CH -40

Yeah…" Kazuki drifted out.

"So we're all set to go?" Bo asked Halcen.

"Not quite. Grey's still out."

"Oh…" Bo looked down. "How much longer do you think it'll take?" he asked Miriane.

"Well if you all would have shut up, I could've slept in longer," a deep voice joked from the other side of the room.

They all looked to see the tall older man standing up straight, covered in bandages, the same as the others.

"Grey," Halcen said low in surprise. "You're okay."

Grey nodded slowly. "As are you… thank God."

"It was you two we were worried about," Halcen pointed out.

Grey bowed his head toward them. "I'm sorry for causing worry."

Halcen eyed the man up and down.

"Well, I better look you over too, to make sure you really are good," Miriane said, walking towards the man twice her height.

"And who might you be?" Grey asked, kindly.

"This is Miriane," Halcen said. "She's been taking care of us. She was Lenny's wife."

"Lenny?" Grey looked down at Miriane in horror. His face flustered as his emotions overcame him. Grey dropped to the ground and knelt before the old woman. "I…. I am so sorry," he choked.

"Hold on here," Miriane said, waving her hands. "This is all very… odd."

"It's my fault he was killed, ma'am," Grey said.

"And just how might that be?" Miriane asked sarcastically.

"Grey…?" Halcen said lowly.

"I forced him to tell us about the island and the Bear God. He was killed for betraying them."

"Forced?" Miriane laughed. "My Leonard sat down on that dock everyday for years, waiting to warn unwary travelers. There's nothing you could have pried out of him that he wasn't already willing to tell you."

Grey looked up to Halcen, unable to come up with the words. He turned his attention back to Miriane. "That might be… but I put extra pressure on him and…"

"Whatever transgressions you fear you committed, you are forgiven," Miriane said, calmly. "My husband knew the risks to his own self when he tried to warn the others. He did the same with you. This time, he got caught. I don't think he would have blamed you."

Grey gulped. "Still…"

"Enough of this," she said a little more sternly. Halcen could tell she was getting a bit agitated. Then she recomposed herself. "All is forgiven," Miriane said lowly. "Now… would you please stand up, so I can get back to checking your condition?"

Grey nodded, then stood up.

Miriane led him to the couch, and he sat down while she began her work. "Well, you are still in quite a bad condition, but you'll get better in time. The main concern is your stomach; it could reopen if you get too rambunctious. So make sure you take it easy. The rest of it is just a lot of bruising, which should heal naturally in a while." She motioned to Halcen. "Make sure he holds off for a couple weeks, just to be sure. I'm sure as pirates, you've got a lot going on, but if he bleeds out, he'll die."

Halcen nodded. "I'll make sure. But he's okay?"

She nodded back and smiled. "He'll be fine."

"Good." Halcen looked back to Grey. "Do you want to step outside with me for a minute?"

"Oh... yeah, I guess." The First Mate smiled as he stood up, but a glimpse of worry shot through his eyes and his heart thumped.

"Ooooooh, Grey's in trouble," Bo laughed.

Jory and Kazuki laughed along with him.

"You guys stay here," Halcen said flatly.

Bo shot looks around the group. "Maybe we're the ones in trouble," he said in a low, joking voice.

Halcen just shook his head and rolled his eyes as he left the building. He closed the door behind them and started walking. "Walk with me."

Grey gave him a curious look. "What's going on?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Okay…?"

"I realized something… during the battle with Kumajin."

"Oh?"

"That moment… when Kumajin tore into you…"

"Yeah…" Grey rubbed his stomach. "Wasn't fun."

"It was staged."

Grey looked up in shock. "Excuse me?"

Halcen turned to look Grey straight in the eye. "Don't lie to me, Grey. I know what happened. You only used enough Haki to prevent him from killing you. You could have stopped it entirely, but chose not to. I watched it play out."

"What are you-?"

"Don't treat me like an idiot."

Grey's face went flat.

"You did the same thing when we were attacked by the Marines," Halcen's voice threw aggression hard. "You've been intentionally holding back since we left the Moby Dick, and I don't know why. I could have died in this fight. I was counting on you, and you let him gut you. You put yourself out of commission on purpose in the middle of a life and death fight. And I almost died because of it."

Grey's face twitched. "But you didn't."

"Cause I pulled off a miracle at the last second."

"You give yourself too little credit."

"And apparently I gave you too much. I thought, being who you were, you would give this everything you had. But you're still just the same old lazy fuck you were when I first met you! I thought you'd changed, I thought you'd reawakened the fire inside of you. But you… you just keep proving you can't handle it."

"You really think that? I was the only one that came with you. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Not if you keep putting my life in danger. Then you're just a saboteur."

"Sabotage? You think that's why I came with you? To get you killed? That's a little paranoid, don't you think?"

"What else am I supposed to think? You let me almost die twice now."

"I'm trying to get you to be able to handle things yourself. You're the Captain. You have to be able to handle the big bads yourself."

"I don't wanna hear it! You fucked me over and I don't trust you. From now on, you don't do anything. I'm gonna do this without you. I'll let you off at Loguetown with the others. You can find your way from there."

Grey's face broke out in red. "You're kicking me out?"

"I don't have any other choice, Grey. You're clearly not as dedicated to this path as I am. You can go back to Whitebeard if you want… I don't care."

Grey's body shook with rage. "You can't be serious."

"Deadly." Halcen turned and walked off, leaving his back to the old man.

Halcen returned to Miriane's house. He could smell the sweet scent of dinner. This was one small thing he was still able to enjoy: getting something in his stomach. Just another bad day in the long string he'd been having.

Dinner passed without him saying more than a few words. The others talked about their parts in the battle and the end result of Halcen finally finishing Kumajin off. They all seemed impressed with Halcen's final move in the last moment. He shrugged it off. He wasn't trying to get their attention. He just wanted to move on.

When he was done eating, he stood up, interrupting their conversation. "We're going to leave bright and early tomorrow. We have everything we need for the trip. We'll be heading straight to Loguetown. You guys can hop off there," he nodded towards the snipers.

"Sounds good to us," Bo said cheerfully. He was finally going home.

"I'm going to sleep now. You all can turn in when you're ready." Halcen walked out of the room, and down the hall to Miriane's extra room where she had set up their beds. He laid down, exhausted, but his mind still racing. There was so much to do, so much to plan.

The Chaos Pirates Captain gathered his crew together in the morning light at the docks. Everything was packed and ready to go. They were all boarding the Black Tail, one at a time. Everyone was accounted for this time.

Halcen looked to Miriane, the old woman that had aided them in their recovery. "Thank you, ma'am."

"Ma'am? Boy, don't make me get crazy on you."

Halcen chuckled. "But really though, I appreciate the help. We would have likely lost a few lives without your aid."

"It was no problem, really. Now get on out of here before I change my mind and have you attacked by an army of children."

Halcen chuckled again. "Sounds good." He turned his back toward the island and began his own boarding onto his ship. "Let's get out of here!" he called to his crew. "Make way for Loguetown!"

Cheers and whooping came from the majority of the crew. The only two unexcited were Grey and Bailu. Neither of them vocalized it, but they were each going through their own checklists of misery. The others would never have realized.

BADUP-BADUP!

Halcen cocked his head. What the fuck is that?

A strange sound emanated from the inside of the ship.

BADUP-BADUP!

"What is that?!" Halcen called to the crew.

Loyola came up from under deck with something in her one hand. "It's a den-den mushi, Captain," she said out loud, bringing the strange device to Halcen.

"Who the fuck is calling us?" Halcen took the ugly snail from the woman's hand and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hey, Halcen! How's it going buddy?" came a raspy voice.

"Max? What the hell do you want?"

"Have you found you buddy Shanks yet?" he asked.

Halcen looked around the deck from person to person. "No. We got… held up."

"Oh, that's too bad. Whereabouts are you, then?"

"We're a few days from Loguetown, about to head there now."

"Right… well see… I need you to go the opposite direction."

"Excuse me?"

"There's a couple guys I need you to pick up for me; owe me money. That kinda thing."

"Can't you have somebody else do it? I'm already way behind schedule."

"Listen buddy, you're the only one I've got in the East Blue with the skills to take care of this. Everyone else I've sent has gotten their asses handed to them. So… you need to get your ass over to Stoneclaw Island, now!"

"Don't talk to me like that, Max. You're not gonna like what happens."

"You don't seem to understand the situation, Halcen. Don't forget, you owe me for the ship and crew."

"And you want to call that in, right now, this soon?"

"They owe me a substantial amount of money. So yes, I'm cashing in now."

Halcen seethed. "I'm not going. I already have enough shit to deal with right now. I'll go after I get done in Loguetown."

"That's another couple weeks. I'm not waiting that long. You get my ship and my crew over there now, and take care of this, or I'm gonna blacklist you."

Halcen gulped. For someone who Halcen could take in an actual fight, Max had resources… that spread far around the world. He could make Halcen's life a living hell. "Fine. Who am I after?"

"Their names are Reisen Jin and Mangetsu Fein. They borrowed money they couldn't pay back, and used it to build themselves a nice little fortress on Stoneclaw island. I want them both, alive."

Clink!

Halcen's face twitched. He looked to Valentina. "You heard him, take us to Stoneclaw Island."

"What the fuck, dude?" Bo shouted.

"Excuse me?" Halcen looked dead at Bo. "Do you want to try again?"

Kazuki spoke up, but calmly. "You promised to take us to Loguetown."

"And I will… after this. I gave my word to Max before you."

"Who the fuck is this Max guy?" Bo asked.

"He's the one that gave me the ship and lent me the crew. Jory, Loyola, Valentina, Bailu… they're all part of Max's company. And I owe him for it. So if I don't do this, we're gonna get taken down. So if you'd rather us be attacked trying to get to Loguetown, we can do that instead. But he's got a fleet of ships bigger and faster than this one. So if you want to get sank, let me know. Or… if you want to swim to Loguetown, you can get out now. Otherwise, shut up, and wait."

Bo looked dead at Halcen in anger, then turned his back and headed down under deck.

"That's what I thought."