Missing Piece

Chapter 34

She lifted her head off her fist, "Huh? What did you say?"

The tentacle paw slipped off her face as he leaned back. His smile disappearing into the shadow of his face. "What can I do for ya? I taught you well enough to never do anything without intention. Need anything to help with your hunt? Trafalgar Law is now—what? Your longest hunt?" His thin lips pulled into an ugly smug. "You sat around for four months debating on whether to hunt him and now that you have, it's weird why it hasn't been done yet. Do I smell a romance budding?"

Charlotte gave the other a pointed stare, one he knows too well. I can never keep up with your moods. Baako quirked a brow when she didn't say anything, then finally, she slid a small piece of paper towards him. "As payment for the stupid stunt you pulled." As if she wouldn't realize the set-up.

He made a face like he got punched or stabbed. "Wow! And you still took the job. What a great mentee I have!" He exclaimed dramatically, despite them both knowing the truth. He would have been disappointed if his protégé hadn't picked up on it. That's why he set it up so that she had no choice but to.

Laughing, Baako picked up the paper as he dodged a hook from the huntress. "Isn't this—what are you doing, Charlotte-chan?" She tilted her head at him, brow quirked. "You are still hunting the doctor, right?" The several bandages around her suddenly look far too comfortable. "Don't tell me you actually fallen for the prey. I don't think I need to remind you that this is not a hunt you can afford to fail."

Her finger stilled around the edge of the cup she was tracing. "I don't think the one who upended his life to chase a one-sided love should be advising. Look at where's that gotten you." She gestured to the empty bar and the other made a face, blaming the timing of day. It was the middle of the night. "You don't have much leg to stand on here, Baako. I'd say you're in debt with me."

Baako placed the small scrap of paper down, hands folded seriously over each other. The laugh lines missing from his face. "I'm serious. He's looking for you."

Even though Baako hadn't directly specify who he was talking about, Charlotte knew who. Charlotte knew who without a doubt. She didn't need his next words to confirm what she already so desperately knew and wished not to know. It was cruel, actually. The fact that he actually said it.

The scar on her shoulder itched.

"Aceteon is Outside."

A shudder ran down the large muscle fishman's back at the cold stare he swore he saw in the shadows behind her. "I want that info, Baako."

The choice was hers.

Several beautiful mermaids of the infamous Mermaid Café huddled worried around a certain pirate drowning through his sorrows. A large empty bottle belonging to another establishment on the other side of the island clutched in his hand. It was a surprise that the bottle remained in one piece when the one carrying was covered in scuff marks and wounds. A bar fight, the mermaids thought unanimously as they helped to patch up their customer.

"You sure are strong. Not everyone can come back from fighting Baako-san with only a few injuries. One of them giggled. She pressed a gauze against the wound on his cheek. She gasped when he instantly grasped at her dainty wrist, pulling her close. A flush spreading across her cheeks at the flames in his eyes.

"Not strong enough." He cursed, slamming his head backwards. The noise caused the others to jump in worry. He breathed and threw an arm over his eyes. The tale he heard earlier still ringing fresh in his mind. To think that that was the environment where she developed Kenbunshoku Haki.

"Haven't you ever wondered why Charlotte's littered in scars?" Shakky's point even more obvious now. "Fuck. Way to make one feel like an ass." He murmured, remembering the way he had reacted to her training regime. It wasn't something to easily share with others. Hell, she probably didn't even want to remember it. And he had invaded that privacy and brought the information. He rolled to his side. Fuck, I'm such an ass!