Chapter 22
The Fire Tank Pirates.
It was a weird name for a pirate crew, but Snow didn't give it a second thought, since even his own crew's name was probably weird to others. Even if he thought it did sound quite cool. And if anyone said anything about it, he would like them to repeat it with his umbrella in their face.
"Snow the Gravedigger," Capone Bege looked over Snow while smoking a cigar. "Sit."
Snow looked at the chair before him. Then he looked over Capone Bege and turned his gaze to the rest of the gangsters. Every single one of them was armed with pistols under their belts, ready to draw them at any moment.
"I stand," Snow only refused the seat because he didn't like that Bege told him to sit.
"Be my guest, then." Bege seemed surprised by Snow's refusal to sit but waved his concerns away. "Then let's talk business, shall we?"
Snow nodded, took his briefcase, and set it on the table before Capone. Opening it, he revealed various jewelry and gems that his crew didn't have time to sell. There was a lot of stuff inside Caribou; even he was surprised to find some things he had forgotten he had taken.
"I know that the Celestial Dragons are staying at the city lord's manor," Snow said. "I want to know what they are doing here and their plans for tonight."
"Very dangerous business, then." Bege leaned forward, looking over Snow's offer for the information, calculating if it was enough. "But somehow I don't hear you speak about the Celestial Dragons with upper-case letters."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" How did one hear letters?
"I know everything there is to know about you, Snow the Gravedigger," Bege continued. "Your reputation is quite stellar in the world of pirates. But you are overestimating yourself. Don't involve yourself with the powers of the world, and don't get us involved with them either. As a courtesy from one pirate to another, I will forget your visit today. You should do the same."
Bege pushed the briefcase away, and when Snow put his hand on the briefcase to stop Bege's action, guns were drawn. Snow looked at the barrels of pistols aimed at him, but he didn't take his hand away.
"We are already enemies of the World Government, so stop this bullshit and give me the information," Snow said, pushing the briefcase into Bege's hands. "I know you have it, since you would have said so if you didn't and wouldn't have made it more complicated than it needed to be."
"There is the World Government, and there are those in power of the World Government," Bege pushed the briefcase back into Snow's hands. "I'd choose my enemies wisely if I were you, Snow."
Snow heard the cocking of the pistols, showing that they were loaded and ready to be fired. Snow smiled and took the briefcase from the table. But he didn't leave; instead, he pulled out his transponder snail and made a call.
"Listening," Law answered the call.
"Plan B in action," Snow replied and ended the call.
"Enough with the games, leave while I am still…"
Bege didn't finish his words before he disappeared together with Snow from within his ship and appeared on the deck of Snow's ship that was stationed not far away. Before Bege could say anything or react in any other way, Snow grabbed him by his throat and flew up after turning into his bird form.
"You know well what will happen if I drop you," Snow said, with his talons burying slightly into Bege's neck. "We Devil Fruit users are quite unlucky when it comes to water. Now, since you refused my politeness, you have to deal with this. So, speak."
"You're making a mistake. You can't mess with World Nobles, even if you are a pirate; there are lines you shouldn't cross."
"Do you, yes," Snow agreed. "You value your life and your wealth too much. I don't. I truly couldn't care less if I have to face the Fleet Admiral or not. So, you'd better not test me. I need to take a few things from those World Nobles in payback for what they did, so you are going to spill everything you know, or I will drop you now, and you won't have to worry about those in power of the World Government."
"Fine, fine," Bege replied, trying to calm down Snow. "All I know is that this island's lord has made previous dealings with the World Nobles. I don't know what they are, but he made quite a lot of money doing them."
"Continue."
It seemed that Snow was still as charming as he thought he was, since after a few more words, Bege told everything he knew, spilling all the beans without any restraint. Telling everything that came to his mind. It made Snow pity the man, and he let him go back to his ship.
"You will pay for this," Bege said, straightening his suit.
Snow stopped as he was about to leave him be. He truly couldn't care less about a man like him. He had nothing against him, a career criminal who only cared about making the right kind of connections and lifting his status higher and higher, but some things should not be spoken to Snow.
"I paid my share of the price to this world already," Snow replied, turning his cold eyes on Bege's. "I paid my whole life for those who deserved nothing from me. And then they still come around and take more from me. Be it you, the World Government, or the world nobles, it doesn't matter to me; I won't pay anything to any of you anymore. So don't dare to threaten me, because next time I meet you, I will take everything from you. And you will beg that it would be your life."
Bege was a small man who wanted to be big. But when Snow towered over him, lowering his face to Bege's, he only wanted to make himself as small as he could be to avoid Snow's gaze, for he was prey while Snow was the predator.
,,,
Law and Caribou waited for Snow as the night finally fell. It was only a couple of hours before the concert. So, Snow wasn't too worried about Bege selling him out. It probably would take far more time for him to seek an audience with the Celestial Dragons, and even then, there was little reason to get himself involved in this mess.
Snow told the information Bege knew and sat down with them. To tell the truth, that information wasn't worth all the trouble but was still useful. Unlike his actions, Snow wanted to make a clean job of it tonight.
"There are quite a few Marines," Law commented.
"Little puppies that will follow their masters out the moment they leave," Snow replied. "Though it is quite suspicious that it was the World Nobles who organized this concert. Well, while it makes no sense to me, they probably were bored and wanted to see this Uta live."
"Nothing is as simple as it seems with these bastards," Law countered. "But in the end, it is not our business."
"Kehehehe," Caribou laughed with excitement. "Let's just kill them all and be done with it."
"Shut up, Caribou," Snow shot the idiot down. "Well, the plan is simple: we wait until the concert. The rest of the crew will watch the Celestial Dragons' and the Marines' movements and make sure nothing funny happens in the harbor while waiting for us."
"We get into the manor, take anyone left out, and take everything that isn't nailed down with us," Law finished.
"By tomorrow, the log pose should reset and point to our next destination," Snow said. "As soon as it does, we are leaving."
Though Snow still wanted to find a musician, he put that aside for now. He was sure that he would find one on the next island or one beyond that. Right now, he wanted to get payback for what was done to Bepo.
With a few hours left, Snow changed his shirt, put on his black feathered cloak covering his shoulders and back, and lit up his pipe. The smell of herbs quickly washed over his cabin as he inhaled the medicine that cleared his lungs.
He was pissed; just thinking about the scene with those little bastards riding Bepo made him furious. There was nothing more he wanted than bashing those heads until nothing was left. But he couldn't do it now. Though he promised himself he would make sure nothing like that happened again if he had the power to do so.
…
Snow glanced at Law and Caribou as they walked through the streets. Now they were pretty empty, and the few people who were still here didn't even glance at them as they easily traversed to their destination. Even if Snow had quite a strange company and a giant umbrella on his back, nobody even batted an eye at him.
They arrived just in time to see the Celestial Dragons departing with an entourage of an army of Marines. Among them was a specific Vice Admiral whom he was glad was leaving the manor, leaving only a few lazy guards for them to deal with.
"Let's do this," Snow said and walked in first after waiting ten minutes for the coast to be clear and the guards to relax without their bosses around to watch over them. "Hello there."
"Huh?" The two guards at the gate looked at Snow as he approached them calmly and greeted them. "Sorry, pal, this is a restricted area. I have to ask you to turn around."
"Yeah, no." Snow punched the one who replied to his greeting in the chin, knocking him down. "Are your masters inside?"
Snow towered over the second guard, who still didn't know how to react. He held his gun to his chest like it was a baby, afraid to drop it. And yet, since he was a head shorter than Snow, he could only look up at Snow and nervously shake his head.
"No, sir. The lord and his guests left ten minutes ago. Please don't kill me."
"Calm down." Snow patted the guard's shoulder before karate-chopping his neck, making the guard collapse to the ground next to the first one. "Hmm? That worked quite well."
Snow looked at his hand and threw a few more karate chops in the air, feeling satisfied with this new trick. He rummaged through the guard's pockets and found keys. Thankfully, there were only a few keys, so it wasn't hard to find the ones that unlocked the gates to the main courtyard.
"We could have just jumped over the wall," Law pointed out.
"We are pirates, not common thieves, Law," Snow replied, looking at his vice-captain like he was an idiot. "And I think of myself as a gentleman. We are going through the front doors, and that's the end of it."
"Kehehe," Caribou laughed. "And it's far more fun this way."
"See, even the mud-brains have the right idea."
Law only rolled his eyes and followed Snow as he walked through the pathway to the manor like he owned it. At the front door, a few guards were smoking and chatting, not particularly concerned with the intruders who were coming closer.
"Delivery?" one of the guards lazily asked.
"Yes," Snow answered with a smile. "For you."
"Me?" The guard looked confused but also excited at what it could be.
It was a punch in the face that knocked him out. Before the other two could even react, Law knocked them down with the same karate chop Snow used previously, showing off his skills with an arrogant smirk.
"Oh, shut up," Snow rolled his eyes as he tried to ignore the jealousy he had for Law since his karate chop looked better than Snow's.
Inside the manor, Snow found a golden chandelier hanging above the main hall. Snow knew this island was quite rich from how big the town was and the presence of the Marines. And the Celestial Dragons probably wouldn't go anywhere near a place that could be considered poor by their standards.
But seeing the marble and the gold touches everywhere he looked confirmed that this place had quite a few things worth his time. First things first, Snow tried to find the basement. One thing he knew for sure was that people with manors like this must have quite a collection of wine bottles.
It took some wandering around and knocking down lone guards they met to finally find the staircase leading to the basement. A basement where Snow suspected the lord must have kept the best wine hidden from the sun and the eyes of others. As it was hidden better than Snow expected it to be.
What he didn't expect was to find cages upon cages in the vast space under the manor, with various animals locked up. But his eyes turned to the people, with worn and torn clothing, bruises all over their bodies, and chains around their limbs.
If nobody had discovered the unconscious guards Snow left behind, now everyone who was left in the manor must know that there was an intruder inside. After the manor shook for a couple of seconds, Snow retracted his fist from the wall as he looked at the scene before him.
A.N. As always. Thanks for reading and supporting me. If you want more 7 more chapters of this story and 42 chapters in total with all my current stories, please consider supporting me on pa treon ironworlf852. Thanks in advance.