Two men, an Imperial Police; a fair-skinned man with slick short black hair and slender body, he had a certain feminine charm to his look, a beautiful man with black-rimmed glasses and a short Katana under his belt. It is quite rare but not that rare since Yakawa people tend to age a bit differently, it could be an effect of that. Still, it is undeniable that this beautiful person was a man.

A Pirate; thick eyebrow, messy hair that doesn’t reach his shoulder but enough to cover his ears. This rugged-looking man has a strong jawline under that scruffy brown beard. His clothing defined him, the opened up shirt that revealed his chest, the loose pants, the shoulder cape, it screamed sailor, but Victor didn't expect that a pirate would carry a spear.

Under all of that commotion, Victor gestured to the guards to take care of the girls, all of them left and started to evacuate the vicinity. The room was devoid of people in a matter of seconds, silence befell on the room as if someone just saw a ghost walking by.

“Under the Imperial law, you are under arrest!” shouted the Imperial Police as he cuffed the Pirate’s hands behind his back.

“You are in over your head, rookie. There are forces in work that are way beyond your Imperial law. You understand nothing.”

“You are just a pirate who had been plundering our food supplies. You are nothing but a common thief.”

“A common thief that’s able to plunder Imperial food supplies without raising an alarm? Aren't that a little suspicious?”

“What are you on about?” The Imperial Police grabbed the Pirate by the collar.

“Inside my left pocket will answer your dire question.” The Pirate smirked.

The Imperial Police reached in and then he took out a parchment; unfolded it and read the contents. Whatever was written on that parchment caused his eyes to widen in disbelief. “It couldn’t be...but why?”

With only the three of them in that lobby, the front door burst open and a dozen Imperial Police swarmed in like flies. They blocked the entrance, the windows, and the stairs; and of course, with weapons unsheath in their hands. Victor acted based on his common sense, he raised both hands and showed no sign of aggression. However, his luck had run out that night. To be in that lobby was a bad idea, he should have left with the others because when a bald and rugged-looking Imperial Police came in, everything went south so fast.

“Second Captain Hajime?” The Rookie Imperial Police turned his gaze at the bald man.

The Captain shook his head in disappointment, “From tonight forward, Private Kenn Miyazawa is officially a traitor. Eliminated everyone in this room without mercy. I’m sorry Private Kenn, I warned you to not read the letter.”

“Bloody hell!” shouted The Pirate as he stood up from the floor with both hands still cuffed together behind him.

“Wait, I have nothing to do with them!” yelled Victor at the crowd of men brandishing their weapons.

“It’s too late, Outsider. Captain’s order is absolute, no matter what you told them.”

“Let me out of this cuff. I can help you fight.”

“No,” said Kenn to the Pirate, and then he turned to Victor, “Outsider, please don’t kill them. They are only following orders.”

“Don’t kill them?! I don’t even want to be part of whatever this is.”

“Too late now, mate.” chuckled the Pirate.

The Imperial Police charged at the same time, Victor glanced around him but looked down at the table closest to him. He kicked it toward the three that was near him and back away. Kenn grabbed the Pirate and shoved him behind while brandishing his short sword at the enemy near him, he blocked a couple of strikes and kicked the one who was too eager to slice his throat off. The Pirate rolled over the bar, and using his mouth; he shoved a bottle of Sake into it and chugged it down.

Victor grabbed his Katana but changed his mind at the last minute, he kicked the railing of the stairs and used the broken stick as a weapon to slap his enemy’s hands. Slapped one and his enemy accidentally released his weapon, Victor kicked him away and took the chance to back away.

Kenn rushed in at one of his opponents just before he brought his blade down. The enemy attack was stopped when his arm landed against Kenn’s shoulder. The Rookie broke the weapon away from the enemy and gut-punched him to the floor. Kenn then backed away and he was closer to the bar, so did Victor.

“A back door would be good right about now,” shouted the Pirate after a burp.

“The kitchen!” shouted Victor as he leaped over the counter and grabbed the bottle underneath the counter; he threw it at the enemy to keep them at bay.

Kenn leaped over the counter and dragged the Pirate into the kitchen, Victor followed suit and they were rushing through the kitchen. Victor brought down cabinets and threw utensils to keep them at bay, heck, he even threw a bunch of spoons at them when he ran out of chopsticks.

“Seriously, mate; spoons?” commented the Pirate.

“I can’t exactly throw knives at them because of your friend over there, and I don’t see you helping.”

“Sure, let me give you a hand, mate. Oh, wait! Let's put a raincheck on that because if you haven’t noticed, my hands are cuffed together.”

Victor grabbed a pan and blocked an incoming kitchen knife coming straight at the Pirate. He screamed and quickly took a large breath in to calm himself again.

“I’m sorry for yelling. However, mate, they got the right idea. Knife? Knife! KNIFE!”

Pang!

Pang!

Pang!

Victor managed to block all of three knives, the Pirate widened his eyes at the last knife, “That last one almost hit my nuts. What’s wrong with you guys?! That low even for me.” The Pirate’s head recoiled back when a spoon hit him right in the forehead.

“Told you. When in doubt, throw spoons,” said Victor as he grabbed a meat cleaver and the enemy backed away to keep themselves from harm.

“What are you going to do with that, mate? It’s not like you can’t hurt them,” commented The Pirate.

“They don’t know that,” Victor replied with a roll of his eyes.

The enemy looked at each other then smiled before slowly making their way closer to their prey. Victor groaned as much as he could, “Thanks a lot.”

“I can’t help it, mate. I talk too much when I panic.”

“Then panic somewhere else!”

Letting go of the meat cleaver, Victor grabbed another pan. One of them swung his sword at Victor, he blocked it with a pan and slapped the weapon away before starting to drum his enemy head with multiple hits of the pan. He then moved on to the others and it became a sort of high pitch musical version of an acapella group.

Kenn arrived at the back door, he tried turning the handle and found it to be locked. “It’s locked!”

“Break it!” Victor shouted as he kept their enemy at bay.

“Let me through!” yelled the Pirate as he charged and broke the door from its hinges. Kenn stepped through the broken door and lifted the Pirate before pulling him away down the alley. Victor threw his pang at the two of them and managed to knock them out before grabbing a small barrel and threw in on the stove then shouted, “Blackpowder!”

The Police quickly ran away while Victor made his escape. They ducked down and waited, and waited for the explosion, but nothing happened. They took a peek at the barrel, it was burning, but nothing happened. After Victor caught up to both of them, Kenn glanced and asked him, “Was that really a barrel of black powder?”

“Nope.”

“Of course not, what kind of Pleasure Palace has a barrel of back powder in their kitchen,” chuckled the Pirate.

“It’s not like, they know that,” replied Victor.

“Though, I am curious to what it was.” Kenn raised an eyebrow.

“A barrel of pickles, quite delish if I may say so.” Victor took a single pickle out of his sleeve and bit it down.

The Pirate bellowed his laughter while Kenn covered his amused smile, Victor couldn’t help smile but smile at his genius tactic. It took them a while, but after navigating through multiple alleys, they had finally lost their chaser. The Rookie then both of them to a small warehouse near the dock where they were alone enough to finally catch their breath. Victor leaned against a wooden pillar and dragged down his back while his leg became jelly. The Pirate lay on a thick stack of hays and heaved his breath. Kenn meanwhile was peeking through the door to check whether they were followed.

Rustled, rustled, the Pirate goes as he plundered the nearby crate, "Aha! Want some?" He presented a bottle of imported alcohol to the room. Victor raised his hand, the pirate tossed the bottle over after taking a sip of it.

"How could you drink in a time like this?" Kenn raised his eyebrow.

"It's better than waiting to get captured. Want some?" chimed the Pirate.

"I appreciated the gesture but I don't drink," Kenn took a seat on the floor as proper as someone who was attending a funeral.

"That's a good looking sword, mate. Why didn't you use it earlier?" The Pirate turned his gaze at the Katana in Victor's belt.

"My sword had only one rule. If I were to use it, they would have died," Victor caught a glance from Kenn just before he looked away.

"Oh, damn, mate. Remind me to not mess with your sword." The Pirate whistled before leaning back again on the hay.

"That was quite a commotion earlier. Can you tell me what happened? I have the right to know since both of you dragged me into this mess."

The Pirate chuckled, "First let me introduce myself. The ruler of the sea, the dastardly handsome of the south, and the ladies man of the east. I've come from far away, plunder every ship, robbed many countries, and embarked on adventures that your mind couldn't comprehend. I am Yemen Zabazz, The Pirate King!"

“My name is Victor. I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but after what happened, I wish I never met you.”

"He's not a Pirate King. He’s just a regular Pirate who got caught trying to rob this city's food supplies."

“Aww, such a buzzkill, mate. At Least, I had an awesome crew… or used too,” Yemen lowered his gaze and flattened his lips.

“If you were wondering what happened to them, they got caught immediately,” chimed Kenn.

“That’s not true! One of my mates...betrayed me. I know who it was, he’s the one who got us the job, but tonight he wasn't there. The moment we set foot in that storage room, The Police were ready for us, weapons were drawn. My mates were all arrested except for me, or at least that was what I was trying to do until this rookie caught me.”

“Is that true?”

“No, there wasn't any talk of an ambush recently unless that operation was directly under the Second Captain’s commands. However, due to recent events, it might be true, but I would have heard about it.”

“You’re just a rookie, I doubt you heard anything about it.”

“That’s not true; Goro Yazawa, my uncle is The High Commander of The Imperial Police. Any planned operation in secrecy or not, shouldn't be possible if not approved by him, and he would have told me because…” Kenn looked away with scrunched up eyebrow because something smells fishy about the whole operation

“Because?” Yemen raised an eyebrow.

“Because he appointed me as a surveillance officer to keep an eye on his force. He trusted me more than them, so he should have told me about the operation,” Kenn brought his gaze down and stared at the floor.

“If I remember it correctly, they attacked you after they found out that you had read whatever was written inside it,” Victor said as he chugged another sip before tossing it back to Yemen.

“My mate told me that the one who offered him the job, gave him the instructions in handwritten to raid the supplies,” noted Yemen.

“That letter. That handwriting. That was from The High Commander, it was the same handwriting. I am absolutely sure of it, I had served under him for years now and I could tell from just a single glance. ”

“Could someone fake his handwriting?”

“Someone could, but only the upper command such as the Captains or the State Lord would be able to do that.”

“I say that someone had lured my crew to raid the supplies and ambush us, and the one who betrayed me, knew about it, and that’s why he wasn't there tonight,” Yemen pointed out as he chugged down the bottle.

“That makes sense, but what with the secrecy, it could have been a normal operation, and why did they brand me as a traitor after I read that parchment?” muttered Kenn as he pondered deeply inside his mind.

However, their moments of pondering were interrupted when some had knocked on the warehouse door. Victor stood up and grabbed a stool as a weapon while Kenn unsheathed his short Katana and pointed it at the entrance, Yemen chugged down as much as he could before retreating behind a wooden beam. The warehouse door creaked loudly as it was slowly being opened from the other side.