Mission #52: Champagne on a Beer Budget

[Kurosaki]

It was horrible to think that on a short vacation trip to Sabaody for a family of Fishmen, that it had ended in tragedy. Smugglers had quickly snatched the flounder family's son and had made off with them. Kane had learned about this actually through another group that had been laughing about the reward the family had offered.

"You think anyone is stupid enough to take on that sort of mission? By now he's property of a Tenryubito! There's no way anyone is stupid enough to go messing around with them."

Kane, sitting at a seat nearby, holding his mug of (root)beer, allowed his blue eyes to shift toward the men. What was so worrisome about a Tenryubito? He had heard about them, sure, but it didn't scare him. Justice was justice and that family was obviously hurting right now. How could anyone just sit back and allow that to happen?

Slamming his mug down onto the counter, along with a tip for the bartender, he walked over to them, gaze at first lowered to the floor. It looked at first like he was going to tentitively leave the bar because he had gotten enough of these loud, obnoxious men. But what he did instead was something probably unexpected.

"Yeah and what if someone did take on one of these Tenryubito? What's so special about them! They obviously just get away with tearing family members away from each other! They're no better than the Marines," Kane shouted at them, anger visible in his face. That was odd for the usually naive, smiling boy. But all of this had brought back memories of his best friend getting shot in his childhood. By a Marine. He would never forgive them for that. His family had also never been the same after.

"No one should be allowed to do that and get away with it!"

The men exchanged looks and then all burst out laughing.

"DHahaha! Yar cute kid, but 're yah for real? Go messin' with the Tenryubito and yah'll have the whole World Government descend on yar head. Yah'd be a fool! DHAHA," laughed one loudly. The first one that had been speaking about the incident before was too red in the face with laughter that he couldn't even speak anymore.

"I'm not afraid of that. Where is this Island that they took him too?"

The men all went silent, the laughter suddenly dying away as they realized that he was serious.

"Silvers Island... But if yee be goin' there yee be a dead man," said the man with the eyepatch in the group, a warning tone to his voice.

"I'll take my chances," Kane told them all before he left the bar.

-----

And after coming all the way to Silvers Island, he felt a sense of accomplishment. If he could do this for the family, he was sure that they would be grateful. Of course, he didn't even care about the monetary reward associated with it.

But how the heck was he going to find this one Flounder Fishman in all of this?

Kane gazed around himself at the lavish city in shock. A small bead of sweat rolled slowly from his forehead down to his chin and off of his face. This was going to be harder than he had ever invisioned.

[Die]

"Would you like sugar and cream with your tea, sir?" asked a young waitress.

"That would be nice, thank you." replied the Commodore. The waitress placed a plate with a creamer and a small cup of cubed sugar on the table, and left to attend to other tables. Dietrich added two cubes of sugar and some cream to his tea before eating his lunch, an especially delicious-looking chicken cordon bleu. As he ate his meal, he overheard a conversation at another table.

"Didja hear about the auction today?"

"No, I didn't...What makes this one so special? Isn't it just the usual auction of pirates and other criminals as slaves?"

"No no, I heard they got a Fishman this time...a Fishboy actually."

"My stars! We will have to attend this one!

The Commodore eavesdropped with great disgust. The Noble pigs once again bypassed what was truly Justice. How could the World Government and the Marines allow such atrocities to pass. Were they not the guardians of justice? Was this really Absolute Justice? Tearing apart families for the entertainment of a bunch of Noble swine? The very thought of it angered Dietrich. However his outward appearance showed nothing. His anger quickly cooled down as he regained his calm collectedness. Somewhere out there, this Fishboy had a family who loved him and would give anything to see his return. It was up to the Commodore to see to it that this boy would return to where he truly belonged.

After finishing his delicious meal, the Commodore paid, left his waitress a nice tip, and left. He was here on Silvers Island as a favor to an old academy instructor for his retirement party. As that was a few days in the future, Dietrich thought of this as an opportunity to get to know the island better, in terms of inhabited layout and overall geography. These extra days would be a good opportunity to put his plan to free the Fishboy in action. As he continued to his temporary quarters, he spotted a familiar face...it was Hoshi, none other than Nakamura Kane. Though he easily identified the pirate, he would not have such success identifying him, as the pirate had never seen Dietrich's face. The fact he was wearing sunglasses also helped.

[Kurosaki]

It was like everyone could smell him or something. Kane felt the sideways glances and the shift in the atmosphere whenever he was around any of the normal citizens of the city. He knew he didn't reek though. Though a pirate, Kane was good about hygiene. That was stereotypical anyway. So what was the reason?

Everyone around him was dressed elegantly or stylish. A few woman walked past with minks wrapped around their shoulders and giant rocks on their fingers. The men had golden cuff links and absolutely polished shoes. There was not a smudge of dirt on anyone or a sign that anyone had worked a hard day's work in their life. Kane, on the other hand, was wearing the simplest of clothing. A white t-shirt with an advertisement for the Sabaody Amusement Park on it, and jean shorts. A matching pair of flips to his shirt finished off the outfit.

Though Kane wasn't the most observant person in the world, he did notice this much. Well, he wasn't about to let that bother him.

"Excuse me, but have you heard anything about a Fishboy being brought to the city recently?" he questioned the first person he came upon that actually looked normal. It was a blond man with a pair of sunglasses on. In fact, he was also getting a few curt looks and dismissals but far less than the louder, childish Kane.

There was nothing that would have tipped off Kane about this man, Dietrich, actually being a Marine. He certainly wouldn't have expected that he was also the very Marine that Shisha had faced off against in Roguetown. For all intensive purposes, Kane was clueless while Dietrich held all of the cards in his hand.

Meanwhile an announcement overhead came over the loudspeakers in the city.

"Esteemed Ladies and Gentleman. The auction will be beginning at half past four. If in attendance, please make your way to the front entrance where you will be ushered to your proper seating. Thank you and that is all. Good day."

"An auction? For what I wonder..." Kane started to say out loud.

[Die]

There was not much setting the Commodore apart from the others. As man whose once-existing family was considerably wealthy, he also had some air of Nobility around him. Dietrich was wearing some rather Noble-ish clothing, sporting his usual red, black and gold colored formal suit. In fact, it was his colors that set him apart from the Noble inhabitants of the island. That and of course his sunglasses.

As the Hoshi approached him, Dietrich was rather intrigued that he decided to speak to him first about the Fishboy who was to be on auction. "Excuse me, but have you heard anything about a Fishboy being brought to the city recently?" he asked.

Dietrich stopped walking to answer the pirate's question, "Hm? Ah yes, I believe so. There was talk of a flounder Fishboy being auctioned off today. If you'd like, I can take you there to get a sneak peak. Just follow me." The Commodore took on a more cheery personality as a disguise. Given his expertise in reading people, he had the ability to assume a masked personality to a highly convincing degree. This was made easier by the fact most of his face was hidden behind his sunglasses. The Commodore continued to walk in the direction he was originally heading, keeping a slower pace so Kane would follow him.

As he started to walk, he heard an announcement broadcast over the loudspeakers, ""Esteemed Ladies and Gentleman. The auction will be beginning at half past four. If in attendance, please make your way to the front entrance where you will be ushered to your proper seating. Thank you and that is all. Good day." Seems like they were moving things ahead of schedule. No matter, they still had a good four hours to plan things out.

It was rather convenient that the Commodore's temporary quarters was a rented cottage-like place. He had begun plans to rescue the Fishboy, but the presence of this pirate would perhaps make things easier on him. Dietrich's plan was to lure the pirate to his temporary quarters, and get him to work together with him, one way or another. The Commodore continued on at a brisk pace, not checking whether or not the Hoshi was following him. Dietrich turned a corner, and reached his cottage-like temporary quarters. He produced a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door. He opened it and stepped in, leaving it unlocked for the Hoshi pirate. He stepped to the side, standing back against the wall.

The door opened once again, and Kane stepped through. Dietrich quickly sprung into action and wrapped his left arm around the young pirate's neck and holding a gunsword to his head. "We meet again, Hoshi," said the Commodore. "I would advise against using your Devil Fruit powers. The Kairouseki rounds in my gunsword will be more than enough to neutralize your powers and kill you. If you're here for what I think you are here for...we can work together and free the Fishboy. What say you?"

[Kurosaki]

At first Kane wasn't sure if he had choosen to ask the right person. When it got closer he realized that the sunglasses, while different from what most were wearing, were actually extremely deceptive. The man was dressed fairly like all the others in the crowd upon closer inspection. Kane's blue eyes looked upward at the man and blinked slightly in surprise, however, when he responded that he did think he knew something about it. There was talk, he told Kane, of a flounder Fishboy being auctioned off that very day.

"Really? Okay, thanks," Kane said, not saying anymore lest he accidently tip off this man what he had planned. Kane was rash but not that rash. But he felt excitement stir inside as he told him that he could actually take him in for a sneak peak. This was his chance. If he could just grab the boy and run for it...

Kane headed after him as the man continued forward. The younger man kept looking around at the different sights and sounds as though still captivated by the difference in the Island from that of any other place he'd been to.

Finally they reached a cottage-like hourse after turning around a corner. The man had kept a steady pace but Kane had been able to keep up. He stepped inside the house just a moment after him, opening up the door again with a quizzical look on his face. Why had the man gone directly inside without holding it open for him?

'Star Earring' Kane stepped inside, opening his mouth, about to ask where the man had gone for he didn't see him in the room. As soon as his lips had parted, his hand had left the door knob, and he had taken a single step inside, he felt a strong arm grab him from behind. His blue eyes widened in shock as it wrapped quickly around his neck and a weapon was pressed directly to his head.

Once again, he had easily been tricked into trusting someone he didn't know and it had come back to hurt him. But that was Kane's personality to be trusting. Some could also say it was why his crew and him all got along so well. His eyes shifted to the side as the man commented that they were meeting again. Kane's eyebrows furrowed together in perplexion, not sure what he meant at first.

But the voice sounded familar. How could that be? Who the heck was this guy?

In the meantime Kane needed to find a way out of this before he got shot rather than indentify the con artist. He was just about to attempt a move when the man spoke again, warning that the kairouseki rounds in his gunsword would neutralize his powers and kill him. Kane's body stiffened slightly. Unexpectedly, the man said that they could work together and free the Fishboy.

"Yeah, of course, that's what I'm here for," Kane replied. "Now, could you move the gun away from my head? Please?"

That was when it dawned on him. The voice. Wasn't it very similar to the voice of the geared up Marine back in Roguetown? He couldn't be certain of it at all though.

[Die]

A well-trained individual could learn much from others just buy observing body language and facial motions. Dietrich was one such person. He had a rather good idea of what kind of person Kane was even from just having seen him back in Loguetown. And as such, his intentions of freeing the captive Fishboy were genuine. The Captain of the Hoshi was too trusting for his own good. The Commodore had the perfect opportunity to end him then and there, as a result of the boy being gullible. In fact, one would find that the two were quite possibly polar opposites. Kane's tendency to trust too much, and Dietrich's overt cautiousness.

"Yeah, of course, that's what I'm here for," Kane gulped. "Now, could you move the gun away from my head? Please?"

Dietrich released his hold on the boy, allowing him to put some distance between them. However, Dietrich kept his weapon aimed at Kane for just a little longer, and then put it down. "This is quite ironic. The boy of the crew I was sent to hunt down back in Loguetown now becoming my temporary partner..." said the Commodore. "We only have four hours to plan the rescue. Which gives us ample time to prepare. I can make modifications to the plans I've worked out. Having two of us will make this just a little bit easier."

[Kurosaki]

The grip was released on Kane and he quickly put some distance between them. Enough that, if the man fired, he could easily dodge the bullet and make his escape through the door or through a nearby window. Either way, he would probably be okay. The mysterious blond haired man with the sunglasses at first kept his weapon aimed at the red head. Finally, he put it down.

The man spoke, saying that it was ironic that the boy he had been sent to hunt in Roguetown was now his partner. His words confirmed Kane's subconscious assessment of his voice. The man was someone he knew. Was he really that masked guy? The one Shisha had said she had fought against?

The man told them that they both only had four hours for the rescue, giving them plenty of time to prepare and modify an original plan that he had.

"What exactly is the plan?" Kane questioned, rubbing his neck where he had been grabbed. He had no idea what the Marine had planned, and was suspicious of him as well. Though they had ended up briefly on the same side against that mammoth of a robot, could Kane still continue to trust that this wasn't some sort of trap? A scam? It was definitely a possibility though he had to admit that the man could have just arrested him when he had been in the choke hold with the gun against his head.

And did he really have a choice?

Kane had come with virtually no plan. No knowledge of the Island. No clue as to what he was really going up against. He had thought that snatching the kid would be easy. The hardest part would be getting back to Sabaody with him, right?

"I was just going to go bust him out. The people on this Island are all nobles. It's not like most of them have probably ever lifted a finger to fight. Should be really easy for even just one of us, right?"

[Die]

"What exactly is the plan?" asked Kane. "I was just going to go bust him out. The people on this Island are all nobles. It's not like most of them have probably ever lifted a finger to fight. Should be really easy for even just one of us, right?"

Dietrich walked over to a table with a decent-sized paper unfurled over it. Judging by all of the straight lines, markings, comments, and circles, it was the blueprints of the complex the auction was to take place in. The Commodore beckoned the young pirate over. Hopefully he could provide a simple enough explanation for him to understand. "How foolish. An island with this many "important" people would be crawling with armed protection. And for such an event such as an auction of a Fishboy, security would be even tighter in the event Fishmen try to swarm the place and break him out." Dietrich said frankly as he altered the rescue plans in his head and pointed at the stage where the auction was to take place. "Now. The auction will be held here. Behind that is the staging area where they'll be keeping him prior to the start of the auction. You will assume the disguise of a Marine guard, blending in with the armed protection already present. I will provide you with a skeleton key that will bypass the series of locks on the boy's cage." Dietrich then ran his finger over a path he had designated as an escape path, "While you infiltrate and free the boy, I will have set up a series of remotely-detonated explosives down the path of escape so as to help keep the guards off of you. Several smoke grenades will be provided should you need them, as well as a headset Den Den Mushi so we can maintain contact with one another."