Alliance With An Outlaw

Shackled With Trouble

Two men stood before the now widely opened gate of Punk Hazard.

It's been a while since the photo was taken so the sudden stream of people going in on an exodus had dwindled. The town looked pretty lonely compared to how it was before, but still it wasn't completely deserted. There were still a handful of people around – probably hopefuls who wished to rebuild the settlement. Only this time without any of the shady shenanigans.

Maybe.

"What just happened here?" Sabo said as he left their unfriendly horses by one of the undamaged stables. "Do you think...?"

"Yeah." Ace snorted.

'At some point, if she didn't cause this.' He mentally added. Both brothers sighed. As much as they didn't want it to be real, it'll be as if they don't know their own sister if they were to think she didn't get involved with the chaos. Not like this was the first time either. There's a reason why the three of them together are banned at some establishments back at Goa.

While Sabo began to ask people around for any information about the dark-haired girl with a scar under her left eye as well as for some moustached man accompanying the said girl by chance, Ace continued to roam around aimlessly – I mean, observing the damage dealt by the recent event in the town.

Most of the building at the left edge of town were reduced to piles of unusable wood and ashes, and a foreign smell waft through the air. It wasn't exactly unpleasant but it was unsettling just the same. The shops and homes were barely spared. Miraculously, however, no one was reported heavily injured or dead.

Ace took in the view. It was as if a storm swept by all of a sudden – a fiery sort of storm at that. He can only hope their Luffy is okay, especially when she's with suspicious company.

He wanted to ignore the fact that Luffy was smiling at the photo. He wanted to ignore the fact that his sister didn't look the least bit forced or that she seems to be enjoying the whole affair (which isn't good in her defence when she, by some reason, becomes convicted of causing the mess). But he couldn't.

Still he wanted to anyway.

++++++

Immediately, Law shut the door after them and reclined at the wooden entrance for a brief rest as he panted, forehead slick with sweat. The obnoxious girl had the gall to laugh beside him as if the authorities weren't after their collective ass. Law closed his eyes to compose himself, feeling that if he didn't, he might just throw a hissy fit. Keep calm and pretend you don't give a fuck, he told himself. Plus he had an image to keep, or whatever's left of it.

This would not have happened if they had enough money to pay some suspicious toll fee. This would not have happened if they didn't scram off Punk Hazard in a hurry. This would not have happened if she followed the plan – or if he accounted her unpredictability to his plan. No, now is not the time to consider that. He just wanted to vent irrationally, at least, in his mental room.

Though to be honest, it had been much easier indeed to blow everything into smithereens. After discovering Caesar's hideout, Law hatched a plan to infiltrate the lab and ruin it in a discrete manner, if at all possible. No matter how great of a science man the clown is, it was still near impossible to readily get back into production without one's notes and primary reagents (Who knows? Maybe the lack of 0.0001 gram or the addition thereof could brew failure).

Aside from beating the fellow senseless, of course.

Little drops of mischief here and there with permanent damage - not blow everything up a day before what he had planned by someone being curious as to what will happen if you mix the fuming clear liquid with the surprisingly pleasant smelling murky one over an open flame. It was good enough that they only managed to get a bit singed with what chain of reactions and explosions that occurred.