Natural Enemy 3-2

Bullshit.

A sigh hissed free through gritted teeth.

Bullshit.

He leaned back in his chair, back to the wall as it kept him from tipping over even as said chair creaked loud under his weight.

Just a thousand times bullshit. Roaming around this entire junk-heap of a town had added a new lesson to what he had learned in the last three weeks. People lied about this place.

For one, the few people he’d talked to about Scuttle Town had told him all about how quick and easy the service was. That bartender had even gone on and on and on like they were paying him to promote it.

‘Fastest ship repair in all the West Blue. Best place to go if you’re fleeing the Marines.’

And that was just another load of bullshit, because the place was more backed-up than Scuttle Town’s funky waterways. Maybe it was just his bad luck but it was like every random bountyless thug and ne’er-do-well in the West Blue had brought their busted rudder into town on the exact same Tuesday. After walking and waiting in lines for almost an hour, shuffling his sandals over scrap metal walkways that were trying to cook his feet from the heat, he still hadn’t gotten anywhere.

Too many people. Too many of them angry and annoyed that they had to wait in line too; their bad attitudes clogging up the docks and making it seem like the whole place was always five minutes from a street fight.

After an hour of all of that bullshit, Kai had decided to fill his stomach up before he ended up wasting any more time arguing with people who tried to claim he was cutting the line. Besides, he was already starving. You could fight on an empty tank, but you probably couldn't haggle a fair price on one. 

And his tank was running real low. 

Was all of that an excuse to eat? Maybe, but he never really needed an excuse anyway.

Which was exactly how he found himself stepping inside a place called The Drowned Rat, of all things.

Kai stepped over the threshold and immediately felt like he needed to wipe his face down with a towel. Yeah, name’s probably literal. The air inside was thick enough to chew, and he felt his jaw working on it the second he walked through the swinging doors. Eeeyyuck…

Being real, it wasn’t much worse than some of the bars he’d been through in the West Blue, at least most of those he’d been in while chasing after pirates. There were probably plenty of nicer establishments scattered all over. 

Maybe it was just bad luck but he hadn’t had the pleasure of finding those yet.

The bar was as damp as it was dim, the place lit only by a handful of barely-lit oil lamps that were seriously struggling to do their job against the haze of pipe smoke and the general harbor smog leaking in through cracked walls badly patched over. The smell of cheap beer and old sweat was stale enough it was probably baked into the wood floors, but Kai didn’t even blink at that. At the very least, it wasn’t anything worth complaining about considering how bad the rest of the town was. I… I really gotta find better places to hang out in.

Between Port Town, Last Resort, and now Scuttle Town, Kai could honestly only thank whatever God existed that he’d landed in Kaihua instead of almost anywhere else in the West Blue.

He snorted to himself, head down and the brim of his bucket hat casting a shadow over his eyes as he walked in between the tables. Ignoring all the eyes turned his way, Kai took a seat at a table in a dark corner and rolled his shoulders as soon as he sat down. Yeah, this town sucks balls.

That confirmation of opinion came immediately as he planted his cheeks on the wood of the chair, something sticky already touching his thighs below the bare skin of his cutoff shorts. He shifted, frown deepening a little at the sound of his skin squelching against something.

…odds this place has a good inn? It wasn’t looking good.

Biting back a sigh, Kai raised a hand and flagged down the bartender.

The guy had a face like a mashed potato.

A mashed potato someone had dropped on the bar floor and then decided to just dance on top of it just to be mean about it; lumpy, pale, and off in the way that meant he’d probably taken too many fists to the face that never healed right.

One hand still up, he asked for the one thing he always asked for. “Apple juice, brodie.” He liked apple juice. It was sweet, it was cold, and you really couldn’t go wrong with it. “And some beef stew and bread if you got it.”

Tater-Face looked up, hand going completely still as he stopped wiping down a counter that needed more than just a dirty rag. Beady eyes blinked over without a word, almost as if he hadn’t heard right. “Apple what?”

Alright. Kai didn't push it. Biting back a sigh, he just let his hand drop and rolled his eyes. “Just water, then, man. Whatever you got that ain't brown.”

When the glass arrived, it was actually clear, which was a win in a place like this.

Man, whatever. Leaning back against the wall, Kai let his eyes adjust to the gloominess as he traced his pointer finger down the glass, condensation vanishing under his skin. Least water’s free anyway.

“I’m all in.”

Blue eyes slid across the bar, Kai’s attention drawn to a card game at the other end of the room taking place right under the brightest oil lamp in the place.

Four men as grizzled as they were burly sat hunched over another circular table, all four of them missing teeth and unwashed enough that Kai could practically smell from his corner. There was nothing strange about them at all, no more unique than the average West Blue sailor Kai had met these last few weeks.

It was the fifth person sitting among them that made him blink a little bit, though.

The young man, probably not even eighteen yet, pushed his chips forward. His skin was a shade or two lighter than Kai’s, meaning he was the second darkest person in the entire dimly-lit bar. A head of long bright blond dreadlocks fell down his back, all of them pulled back in a loose ponytail tied together with a piece of cloth.

When the guy finished pushing his chips all the way and looked up to glance at the man across from him, Kai caught sight of his eyes as the lamp hit the other guy’s face just right.

Red?

Blood red.

Kai blinked, leaning forward just a little bit as he realized it wasn’t just the color. There was a weird dark ring around the pupil and one bigger dark ring around the whole thing. Like one of those target thingies.

Blue met red as the guy looked further up, both boys staring at each other. After a second, the older of the two looked away first as the other members at his table started making their plays.

Kai didn’t stop staring though, almost unable to stop. Red-Eye was lean, the guy built like a sprinter, all compact muscle and sharp angles from his face down to his long arms. He had on a vest too, but where Kai’s was black and with the sleeves torn off, Red’s was stylish and high-collared. All in red, he wore it over a simple black long-sleeved shirt.

In another way, they were both in strong contrast to the rags, salt-stained coats, and general grime of everyone else breathing the soup-air in the room.

More than that, he looked clean.

Which, in a place like Scuttle Town, was basically like stripping yourself naked and painting a smiley-face target on your chest in bright yellow paint. What’s with this guy?

And why did he look so familiar?

That second question went unanswered as arms like tree trunks slammed down onto the table, all the glasses rattling as a massive guy with a squashed face roared to his feet. “That’s cheating!”

The bellow came with the same bark and volume as a bulldog, thick globs of spit flying across the table. “I don’t care how lucky you are! No way you pulled that fokin’ hand! Nobody does that good two games in a row!”

The red-eyed boy stared back like the game was still going, one hand around his glass to keep it from falling off the table. Three other sets of eyes at the table and the rest of the bar on him didn’t seem to do a thing to faze him.

He didn’t flinch. He didn't reach for a weapon.

Kai didn't even think he shifted his weight in his chair.

Red-Eye just sighed.

Soft, slow, and tired, it was the same kind of sigh a teacher gave a student messing up on the same easy math problem. Slowly and carefully, he fanned out his own cards on the table with just one hand.

A whole winning hand laid itself out in front of him.

“They call me lucky for a reason. Now…” He sounded almost bored, not even bothering to look up from the table to meet the angry man’s eyes as he spoke over the background noise of the bar without even raising his voice. “Pay it up.”

Bulldog shook, face going the ugliest purple of a bruise as the veins in his neck bulged in his thick neck and strained against his dirty collar. Massived hands hooked under the edge of the table.

It went flying.

Cards fluttered into the air as wood crashed against the floorboards. Beri coins scattered across the uneven floor, rolling into the shadows and under the boots of the other patrons who quickly picked what they could.

Bulldog clearly didn't care that much about the money as he didn’t bother giving it a second glance. Instead, he reached down and drew a cutlass from his hip, the edge serrated, sharp and notched to kill a man in a way that was guaranteed to hurt. 

Kai tensed in his corner as the bar went dead silent, everybody in the room holding their breath as the fight he expected broke out.

Bit longer than five minutes, though. His right hand balled into a fist as it rested heavy on his thigh. His heart pounded in his chest, moisture in the damp humid air already answering his pull without Kai having to think about it. It was thick in here, plenty of water to use, and it came free and easy; already condensing tight and heavy around his knuckles just atop his fingerless leather glove.

Baby Breaker. 

The name sat on his tongue, ready to be called out for that added bit of oomph.

He could drop the big guy before the sword even came down. A solid fist of water right to the temple, all the speed and power of a professional fastball doing the job for him. It might be a little messy and it would probably get him kicked out before he could order food, but you don't just sit there and watch a guy get chopped in half.

“I’ll pay you in steel, you little cheat!” Bulldog stepped forward, heavy boots shaking the floor, jagged blade raised as he aimed to bring it down. “See how lucky you are now!”

But before Kai could even twitch his wrist, before he could fully form the thought to push the water outward, the red-eyed boy moved first.

It wasn't a punch, and it wasn't a kick either.

Red didn’t stand up for any of that, not even moving from his seat. 

All Kai saw was a blur as the other teenager’s hand just flicked out from his side. He almost missed it, the movement casual like Red was tossing away a piece of lint.

Casual or not, something shiny shot across the room fast and free, glinting off the lamplight as it passed through the air. 

A split second later, there was a simple sharp impact against wood.

A thump that you could almost ignore.

Bulldog didn’t ignore it, though.

The man froze up, momentum dying out to nothing even with his sword arm still raised high over his head. His sword arm was still raised high above his head, cutlass trembling slightly in a grip too white-knuckled to be just anger.

The man looked down at his own arm, eyes going wide as the purple drained out of his face along with all the blood as the thug went too pale. 

What the…? Kai’s eyes went wide too, the sight of a small throwing knife right making him blink slowly. The thing had pinned the ragged sleeve of the angry man’s shirt to the wooden pillar right behind him, the blade already a full inch deep into the solid wood.

The thing somehow had missed his skin completely, not even a scratch to show as it pinned perfectly halfway between the meat of his bicep and the curve of Bulldog’s triceps. A half-inch either way and the guy might have been bleeding out right on the floor of the tavern and Kai wasn’t sure if there was a doctor good enough in this whole town to do a thing about it. 

Bulldog looked up from the short silver handle of the knife, eyes firmly on Red Eye as his mouth worked silently. The blond boy just looked back at him, finally rising from his chair. He was still in exactly the same place even when all the other men had already run.

Red eyes blinked once.

“Next one goes through your eye.”

Oh, that’s sooo cool.

It was a clean threat, said as clean and simple as a weather report. Somehow, with just a knife and a few words, Kai was staring with his mouth open. 

Those were the facts.

Water was wet, the sky was gray, and the next knife goes through your eye.

Bulldog swallowed hard, the man lowering his right arm slowly and carefully until the heavy cutlass pointed right towards the floor. He made no move to point it anywhere else as his shirt tore free at the sleeve. The man backed away, small shuffling steps taking him back over the scattered coins he had been so angry about a minute ago.

His wide eyes stayed fixed on the blond teenager until his back bumped into a table. The big man flinched, turned around, and scrambled out the tavern door, disappearing into the harbor smog.

The boy with the red eyes didn't bother to watch him go as he reached down and plucked what was left of his winnings from the dirty floor, silver and gold coins stacked neatly in his palm as he passed them into his bag.

Blue eyes blinked from the shadows of the dark corner, Kai’s hand slowly relaxing on his thigh as the condensed water dropped back to the ground in a barely-audible splash.

Holy shit.