavendish sweatdropped. 'I should've said this sooner.'
