hiding

I mean if you wanted a fight...

"Something is wrong." Marco paced back and forth on deck in front of the rest of the commanders, and the scout party he had sent out, "Are you sure you checked everywhere for her?"

"We did, not a sign of her. No one seems to know where she went. If anyone did know they won't say." One of the scouters replied.

"Maybe she got lost." Thatch held up a hand in a pathetic attempt to reassure.

"It's been six hours! It's getting dusk out! Alexia never just gets lost." Marco fumed, "She gets herself into reckless situations."

"Pops!" Ian could be heard calling out as he boarded the Moby.

"What is it my boy?" Whitebeard boomed out.

"There's this girl here to see Marco, says Alexia sent her."

Misu slowly clambered up the ladder on the side of the Moby. She found herself overwhelmed by many of the Whitebeard pirates. Marco had to motion for them to give her space as she shifted nervously.

"Come forward girl." Whitebeard demanded, causing his sons to step out of the way so she could approach him.

Misu trembled violently as she stumbled to approach him. Whitebeard, even in his sitting position, towered over her, his figure extremely massive and threatening.

"What is your name girl?"

"It's... it's Misu Whitebeard sir." Misu's voice sounded as shaky as her body appeared.

"Do you know the whereabouts of my beloved daughter, Misu?" He gave her an intense look.

"I do sir. We... we were taken by Mr. Cornhastings. Alexia found me when I first escaped, said you wanted to know if Cornhastings was a good guy and all that. They only took her because I told her about their operation." Misu gulped in fear.

"When you first escaped?" Marco asked, interested, "What operation are you talking about?"

"Cornhastings had many of the islanders trapped below his mansion, including me. He put bomb collars on us and forced us to mine and build a factory underground for him. He turned us into his slaves. That's why he's hoping you'll get rid of the Marines for him. With them gone, he can take all the islanders as slaves without persecution." Misu began to look frustrated, "I had finally managed to escape, I was going to get help but then I was too scared. I was hiding and then Alexia found me. And then Cornhastings found us."

"Where are they now?" Marco growled.

"He has her captive at his mansion, its about a two hour walk from here. I'm not sure what they did to her though after...after," Misu stuttered.

"After what girlie?" Thatch encouraged, frowning.

"She said somethings to piss them off, so she could get the keys. She distracted them so I could escape to find you all. But they were going to seriously hurt her when they dragged her away. They're supposed to execute us both tonight at their party."

"Party? He's hosting a party just to kill two girls? That's sick." Thatch's frown grew.

"It's not just an execution..." Misu began to tremble again, "Especially with women, Cornhastings and Darin, they let their guests do what they want. Beat them, rape them, anything goes. Then they make a big show over the execution. They make it long and painful. They then let the guests go out and drag back a new prisoner to replace the one they killed after they have their way with the new one. They make a lot of us prisoners attend, make us work the event as servers sometimes too."

"When is this party supposed to begin?" Whitebeard inquired; his face filled with seriousness.

"They always begin after nightfall. Around eight." Misu lowered her head.

"That's a bit over two hours from now! We'll barely make it!" Haruta exclaimed.

"Then it looks like we have a party to attend boys, we might as well look the part." Izo sighed, his eyes looking deadly.

"Waaiiiiit," Thatch called out, killing the vibe Izo was sending out, "Is this why you blew a large chunk of our treasury on suits for everyone so long ago? In case we ran into a situation like this?"

"Of course I did stupid. In any case I could never imagine us attending any party looking like a bunch of pirates. We would never blend in. It never hurts to be fashionably prepared." Izo stated, looking annoyed.

"In any case we need a plan." Marco snapped them back to attention, "Misu, would you be able to direct us to the mansion?"

"Of course." Misu grinned, already beginning to like the group of pirates.

"My sons," Whitebeard stopped them in their tracks, "Make sure they all pay for harming one of our own, bring Cornhastings to me."

"Aye pops!" They all proclaimed, excited to finally be on the move.