'Goodbye Jack. Hellloo Super Jack.'
Abrella thumps the now full suitcase on the counter in front of me."Well there it all is. Mostly in 100 count stacks of 5,000's. Hey, speaking of 30 million, did you read the paper yesterday?" Abrella continues as she tries to staple my papers to the ones Mori prepped beforehand. She clicks the device twice more and frowns when nothing happens. "Some rookie in East Blue broke the record over there. 30 mil as his starting bounty. Now North Blue's in last place for the five oceans. Their record for that's only 28."
My elation dies. The air freezes in my lungs and I gaze at the Petty Officer in horror. Not that Abrella noticed, her eyes are downward, digging through a desk drawer for a new box of staples. "What?"
"I said the record in North Blue's only 28." she repeated, setting a new strip of staples into the empty tray. "The Grand Line's obviously still in the lead at-" I snatch the briefcase and run for the stairs. "Hey! Wha-Jack! Where are you going!"
'Luffy's bounty is active! Luffy's bounty is active!' The words pulse in my head and their implications send me into a panic attack as I sprint to the fourth floor. Luffy and his crew arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago just slightly after the Kid Pirates did. Therefore, it must be assumed that they entered the Grand Line at 'roughly' the same time. 'Wait! Fuck! Does it mean that? The different routes through 'Paradise' have differing numbers of stops.. then you have to factor in the times it takes for Log Pose's to set.. plus adventures.. and then there's..Shitshitshit! I don't have enough information!'
All I know is that there's a chance my vengeance slipped away without me even noticing. I reach the top floor and sprint down the hallway. Master Chief's office comes into view and an involuntary yell rips loose. "Mori!" I barrel through the unlocked door, "When was the last sighting of..the..Kid.." 'Ohhh crap... so that's why the door was closed.'
Mori is sitting ramrod straight at his desk, his hands folded in front of him and his posture rigid and alert. Between the two of us sit a pair of chairs. The one on the right is empty. Its twin on the left however contains a man with a cigarette hanging loosely off his lip. His feet are propped on Mori's desk in a relaxed manner and his shoulders are draped in the 'Coat of Justice'.
Captain Gelric, Base Commander, Lv. 68
The marine elite lazily lolls his head backwards at my interruption. "Oy oy. Speak of the devil. We just got started talking about you Mr. Parker." He taps the empty seat next to him. "You wanna pull up a chair?" I briefly glance Master Chief's way and the best way to describe the look in his eyes is 'internal screaming'. "...I prefer to stand thank you."
"Suit yourself." He says with a shrug. The Captain looks between the two of our uneasy expressions and lightly frowns. "Oy oy." he mutters like it's a verbal tick. "Why so nervous boys? I'm not mad about the little covert 'hunter business' the two of you have going on."
The rigidity in Mori's shoulders fades down just a drop. "You're...you're not?"
"Hardly." Gelric answers. "I like it. It's a novel approach. Oh my XO was furious, that's for certain." The Captain shakes his head and laughs to himself. "He wanted you scrubbing toilets with toothbrushes for the next three months. Thought it might wisen you up about sharing Marine reports with independent parties. No worries though, I calmed him down." Mori attempts to join in with the captains laughter but is obviously finding scant comfort in his CO's words.
"Though let me just say, if you two were trying to be clandestine about it then you really need some work." The man continues. "First of all," Gelric pauses to suck down on his cigarette. "Did you think we wouldn't be monitoring communications after the incident we had with Jorgen?"
'Uhh..'
"And secondly, always turning in the bounties at this base. I mean c'mon. It's like you were practically waving it in our faces."
"But just to reiterate.." I spoke cautiously. "Mori's not in trouble?"
"Nope. Technically he hasn't broken any written rule. It's an odd little loophole the two of you are exploiting. One that I imagine won't be open forever." Gelric swerves an accusatory finger in my direction. "Though you need to do me favor. Stop turning them in only here! Take those picaroons somewhere else. We don't keep infinite funds stored in the back here and I've had to submit paperwork twice already requesting more because of you."
"I'm..sorry?"
Gelric rolls his head back forward. "Mori we'll table the rest of this discussion until later. My office, 1730 alright?"
Master chief nods. "Yes sir."
"Excellent." Gelric hops to his feet and faces me. "So then, what was your question Mr. Parker? Why'd you run in here as though the building were on fire?"
"Oh..I..um.." It's an odd mixture of feelings. The panic of needing answers has returned but its coupled with the hesitation of speaking in front of this man who's clearly not leaving quite yet. "I wanted to know when the last sighting of the 'Kid Pirates' was?"
Gelric whistles. "Now that's a big fish." The officer turns to the enlisted. "Well Master Chief. When was the last sighting of Eustass Kid?"
Mori's eyes fall downward, avoiding my gaze as a labored sigh seems to suck the life force out of him. "I'm sorry Jack. Their ship was spotted near the Kangawa outpost just over a week ago...I read the report of what they did to your home..kind've figured that's why you approached me again in the first place..I was worried that If I told you where they were then you'd go rushing off trying to stop them and get yourself killed."
My pupils move between the two men awaiting my reaction. Clearly I'm missing something. "What's the Kangawa outpost?"
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