Mission #37 Fried Squid

[mrmark5273]

Leon Fiammetta sat at a bar located on the outskirts of town, clutching a napkin in his left hand and a minuscule, overpriced glass of water in the right. He was waiting for his partner to arrive, as far as he knew he only had one other person going on the mission with him. This suited him fine. He liked larger crowds where he could show off and have a good time, but sometimes it payed off to be with a small group of people, especially when money was involved.


"Excuse me, miss, could I get another glass, please?" He said with a grin after he had downed the last bit of water in his cup. The bartender, a wrinkly old woman who looked like she belonged in a nursing home rather than a bar, grinned at the boy and poured another glass, passing it to him with a shaky hand. "Thank you..."

And so, he waited for his companion for the trip to arrive. I hope he's not a party pooper like the last guy I worked with... He thought, That guy was a real pain in the butt...

[nk]

A hassle.

That’s all this was to Leon.

He preferred to work alone in most cases and in his eyes this was generally as easy as it got. Heck, the only thing that didn't make sense about this job was the fact that a bunch of Fishmen Pirates were holing themselves up somewhere in the desert. Not that Leon thought it to be a problem though. It actually made things simpler for him since Fishmen usually always wound up being more annoying around water. Still though, he viewed the circumstances as being quite odd.

The thought didn't linger long though as Leon hopped off the caravan he'd rode on from the port city. Being that it was his first time here, Leon was actually somewhat surprised to find how bustling the oasis city was for being located in the center of a desert. Had he not been there for business, he wouldn't have minded a chance to look around yet seeing as how he was, he figured he might as well be on his way.

People he tended to work with didn't like to be kept waiting and although he cared little about first impressions, unless he had something to gain, he honestly wanted to get this job over with as soon as possible. That would be impossible by himself however since his quote on quote 'partner' was the one who was informed of the target's the location. And since his hands were being tied in this manner, Leon simply decided he might as well see who it was he was supposed to be working with. Besides, he figured that if he didn't like the guy, he could ditch him later.

And so, it was with that mentality, that Leon stepped into the small bar that was designated as their meeting place. A small wind blew into the bar from behind Leon as he stood at the entry way for a second glancing around at the people currently filling the place. Being that the bar was located on the outskirts there weren't many people in it, but even with the scarce number of occupants, Leon still wasn't sure who he was supposed to work with. So in a tired but moderately straight forward manner, Leon decided to make this quick and quite simply said bluntly, “Alright, who's Fiammetta?”

[mrmark5273]

Leon Fiametta's eyes lit up in excitement. He spun around on the barstool, the napkin he'd been holding in his left hand catching on fire and disintegrating as he did so. "That'd be me!" He said, "My name's Leon Fiammetta, how 'bout you?" Leon exclaimed as he jumped out of his seat and walked over to the man. Not waiting for a response, he continued speaking. "I guess we'll be working together for a bit."

Leon turned and walked back to the bar. Assuming that the man was following him, he again, continued to speak. "Excuse me miss," he said, addressing the elderly barkeep, "you wouldn't happen to have a map here, would you?" She smiled, nodded her head as if to say 'yes', and disappeared into a back room. She returned with an old, weathered map of the area. It was framed and an old picture of a young, happy couple blocked out the legend.

"Thank you." Leon said. He then turned his attention back to the unnamed man. "Alright, so we're here. And, the oasis is...." He dragged his finger northwest along the glass. "here. Now I'm no navigator, but I'd say that's only about ten miles. We should be able to get there in no time." Leon rested his head in his hands at this point. "Problem is, we can't let those fishmen get into the water, or it's all over. I'm not sure how we'll be able to get around that, do you?"

[nk]

'Leon...? Leon!?! What were the odds?' Leon thought as he watched the excitable kid hop off the stool he sat on.

“Just call me whatever you like-” Leon replied before being suddenly cut off by the kid who went on the state the obvious. Leon sighed mentally as he listened to the kid ramble already aware that this whole partnership thing with him was going to be a huge pain the ass. He'd been around the kid for less than five minutes and he hadn't shut up once.

Wonderful.

Well at least he got a map. That was one less thing Leon had to worry about. Course though, he wasn't exactly looking forwards to a ten mile track through the desert with his buddy over there. He stared silently at the map depicting the large city they were currently in and the empty desert they'd have to traverse to reach the oasis the Fishmen apparently resided in. He maintained his stoic composure as the kid's last comment caused him to laugh a little on the inside. He doubted the situation would be all over if they found their way into the water. If anything perhaps just a little bit more difficult but that was about it. But the kid was looking for an answer wasn't he? Leon turned his gaze towards the kid and couldn't help but chuckle a little and shrug softly before turning around setting out towards the door.

“We'll figure something out on the way there.”

As Leon walked out onto the streets, uncaring whether the kid was in tow or not, he wondered exactly how the kid had lit that napkin up. He would've said extreme friction had the kid been producing some but that wouldn't have been possible considering all he was doing was holding it. The easy explanation for it would've been that it was a devil fruit. Course, knowing exactly which one was near impossible. Well, he'd ask about it later. After all, they weren't they supposed to be partners? At that thought, Leon once again laughed mentally at the thought.

'Partners. Pft...what a convenient word...'