175 Fishman Island: A single rock (2/2)

Angella shook slightly at his callous attitude, a hint of compassion had burrowed its way deep in her heart and his indifference to their situation was a burst of cold water on her face. With a small sigh of empathy, she joined him.

She could sympathize, but that was all they had. Her sympathy.

As the yelling continued, a larger audience began to grow around the ship. A whole swathe of people standing silently with a gleam of judgement in their eyes.

Then, the situation became a lot worse.

'Tap...'

A rock thudded on the deck's top, a child stood their gnashing his teeth as he glared at the ship in general. He held a whole handful of tiny pebbles, with shaking hands he aimed at me, his eyes blazing with vitriol as he threw it.

'Tap...' bounced away, leaving a small gash on the side of my head.

Then. Then all hell broke loose.

Within seconds the crew stood around me glaring down menacingly at the small collection of people. Sorren growled aggressively as he blared his Haki forcing the drunk men to their knees, within moments they had passed out.

As for the child that had thrown the stone at me? Terrick stood behind him expressionless as he held a dagger to his neck.

*****

Fawkes grinned slightly at Laurel's gawking expression, his words had managed to touch her.

They had just exited the village, and already she had been overwhelmed. Not by his offer, but by his stories.

She had requested him to tell her of the world above, and he had complied. She laughed alongside him as he related to her his meeting with Lorean, gawking at the sheer level of testosterone it would require to make as much of a foolhardy decision as piggybacking someone you just met onto the crew and making him the first mate.

He had not told her much about his father, or Lorean's for that matter. Only that they had been on the same crew together which was as much as the rest of the crew knew.

Still, she was flabbergasted at the ballsy-ness of it all. Fawkes just getting on a boat and letting the waves decide his coarse, and the sheer level of coincidence that it would require for him to meet a child of his father's crew mate.

”Fate” was all she could say when she heard him relate to her the entire story.