Another Piece

Chapter 5 Koko

A deal is a deal

The marines had taken us to their base and thrown us into one of many of their cells. We still had the sea stones around our wrist rendering our devil powers useless.

"You can't keep me here forever! I'm the future pirate king! I will make you pay one day!!!" I had my face pressed against the bars of our cell while I was shouting like there would be no tomorrow. My chefs were sitting on the floor almost accepting the situation we were in. But I wasn't.

"You have no idea who you are messing with! I'm Mara L Koko and I will make sure to burn this place to the ground when I'm pirate king!" Before I knew it I was smacked in the head causing me to stop my yelling spree. It was no ordinary strike as it was a full on kick from Taiyō.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"You're being annoying! Shouting won't change anything"

"Well I'd rather do something than nothing!" And we were back at it again, yelling at each other of who is right or wrong. Suddenly the both of us were being hushed. At first I thought it was Bajiru but the sound came from the other side of the bars and it turned out to be that pesky cartographer!

"What are you doing here?" Bajiro asked, also walking up to the bars to be more involved in the conversation. Njord took a deep breath before answering.

"I'm... actually here to help you guys get out" This felt like a 180 and it left all three of us confused. First they sent us to jail and now they want us out? It didn't make sense, causing me to be very cautious.

"Why do you want us out now?"

"I didn't expect you guys to be that strong. But seeing you fight earlier... ugh. It's better if we can speak somewhere else privately"

"And how are you planning to get us out without making yourself look sus-" Before Taiyō could argue, the marine clad person revealed they came prepared with keys to the cell and three cloaks to hide our identities.

"Ooooh!"

"Oh and now you're okay with them helping us?????" My chef complained when I was intrigued with Njord's plan. Besides we didn't have much choice and I was bored out of my mind in the jail cell. The short haired marine unlocks our cells and gives us the cloaks to put on. I expected it to be smelly but they smelled decent. Borrowing smelly clothes usually made me uncomfortable. We sneak out of the prison by taking a different route from what we used when we first arrived. Probably for the best to not raise suspicions. With soft and silent footsteps and sharp thinking when navigating, we would find ourselves back to that map shop Njord was running. We got inside and our rescuer opened one of the previous closed doors to reveal another area of the building that sorta looked like a home. It did make sense that the shop owner lived in the building they had business in.

"You can stay here for now," Njord offered, showing us a few sleeping rooms. But we all settled on the kitchen table in the kitchen. It was a small place so the interior design was simple. Maybe some small details hinting the marine's ownership of the place.
As we sat down, Njord stripped down out of their marine uniform as if they had been suffocating. Underneath the uniform was a simple dark green shirt and some shorts.

"Now will you explain why you rescued us? When did you first want to throw us in jail?" Taiyō was the only one not sitting down. Probably still having some pent up frustrations at the cartographer's action.