Desire

four

"What the hell is going on!?" Paulie shouted. He couldn't believe his eyes, I'm sure. The last time he was in this room, everything was fine. Now Iceberg is beaten and bruised, blood dripping out of his mouth. I am teary-eyed and pale, vomit on my shirt I'm sure. On top of it all, his former co-workers and friends stand in front of him as the culprits that caused all this mess.

"Paulie, damn it. You should've run," Iceberg scolds him.

"No. What? This doesn't make sense. You're makin' it look l-like you guys were the ones who were after Iceberg. But that can't be right!" Paulie lets out a shout, forcing his emotions deeper into my skull. I felt sick again. Niho reached out to me, but I retracted my hands deep into my chest, mean mugging him in the process. "What the hell are you doing with those weird costumes on? Stop screwing with me here! Hey! Kalifa! Blueno! Kaku! Lucci! Say something already, damn it!"

"Oh, yeah! Those are the same guys that were with you back at the shipyard, right? Right?" Luffy asks Paulie, connecting the now all-too-obvious dots.

"Actually. That square-nose guy came to our ship," the green-haired guy said.

"I see. Then the attack on Iceberg was an inside job," the orange-haired girl noted.

"Wait, what? I don't get it," the reindeer looked to the girl.

"Paulie, in all honesty, we're secret agents working for the World Government. But hey, you'll forgive me if I say I'm sorry, right?" Lucci says. Paulie was growing angry, not that I could blame him. "We were comrades, building ships together every day from dawn til' dusk. I realize this is quite sudden for you, so perhaps you'd believe me if I smashed Iceberg's face? Maybe even crushed Ravenna's hands?"

"Just shut the hell up! I've heard enough. You were that guy in the bull mask, weren't you? That was the first time I ever heard your voice. All those years, you never said a word. But you can talk just fine! I'll teach you to make fun of me!" Paulie raged, running towards Lucci.

"Paulie, stop it!" Iceberg commanded.

"No, don't touch him!" I tried to stand, wanting to stop him. Niho grabbed my shoulder, keeping me down. I shoved him off, making sure not to touch any skin.

Paulie was a freight train I couldn't stop. Using his rope fighting technique, he threw an attack called "Pipe Hitch Knives" at Lucci. A wave of knives tied to a rope barrelled toward the man, but he remained unmoved. In the blink of an eye though, Lucci disappeared from our sight, causing the rope to hit nothing but air. Little blurs of Lucci's frame inched closer and closer to Paulie. The words "Finger Pistol" came out of Lucci's mouth as he reappeared in front of Paulie, shoving only his finger inside Paulie's shoulder a little too close to his heart.

"You still haven't learned your lesson, have you?" Lucci taunted. Paulie stumbles as Lucci removes his finger from his shoulder. It looked like he was going to topple over.

"Hey, are you okay?" Luffy asks.

"Screw you, Lucci," Paulie says, his words laced with venom towards Lucci. Paulie falls to his knees, panting heavily.

"It's pointless to resist," Lucci tells him, his bird flying back onto his shoulder. I didn't even realize it was missing. "Our abilities far exceed those of a normal human, as you can see. After many years of training, we've mastered an art called the 'Six Powers.' These techniques transform the body into a living weapon with the strength of over 100 men."

The room grew quiet, the only audible thing was Paulie's heavy breathing. Paulie stares at Lucci, standing back up on his own two feet. Paulies begins to ask Lucci, "After all this time, why?"

Lucci grabs Paulie's shoulder before he can stand all the way straight. "Sorry, Paulie. Our friendship is over. I have to eliminate you."

Lucci raised his hand, spreading out all his fingers. Whatever he just did, he was going to do it again, but with every finger on his hand. Iceberg begged Lucci not to, as did I. I was frantically trying to tell them this was unnecessary since I had what they wanted anyway. Or, that's what I'm telling them.