Falaise

Look For Traitors, It's How This Man Works

Mihawk woke up to the sound of shuffling, his eyes opening fast to find the origin of the sound.

He was surprised to realise that it was actually Buggy busying himself by seemingly tidying the room. Crocodile was sitting in a chair in a corner of the room, his arms crossed and his eyes following every one of the other man's movements.

With a grunt, Mihawk sat up, one of his hands coming to brush the hair away from his face. His eyes met Crocodile's, and he nodded in acknowledgement, both men turning their gazes back to the busy Duke.

'What's with the commotion?' Mihawk asked, his voice rough from sleep.

It drew Buggy's attention from the bed he was making. 'We have matters to attend to in Falaise, the faster we are ready to leave, the faster we'll be back.'

'Quite an implacable logic.' Mihawk muttered to himself as he got out of bed and grabbed his neatly folded clothes from the bedside table. He headed straight to the bathing room, and came back quickly after, looking as if he hadn't just woken up only a few minutes earlier.

Crocodile had moved from his chair and was now standing by the door, ready to leave. Buggy seemed to take a final look around the room before he walked by the door as well.

Seeing as he was the one being waited for, Mihawk made sure to have everything before he gave the go-ahead to leave the room. They crossed the corridor in silence, trying not to wake anyone on their way as it was still early in the day.

Somehow Mohji and the valet had been updated on the sudden departure, as the cart was ready when they stepped foot outside.

Rasiphe was here, too, dressed in a nightgown, having obviously been fetched from bed. Buggy gave his bag to the valet before he walked towards the party's host.

They took each other in the arms, Rasiphe thanking Buggy for having taken the time to come, and Buggy thanking Rasiphe for having given him such precious information.

The two knights eyed the whole gesture warily. They were certainly not used to seeing people demonstrate affection towards the Duke, and for some reason, they did not appreciate it.

As Buggy stepped away from the embrace, Rasiphe whispered something into the Jester's ear, inaudible for the knights, Buggy's response hidden by his back. Finally, he turned his heels and climbed into the cart.

Crocodile and Mihawk followed him, taking seats in the same setup as the day before. Somehow, it didn't feel like yesterday. It was as if the entire dynamics had changed. It had not turned, not quite, as Crocodile and Mihawk were far from being intimidated by Buggy like the blue-haired man had been the day before by them, but there was something new. Something similar to apprehensiveness.

Buggy was silent, with an inscrutable face, looking at the floor under his feet. His knights, on the other hand, only had eyes for him, scanning his face, as if they could find what was going through his mind just by the sight of him.

They failed, obviously, and it was Mihawk, exasperated, who finally broke the silence. 'Alright, will you stay silent for the whole ride? You wanted to discuss things, yesterday night.' He didn't like the way he sounded, so obviously upset, but he couldn't help it. Mihawk was growing curious.

Buggy looked up, finally looking them in the eye. 'You want to discuss things? Sure!' He exclaimed. 'Were you ever going to tell me, then?'

Mihawk groaned, crossing his arms, but didn't have the time to answer as Crocodile cut him off. 'And what, exactly, were we supposed to do, Jester? Introduce ourselves, to you, with ridiculous nicknames we never claimed? Not pompous at all, for sure.' He was blunt, but right.