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Luna followed the man down a set of stairs, past a sentry posted just inside the door, who seemed unable to pull his eyes away from Luna as she passed. Before long, the pair entered a wide-open room, the basement of the building above, joining the dozen or so people already inside, all of whom were busy, either with maintaining weapons, treating others with injuries, or pouring over papers. Upon seeing the new arrivals, almost everyone’s gazes turned to look at them. Luna’s sharp ears easily picked up what they were saying. [color=lightblue]”Guess the cat’s out of the bag, huh?”[/color] Luna commented.

“Not many half-Minks around, especially with stark-white hair like yours,” the man replied. He led Luna toward the center of the basement and gestured with his arm. “Name’s Josiah and welcome to our little rebellion. Not much to look at, but what can you do? Especially with a man like Clay running things.”

[color=lightblue]”I take it those creatures were his?”[/color] Luna asked as she took a seat on a nearby crate. [color=lightblue]”What were those things, anyway? Felt like I was punching mud.”[/color]

“Clay, actually.” Josiah picked up a rifle and ran his eyes over it while he spoke. “That’s Clay’s power, the Clay-Clay Fruit. Those golems he makes are the reason why he was able to take over this island. You can hack, slash, bludgeon them all you want, but they’ll just reform. And I don’t know how, but it seems like whatever they can see, he sees, too. Otherwise, I doubt he’d be able to control them so well without leaving the governor’s villa.” He set the rifle down and pulled out a small, glass jar from a pack around his waist. He tossed it to Luna, who caught it, only for her nose to immediately wrinkle as an acrid scent wafted from the liquid inside, despite how well-sealed the jar was. “That’s a gypsum mixture,” Josiah explained. “Vineyards use that stuff all the time to keep their grapes healthy. Turns out, it does a good job of breaking down clay, too. Sorry about the smell, by the way. Ever since Clay and his pirates set up shop here, it’s been tough getting a hold of purer stuff.”

Luna thought back to when Josiah saved her, how the golem’s arm crumbled when he threw that jar at it. [color=lightblue]”If this stuff’s so good, why can’t you just fight back with it?”[/color] she asked as she handed the jar back. [color=lightblue]”That’d take care of those golem things.”[/color]

“Two reasons. Number one: we don’t have much left. The vineyards have been doing what they can, sneaking as much as they can to us, but they can’t neglect their crops or else Clay’s men will retaliate. Number two: it’s not permanent. The gypsum does make the golems take longer to regenerate, but they’ll be right back at it quicker than you’d expect.”

After a moment, he turned to Luna and asked, “You came here with a crew, right?”

[color=lightblue]”Yeah, why?”[/color]

Josiah sighed and rose to his feet. “If he hasn’t, yet, Clay’s gonna send some men and golems to your ship, probably to kill everyone on board and take whatever’s not nailed down.”

He grabbed a few more jars from a nearby crate and slipped them into his pack before he turned to Luna, only to see that she had already started toward the exit. She looked over her shoulder at him and shot at him, [color=lightblue]”The hell’re you waiting for, let’s go! I’m not gonna let some lumps of mud hurt my crew!”[/color]