Pacifista

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Golden Fleece Chronicles

Hamel bit his tongue as the encroaching napkin cleaned of his face. He accepted it. He didn't like it, but he accepted it. He knew better than to earn Samehana's bad side. As she stated her intent, Hamel mumbled, "Laaater," before returning to his meal of, bread gravy-like soup (though it may have been soup-like gravy, Hamel didn't question it).

As Sancho arrived, Hamel was quickly finishing up. As he cleaned up a bit, wiping his face and picking at his teeth, Sancho asked about Samehana as he failed to finish his food.

Hamel answered, "Eh, I figured. Something about protection?" Licking a bit of soup crumb off his lips, he said, "Samehana went for a walk so I'll bet she'll run into something." Nostrils flaring as he caught the soup, he asked, "You gonna finish that?"

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

"Reinforce!"

Lina took a breath. She'd been hesitant earlier, but if this conflict was going to escalate, Lina was going to be on the side of the little guys.

As another group went to the side of Kuhn and his men, Lina stopped her charge as she caught Kuhn's hesitance. Lina couldn't help but stop either.

"Chester!? What are you doing here?"

The red and greens each slowed down, intrigued at the unfolding events.

"What are you doing with the Verdant Company?"

Lina stared. "The..."

"Verdant Company."

"You mean...reds... Crimson Company?"

"All mafia assholes."

"...I quit."

Each of them stepping forwards, Kobicha and Chadwick each asked, "What's going on here?"

"I'm done."

Macario shrugged, "Eh, my heart was never in it in the first place."

Chad turned to Chester, "This is all your fault, man! Own up!"

Taking a breath, Macario moved his arms a bit, his redical shit practically exploding off of him, his purple dress shirt returning. "Hey, Chester, tell you what: I'll take full responsibility for your debt. It's the least I could do since I've been hitching a ride."

Lina raised an eyebrow. After a moment, she turned to Kuhn, grumbling, "And what about you?"

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Golden Fleece Chronicles

"Alright, captain's orders!" Sandal clad feet scampered away from the wreckage, a few eyes turning after briefly in a moment of bewilderment.

Long blue pants ending at his ankles, a shaggy green coat over his short sleeved white shirt, his medium length light green hair tussled, Hamelin Foley's wide grin turned to a frown as he realized one sad fact. "...This place is boring."

Trekking across the dirt paths, getting further and further away from the action, though it seemed to have quieted back down for now. Hamel giggled: no way it was going to be that easy.

Head swiveling as he scanned for a way to get supplies, it looked like they were going to be out of luck. But the mood on the island was so dour he was starting to get depressed.

---

"Eh? Even if it is Lefacti Island..."

"How much worse can it be than here?"

"We're being protected from them!"

"Then where? At this...do you mind?"

Munching on a roll, Hamel tilted his head slightly as he leaned back in his chair, the couple conversing nearby having turned to look at them.

Swallowing, Hamel insisted, "Oh, no." As he took another bite, he refused to move his position, head hanging not too far from their table. After a moment, he waved, "Keep going."

The tow looked back at each other, before he looked back at Hamel, wondering, "Are you...listening?"

Hamel shrugged, "Well I was hoping I'd hear something important, you know? Something I'd need to know later." As he explained, his pinky found its way into his nose, his others still holding on to his food.

The two blinked it a stark, utter bafflement, before taking their cleaned plates and leaving to another table in the nearly empty open air restaurant. Kicking his seat back up and returning to his plate, Hamel cried, "Rude!" Several breadcrumbs scattered from his mouth to the patched table cloth.

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

As Kuhn returned, gains in hand, Maron giggled, "Ehehe, they're getting what's coming to them!"

A bit further back, Lina was starting to find things a little strange...

---

Some time later, the Crimson Company had found themselves partied out. Their booze was dry, and the conflict with the Verdan Company was less than a day way.

Macario, who'd taken a quick map, was roused by a certain boss. As he woke to see Chadwick, he grumbled, "What!?"

"Um, dude, about your bro..."

Rubbing his eye, Macario asked, "He dead?"

"Well, it's just...the dude drank my stash in all of ten minutes! I mean, it was kinda...but-"

"So?"

"That was an hour ago man! What's he gonna do?"

Macario grumbled, "I met him, like a few days ago. If he hears about any more booze though who knows."

"Guys!" came a sudden yell from the fringes of the restless reds. "Blancson just got back! He said the Verdant Company took our booze!"

Macario wished he were wealthy enough to own a camera: Chadwick's face was something special, priceless: a memory now impossible to share, for the implacable agony of so many factors Macario could never truly grasp: from the wrath of Chester to the soon to be shattered inter-company honor of not holding oneself to pre-planned encounters; such an agony that had his jaw dropped, his eyes bulging, and a dribble running from his nose in perhaps the most uncool, unredical manner ever.

"Heh," Macario chortled.

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

Drinking only lightly, Macario sighed. It was his luck that the festival hadn't really started yet, wasn't it?

As the Crimson Company guys were starting to quiet down, whispers of discomfort flew along. Macario heard that apparently they were getting a bit dry, but the guys making a run for drinks hadn't come back yet. Thinking about Chester's affinity for the sauce, Macario chortled as he leaned back to watch.

---

"Chad's just a drunk," Maron giggled. "Which is exactly what we're going to fix."

Lina nodded, the word 'drunk' somehow passing through her ears without the raise of an eyebrow. Instead she kept along as they got closer and closer to the town, still busying itself with preparations. Maron kept her eyes peeled, commenting, "If we're lucky..."

"Aha!" She cried. Pointing a finger, she noted a cart with a few men around it, loaded to the brim with kegs and crates of booze. "Those are definitely some of the guys who wrecked our stuff! How unlucky for them~" Maron's giggle turned into a sinister cackle. Lina began to grow worried, having some second thoughts.

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

Taking his drink, Macario easily resisted the urge to take a sip, instead saying, "You know, I was really hoping to take a look at the whole Four Color Festival thing. How long is this gonna take?"

---

Lina grimaced. "Really?"

Her words were drowned out as Kobicha giggled. "At my service? Why aren't you forward. I haven't even said what I would want your help with." Folding her arms in front of her, she asked, "If you're just here to enjoy the festivities, I wouldn't want to impose..."

Looking around at the carnage, more and more eyes starting to catch on to them, Lina held up her fists, "I can't enjoy anything knowing about this!"

Kobicha sighed. "They cause trouble every year, but this time they've gone too far. We can finally get back at them, and right where it hurts." Nodding, she added, "And they won't know we have help. Maron?" As the girl from before sat back up casually, Kobicha said, "You know Chad: he'll be wanting to restock his supplies..."

Smile whipping onto her face, she bounced up, raising and arm in salute. "Roger!" As she began to head off, she said, "Come with me!"

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Golden Fleece Chronicles

Yeah, this is private, unfortunately.

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

"This is by far the stupidest thing I've ever been involved with," Macario stated firmly.

"...You coming?"

"Yes. Freakin..." Macario grumbled, before coming along.

---

Macario hadn't seen so much red staining the ground in his life. Things were fine at first, but then Chester rolled in and...the carnage.

As the Crimson Company returned to their camp, reveling in victory, Macario wanted to know when it'd be over, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be so simple.

---

Stooping down, Lina repeated Kuhn's question, "Who did this? I thought there was a festival going on?"

The girl muttered, "This is...normal."

"...What!?" Lina gawked.

"It happens every year...just not this bad. Such is fate." Slumping, the girl collapsed, wallowing on the ground.

Blinking in bewilderment, Lian turned to Kuhn, stating, "This isn't right! This is supposed to be a festival! What's going on here!?"

"Cause and effect is the natural order of things." Looking over, Lina saw tall woman with long hair streaked in black and white, a crinkled cigarette in her hand, yet to be lit. Her face was somewhat wrinkled, indicating her middle age, and she wore a loose white, long sleeved shirt and long green running pants. As Lina stared, she continued, "If 'effect' is fate, then 'cause' is human actions."

Lina tilted her head. She kiiiiinda got it.

The woman came over, clapping her hand on Lina's shoulder. "My name's Kobicha. What brings you two here?"

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

"Are we really doing this?"

As Chester continued to load up on beer, Macario muttered, "We're really doing this..." He merely hoped things wouldn't get too out of hand.

---

Lina answered, "I can't really imagine Chester dying. I mean, he said he couldn't swim, but Macario should be fine... I mean, they could be dead..." Even as she said it, she failed to convince herself of even the possibility.

As the skies continued to clear, Lina and Kuhn took the Breeze to the island, avoiding the docks, which were packed with visitors. She came to realize, "How are we even going to find them? I mean, they'd probably end up here." Looking out to the cities of Stagio in the distance, her face twitched as she tried to avoid grinning, suggesting, "We should look everywhere for them."

As she bounced off the gangplank, she was surprised that while there were no cities in this more deserted realm of island, among the light trees and shrubs were tents. However, the earthy colored shelters had been ruined, its folk scattered about like refuse.

Approaching, Lina gaped, "Who did this?"

One Piece: A Golden Age, A Dark Age - The Boozehound Chronicles

Macario stared blankly as events unfolded. He sat there in the sand, soaked to the bone, waiting for Chester to wake up, for this.

Answering Chester, he muttered, "Well, I can see why. You're like a stray dog, except with booze." Briefly, he mimed punching Chadwick in the face, but his shirt was actually making it harder for him to move his upper torso: it was absolutely going to burst at some point. It was a wonder they got it on in the first place.

Letting out a sigh, he muttered, "Let's just go." Looking down towards his still soaked shoes, he leaned to pick them up...and stopped. His shirt pulled against him as he reached, but every strained movement threatened the shirt. Standing back up straight, he crossed his arms over his chest, as though nothing was wrong.

---

The storm long since died down, the squall blown away, Lina had a spyglass affixed to her eye, watching closely for any signs of waving arms or land. She new they couldn't be far from Stagio, but who knew where they were.