Post by Shinku on Aug 28, 2016 16:36:36 GMT -5
With lots of coughs and curses, the pirates and the other guests stumbled away from the radius of the explosion. Most of them were unhurt, judging by the way they were loudly complaining about the splinters in their food and how a good meal had gone to waste because of their little quarrel. The group of guests that hadn't been in the close vicinity of the blast was still cheering them on however.
"Uh uh... Looks like you accidentally switched the lever from normal bullets to âBoomingâ Applricots. Of all the special ricots in my gun which you could have used, you just had to have the bad luck of getting the one that would make the most damage. I guess I can be glad that I only loaded two of them, so there aren't going to be any more explosions today."
For some reason a sudden pensive look passed the short man's face and the ponytail swung around as the man semiconscious reached for the rifle that was still dangling from the back of a chair and slipped the strap over his head and shoulder so that the weapon was now hanging on his back where it was harder to get.
"Also, don't yell at me young man. Not when you're the one who's misbehaving."
The short man gave him a look that had nothing in common with Kyou's grumpy frown and everything in common with that of the housewife who just caught you walking into her freshly cleaned kitchen without taking off your dirty shoes.
Kyou looked away, moving his pale green eyes to look at something else but the scolding little man who was tapping his foot on the dirty floor.
"Sorry..." he said in a hardly audible voice and flung the weapon back to its owner.
Unfortunately that only brought another flood of angry words.
"Ah! Crivens! What are you doing?! Don't just throw my Jane. That's not the proper way to treat a Lady!" the man shouted while jumping up to snatch the ill-directedly thrown weapon from the air.
On the other end of the room, Cathrine and Prunelle were leaning against the bar and discussing renovations as if it were a daily event.
"Do you think we should go with cream or with sunny yellow?" Cathrine wanted to know from his employee.
"I don't know.. peach colors are nice but personally I like to see the wood as it is, rather than to paint over the grain. We can always make the room more colorful by using decorations."
"Ah yeah. Decorations would be nice. And we'd have the advantage that we could change it according to our mood." Cathrine nodded and brushed off a far-flown piece of wood from his shoulder.
"We have wooden tables and chairs, so maybe we should choose a fair wood for the walls and contrast it with some darker furniture?"
"You know... I don't think my first design of the waitress uniform was really as good as it should be. Seeing them fight made me realize how many little things I missed. I could create you a new one for when you reopen." Despite the wording it wasn't a question. Morcant O'Donnell, pirate and fashion designer could already see the new vogue in service business.
"Battle Maids! That's going to be a big hit! Especially in this parts of the sea.
I can design the uniform with hidden pockets for weapons and other small surprises. Some more ribbons would be nice and maybe a petticoat under the skirt."
Kyou's attention however had turned from the little gunslinger to his foe who was now shifting into his horrid monster form again.
A cold shiver ran down Kyou's spine and even though he had seen the dark-haired boy in that shape a few times now, it still unnerved him, though he would have rather worked for another week in this messy place than to show it on his face.
There was likely some primal instinct responsible for that fear, he mused. Probably the same that made humans wary of snakes and disgusted at spiders. No matter how rational he could think about the situation, somewhere deep down in his mind was a little kid who feared the darkness and the creatures that were hiding in it.
And even considering it rationally... this form meant trouble. Devil Fruit weren't called that for nothing. Their reputation had formed on a solid basis, for every person who ate one of those cursed fruits would gain a strength to draw upon.
"If only I could use mine..." The pinkhead thought. It wasn't fair, but there was little use to whine about it. He himself had decided that it would be too dangerous to use it and he wouldn't go back on his word now, no matter how dire the situation seemed.
It wasn't as if using his powers would guarantee a certain win either, so there was really no reason to risk it.
Pluto vanished out of sight and by instinct alone Kyou used a Dash to get away from where he was standing. The Bat Boy hadn't really given him any time to think about it and while his Dash was fast, equalling the Soru techniques that some Marine members were fond of using, it wasn't nearly as precise, especially when Kyou wasn't looking at where he was running to. A chair knocked him over and sprawled him on the ground.
Feeling stupid, Kyou got up and pushed the unexpected adversary to the side and cursed the wound on his stomach that seemed to have reopened or maybe it never stopped bleeding, before freezing for a second as his eyes locked on the scene in front of him.
"DON'T YOU DARE TO GET INVOLVED, THIS IS MY FIGHT!" he yelled, drawing a look from Dan who was probably thinking that the pink-haired boy had addressed him. But Kyou wasn't talking to the gunslinger. His gaze had noticed a white little furball approaching Pluto from behind and he wasn't about to let Bruce get into trouble again - or to make his own situation worse by trying to help out.