Fisherman's Luck

The Foreigners (I)

Luc grabbed the bowl of rice and emptied it all into his mouth at once. Without bothering to chew, he swallowed and immediately began to choke and gag. River watched him distastefully from the side, upper lip curled up with disgust.

"A real gentleman would try to find whoever gave you such a nice gift," said River.

Luc chuckled to himself. "A gift a gift. If they gave it to me without knocking, they want to remain unknown."

"Poor kind person," said River. "Putting a gift on the wrong doorstep."

Luc ignored her and concentrated on shoveling as much food as he could into his mouth at one time. River hadn't seemed that interested in plain white rice. She didn't seem to realize how dire of a situation they were truly in.

"People are gathering in the streets!" River said, peering out the window. "We should see what's going on!"

Luc ignored her again. There was only one thing that was important to him at the moment. And that was his food.

River walked over to him and grabbed his arm. Then she looked up at him with large innocent eyes. Slowly, she stuck out her lower lip and trembled it slightly.

"Fine!' Luc shouted, setting down his bowl. "Holy Dragon! You can go out there yourself, y'know!"

"No," said River, dragging Luc by the hand. "It is not safe for a young lady to be on the streets without her man."

Luc reluctantly exited his house with River and walked out to the side of the street. All of his neighbors were already standing and craning their heads in the middle of the street. Heck, even Emora and all of her prostitutes had postponed their business and were waiting with the rest of the people. Upon seeing Luc, Emora's sharp eyes immediately trailed down the length of his arm and onto River.

"Law!" Emora shouted, storming towards him.

"Not like this," Luc muttered, turning to head back into his house.

"Law!" roared Captain Haiden, grabbing Luc by the arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Who are you little one?" Emora asked, walking up to River and taking the little girls' face in her hands, even though River stood a good half head taller than the old woman.

"I'm Lucrio's lady friend!" River said happily.

"What?" Luc asked in horror.

"What?" Emora asked, voice seeping with disgust and menace.

"What?" Captain Haiden shouted, slamming Luc up against the door.

River's face turned downcast. "He doesn't treat me very well, though. He never feeds me. He calls me names. He's hit me before too."

"No no no no no no no no!" said Luc, waving his hands wildly. "It's not what you think! Please!"

"You and I are going to have a long talk after this," Emora growled. "Little one, come with me."

They were interrupted by the loud bugling of horns and applause echoing throughout the streets.

"What's going on today?" Luc whispered to Captain Haiden.

Captain Haiden sneered. "Today you're going to jail."