[CENTER][h1][color=EB054D][b]RICO[/b][/color][/h1][/center][hr][COLOR=EB054D]“Bruuum bruuum bruuum. Dededele whoooOOOOP.”[/color]

“Oh my god would you please stop you’ve been making random noises for the last [b]THREE HOURS[/B]!” came a cry from elsewhere in the brig. Following was a cacophony of agonized agreement.

“When we get to jail I am going to beat the shit out of you!” “Let us rot in peace!” “Yeah, I keep losing count of the wood grains in the floorboards I’m counting, prick!” [COLOR=8C8E6E]“At least keep it [i]down[/i]."[/color]

Rico, eyes wide to the point the red blood vessles were visible at the edges, raised his arms, seastone cuffs clattering to the ground. [COLOR=EB054D]“This is my hell.”[/color]

A couple days ago, Rico had made it to the town of Tolsom Fold, a regular old place with a Marine battleship nearby. Out of sheer boredom, he tried to make the place a little less boring, and this was where he ended up. For a little public disturbance, he was being shipped off to prison. That was hardly fair! Indignant, he sat up, [COLOR=EB054D]“This is bullshit, I didn’t even do anything wrong! What’s a couple poppers, huh? Oh no I scared a big tough squad of Marines, boo hoo.”[/color]

“Yeah, and when they were letting you out, you headbutted some Navy guy in the face and gave him a bloody nose.”

[COLOR=EB054D]“He was muttering under his breath! I dunno what he said but it sounded rude. If you don’t speak up no one can hear you!”[/color]

“And then later when the big guy came to take off your cuffs, you shot fireworks everywhere with your dumb magic, so they threw you back in the cell.”

[COLOR=EB054D]“That wasn’t magic, it just happens whenever I get excited.”[/color]

[COLOR=8C8E6E]“Trust me kid, I feel like you’re safer in there. You seem like the kinda guy who’d bring himself to ruin if left unchecked, like an addict in the casino. Maybe a week or so in prison will do you some good.”[/color]

The warning went ignored as Rico flipped himself over, cuffs banging against the brig’s wood flooring again. [COLOR=EB054D]“One of the old guys on Cannon Island told me he escaped cuffs in the war by dislocating his thumbs, so I’ll bet...owie! Nope.”[/color]

[COLOR=8C8E6E]“Do you do anything quietly? Escape is the one thing you really should-”[/color]

[COLOR=EB054D]“I just said you gotta be loud so people hear you doesn’t anyone [i]listentome[/i]!?[/color] Rico hiss, throat getting gravelly with the last words.

Throbbing vein forming on the middle aged man’s forehead, he snarled, [COLOR=8C8E6E]“Ignore me again you little shit and I’ll kill you myself.”[/color]

[COLOR=EB054D]“I’d like to see you try! Anything to be less bored here.”[/color]

“QUIET DOWN ALREADY!” boomed a hefty voice, just following the slamming of the brig door. Stepping in, a bulky Marine Ensign with curly brown hair walked between the various cells in the hold, occasionally rapping his knuckles on the bars. “You’re all [i]prisoners[/i], so be good and quiet until we get to where we going, or you’ll be skipping another meal.” His threat was met by a rare silence, so the man left satisfied.

[COLOR=8C8E6E]“[i]Well[/i]. Good to know something shuts you up.”[/color]

[COLOR=EB054D]“Gotta eat so you can grow up to be big and strong.”[/color]

Hand brushing through his shock of white hair, the man leaned against the door of his cell. [COLOR=8C8E6E]“I can’t place a bead on you at all.”[/color]

[COLOR=EB054D]“Well, that’s good, ‘cause I don’t want any beads. They’re for crafts and stuff, not whatever you want to give me one for. But I can get you as many beads as you want if we get outta here. Food too.”[/color]

[COLOR=8C8E6E]“In the middle of the ocean?”[/color] the old man let out a long sigh. [COLOR=8C8E6E]“Better sooner than later.”[/color]

Rico sat up, eyes on the man in hopes of gleaning a bit more of his intent, but instead he grabbed a glint with his eyes, followed by the dull clatter as a ring of iron keys plopped on the floor of his cell. [COLOR=8C8E6E]“You’re free to go. Jump in the ocean and don’t come back, you hear?”[/color]

Rico chortled, before undoing his seastone cuffs. Keys in hand, he walked straight through the bars of the cell with a hiss of fizzy flame and sparks of light, the smell of burning gunpowder filling the brig. Putting the key in the door of the man’s cell, he insisted, [COLOR=EB054D]“And you’re coming with me!”[/color]

As the cell door opened, another voice mentioned, “Didn’t you hear him? There’s nowhere to go, idiot.”

[COLOR=EB054D]“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. You helped me for a reason, right? You can sense it, I bet.”[/color]

[COLOR=8C8E6E]“I did, actually,”[/color] Rolling his shoulders, the man said, [COLOR=8C8E6E]“My name’s [url=https://i.imgur.com/m3MyL0S.jpg]Andou[/url]. I’m a bit of a gambling nut, you see. Seen my share of games, paid my price.”[/color] He held up his left hand, where his pinky and a portion of his ring finger were carved clean off, the wounds healed long ago.

[COLOR=EB054D]“Well, I’m pretty sure you picked a winner.”[/color]

Andou clapped his hand on Rico’s shoulder, [COLOR=8C8E6E]“Kid, I am the worst goddamn loser you ever heard of. I can’t even win a game of rock paper scissors. Slot machine handles tend to break under my touch. I got sick of losing on the roulette when only betting red and black, so after putting it on both out of spite it hit a 00. I'm here because of a debt I couldn’t pay back, because I can’t help but to gamble in spite of all that. I’m pretty sure a black cat pissed on the leg of my mother as she walked under a ladder while she was pregnant with me. I bet on you because I wanted to pick a booger, not a winner. It’ll be the best use I’ve ever gotten out of my luck, trust me.”[/color]

Rico’s shoulders slumped, falling under the weight of expectations. [COLOR=EB054D]“O-oh. Man...that’s really funny actually.”[/color] Knocking his arm away, Rico stated, [COLOR=EB054D]“How about this: if you win, I’m going to prison, but if I win, you join my crew!”[/color]

Andou’s mouth went slack. [COLOR=8C8E6E]“No, I’m betting on you, not-”[/color]

[COLOR=EB054D]“Then it’s settled! Besides, no matter what happens to you, when I escape, you’ll be the man who helped the future King of the Pirates. [i]That’s[/i] the bet I’m making.”[/color]

Andou stared, face long. Then, he cracked a smile. [COLOR=8C8E6E]“Heh. Heh heh. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AH HA HA HA HA HA! AH [B]HA HA HAHAHAHAHA[/B]! HOHEH HOHEH HOOOOO HEHEHE HOOO!”[/color]

The door crashed open. “WHAT DID I SAY!?”

Patting his stomach, Andou caught his breath as the Ensign gawked at the open cell door, keys blatantly in Rico’s hand.

[COLOR=8C8E6E]“Looks like the bet’s on, kid.”[/color]