He made his way to the side of the massive marine tower. Lance looked up at the imperious structure. "Alright, you." He held Helmeppo up so that they were face-to-face. "Where's the room you have her sword kept in?" He gave the kid a few shakes to encourage him.
"Waa-aaah! I keep all of my swords in my room!" His voice inflected as Lance kept shaking him with his hand.
"And which room is yours? You little thief." The shaking got more intense. Lance was actually able to see Helmeppo's head in two places at once because of how fast he was shaking him.
"Aah Aah Aah! F-fourth floor! The third window from the top!" Lance looked up at the building. Lance noticed that the window he had described was located near the top of the building. This refers to the section of the building that curved outward.
"Hmm…well, that might be a problem. I certainly can't climb that far up by myself…or can I?" Lance threw Helmeppo back over his shoulder. He unsheathed one of his axes and started spinning it in his hand. "But if I have something to grab onto…" Lance threw the axe upward toward the building. He watched as it flew through the air. The axe sank into the top of the first window. "Alright. It's now or never."
Stepping onto the building, Lance began running up the side. He ran, moving his free arm and legs in long strides. The base of the building was curved and easier to run on. But it soon became a vertical line. Each step took dramatically more stamina than the last. By the time he was three steps away from the window, he only had half his bar left. The next step took him down to a third. And the second brought him down below a fourth. He felt his body weakening due to low stamina. He knew he wouldn't be able to climb the rest of the building. And he needed to get to stable ground so he could start rebuilding stamina.
Digging his foot in deep on the second step. Instead of continuing his run, he leapt straight up. Reaching to grab his axe handle. He gripped tightly onto the handle. Instead of standing on the windowsill. Lance kicked the glass in. He knocked it down onto the room's floor. With the window down, he swung into the room.
As he fell into the building, he held his axe in one hand and carried Helmeppo on his shoulders. Lance slammed his head against the window frame. Causing a tremor to run up the building. His stamina dropped to zero before he fell onto the ground. Landing on the ground with a mix of metal thumps and crushing glass under his back. "Ah… Ok, not as easy as I thought." Sitting up, he looked around. He seemed to crash directly into a food storage room. "Oh. A quick snack could help me-" In his current state, Lance attempted to stand up. Stand up. Lance fell back down immediately. His legs turning to jelly mid-movement. "I'll give that a second."
Down in the courtyard. Kuina spotted a redhead jump over the wall. Sticking the landing better than any of the others so far today. "Are you with that big loud one? The one I already told to leave me alone?"
The woman ran up and pulled a cheap-looking dagger out from her waist. "Keep quiet. Lance has already taken a shine to you. That means I need to keep you safe." She took the blade to the ropes and began sawing through the bonds.
"Hey! You're being reckless! Don't just throw your life away because you want to impress some meathead. If they catch you trying to free me, they'll kill you!" Kuina gritted her teeth as she was being saved. She couldn't understand why no one would just let her serve her sentence her way.
"You don't know what you're talking about." She managed to cut through one piece of rope around Kuina's arm. She quickly moved to cut the next piece of rope on the same arm. "Lance may be stubborn. But one day he'll rule the seven seas as you know them. He'll become a pirate king!"
Kuina's eyes went small when she heard that. "What? King of the Pirates? Does he even know what that means?"
"It doesn't matter. Lance will push on through thick and thin." Mary had a smile on her face. She continued to focus on her current task. "Nothing will stop him from taking what he wants." Before she could cut any more. A bullet whizzed from the roof of the tower. Mary was shot in the shoulder, blood spurting out all over the ground. The bullet knocked her down, and she was forced to grab her shoulder to stifle the bleeding.
Having gotten some of his stamina back, Lance could stand and rifle through some of the foods in the storage. He remembered during training that bananas gave a small stamina recovery on top of a boost to regen.
[You have consumed 5 bananas. You have gained +25 stamina. Stamina regeneration has increased by +10% for one minute. Current stamina regeneration: 46.2 per minute.]
Great! Now Lance just had to find his way to this brat's room. Thank goodness he received a bonus for running in his custom-fit shoes! He said the fourth floor was the third window from the top. This window was the fifth one from the top. Therefore, he only needed to run up two additional floors.
Lance bolted out of the room and moved at a rapid pace. His stamina regeneration gradually replenished the running stamina he had used. Helmeppo flopped in his grasp as he ran.
"There they are!" He quickly spotted the stairs leading to the next floor. But as he turned down the hallway, he heard shouting coming from the path behind him.
"There he is! He's the one who ruined the captain's statue!" Lance turned his head back to see three marines holding guns. They soon pointed the guns at him down the hallway. "In the name of the Marines, drop Helmeppo and surrender peacefully!" The three cocked their guns before Lance could respond.
"Fat chance! I have a date on the fourth floor with your captain's son!" Lance turned when he reached the end of the hall, which was located in front of the stairs. Holding Helmeppo like a shield in front of them. "Though I wouldn't mind a few holes in my date's outfit! You want to help me out?" The three soldiers lowered their guns. They knew that if any of them shot Morgan's son, they would face immediate execution.
"That's what I thought! See you on the fourth floor, boys!" He quickly bolted up the stairs.
He didn't want any of them to become bold and take the chance at shooting him.
Mary groaned in pain as she clutched her shoulder. "Aah! God, that hurts! I need something to stop the bleeding. I just bought this shirt."
Kuina stared at Mary as she got the strength to sit up. "Good, you're still alive. You need to get out of here. They're on their way down here."
"Nngh." Mary held her shoulder as blood continued to pour out of it. "I can't. You're still tied up." She slowly tried to get to her feet.
"Don't worry about me! I still have 3 weeks on my sentence. As long as I make it through that, they'll let me go. So just beat it-"
"No, they won't!" Mary knelt in front of the crucifix. I was told you're going to be executed three days from now."
Kuina looked surprised at that declaration. "What are you talking about? That idiot gave me his word they'd let me go if I lasted a month on here!"
"That was a lie!" Mary got to both feet and stumbled her way to Kuina. "He told us in the courtyard. If you didn't agree to be his woman before the weekend was over. He would move up your execution." Kuina's expression was one of shock.
Her pupils were tiny, and bags formed around her eyes. She had fixed her gaze on Mary with a thousand-yard stare. She was looking past Mary rather than directly into her eyes. "What?"
"I'm sorry. But you're an enemy of the Marines now. And as much as I don't want to share him with you… Lance needs someone strong like you by his side. And something tells me you need him too." Mary gave her a small smirk.
"Stay where you are!" The girls turned their heads to the large gathering of marines who had appeared. All of the marines were holding guns and pointing them at the two girls. Captain Morgan was standing at the back of the group. "Captain Morgan has ordered your immediate execution!"
Mary looked shocked and fought back tears, while Kuina met them with a contemptuous glare and gritted teeth. "Kuina Shimosuki!" Morgan spoke from the back of the group. "Peasants and pirates may fear your name. But you are nothing compared to this Great One!" He hefted his axe hand up onto his shoulder. "You may think yourself a barracuda. But I am a great white shark! Take aim, men."
Each of the marines cocked their weapons. Mary's tears spilled free from her eyes, and she bit her bottom lip. This can't be happening. I only got to sleep with Lance once!
Kuina's glare grew shaky as the marines got ready to fire upon her. Not now. I can't die now. There's something I still need to do!
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If you enjoyed it, please leave a review or comment! Let me know if you want to see more of the Harem Pirates. And if we get to 100 stones, I'll drop the first cover story.