][Malice][ =One Piece=

:: Chapter Forty ::

The first mate wasn’t entirely sure how well an alliance was going to work with the two bull headed captains. Luckily Hawkins was always levelheaded, however he always seemed off in his own little world full of predictions and magic. Killer wasn’t sure how much help he’d really be.

                Malice’s torturer had left the room to let her stew, a type of psychological torture both captain and first mate knew would have no effect on her. Taking advantage of the downtime, Kid decided to meet his two guests.

                “Come get me the moment anything changes.” Kid commanded his crew. He’d not moved from the monitor since he’d first spotted the girl. His crew was beginning to worry.

                “We won’t let you down, Captain.” Titan reassured the tense captain of the Kid Pirates.

                “Rest assured, we’ll get you if anything happens.” Killer added upon noticing Kid’s hesitation at the door.

                Reluctantly Kid tore his gaze away from the cryptic beauty. He made his way down the hall to the conference room he’d had set up in their lair for strategizing. It was full of maps already marked with areas that had been explored for Kaido’s territories and where they’d hit each of Kaido’s ships. He reached for the door with his mechanical arm.

                The moment the door began to creak open he spotted a blinding light followed by the hum of an imminent explosion. Panicked yelps from the few crew members he’d left in the conference room with the two captains sounded from within. Kid glared as the door he’d been opening fell off it’s hinges in the midst of the huge blast.

                “What the hell are you doing, Scratchman?!” Kid snarled enraged as he spotted the long armed captain of the On Air Pirates standing up striking his usual offensive pose looking more like he was about to hop behind a set of turntables than fight. He was a flashy man wearing a bright red oriental fashioned robe and had an extremely long dark brown braid sticking out behind him.

                “Sorry, Captain.” One of his newer recruits whimpered from behind a pile of rubble that was once a wall, “We tried to stop him.”

                “I was merely making sure you didn’t have any snipers.” Apoo responded smugly as he turned his attention to the Captain of the Kid Pirates, “Anyone would do the same after being summoned by their enemy.”

                Kid clenched his fists at his sides; he didn’t have time for this nonsense. Malice needed him. Even though it went against everything he believed, even though he wanted nothing more than to murder the two captain’s standing before him, he had to endure it. He couldn’t abandon her, but he wasn’t strong enough to save her on his own.

                “How thoughtless of you to keep guests you had invited waiting.” The stoic blonde captain of the Hawkins Pirates, Basil Hawkins, noted in a monotone.

                Kid bit his lip to keep from lashing out at the two. Normally he’d leave things like this up to Killer, his first mate was rational and level headed enough not to threaten the people he was asking for help. It took every ounce of restraint he had to keep calm. The thought of Malice and the pain she was to endure, for his sake, gave him the strength he needed.

                “I wanted to propose an alliance.” Kid sounded somewhat defeated.

                The two pirate captains exchanged a look of suspicion before taking on a look of puzzlement upon finding the crimson haired captain’s head hung low. This was definitely not what either of them had expected.