The tavern Kaidou dragged him to sat wedged between a tattoo parlour and something that smelled like fish left too long in the sun.
"Rules are simple." Kaidou slammed two mugs onto the counter. Ale sloshed over both rims. "Whoever taps out first loses. No cheating either, like using that giant trick you did on me."
"You lost fair. Don't need rules to beat you." Atlas bit back. His mood too sour for the brats snide remarks. He grabbed at his own mug watching the way it swirled.
"Gonna eat those words, lab rat." Kaidous face grew darker at Atlas. But still he turned his head and shouted to the man behind the bar.
"Barkeep! Keep the ale flowing till one of us drops, Ya hear!"
With that they both emptied the mug. With a smack! They thrust the mugs back onto the table just as the man sidled over cautiously.
The barkeep filled the first round without being asked twice. Old habit, probably. Men who looked like trouble tended to drink first and paid later. If they paid.
They drank.
----
Three streets over, Linlin was on the hunt.
"This one." She turned sharp into another alley, dragging Streusen along in her wake by nothing but the force of her stride. "No. Wait. That one." Instantly turning around and down a different alleyway.
Streusen huffed behind her. Already out of breath. "My lady, if you'd just tell me what we're looking for."
"I told you. I'm bored." She spoke over her shoulder without even slowing.
"Bored people don't run around checking side streets like this." Streusen pointed out with deliberate emphasis on bored. He often wondered why he had chosen to follow this woman.
"Well when I get bored, I do what I want to not be bored anymore, Streus." She laughed as she strode on, her head swivelling this way and that as she went. Streusen rolled his eyes, he blew out a breath.
He gave her a flat look she didn't turn around to catch. "You're looking for the new runt, again. The giant one."
Linlin froze mid step.
"There he is!" She was already moving, Streusen's accusation left hanging in the alley behind her.
She spotted light spilling out of a tavern door two buildings down, and whatever Streusen had been saying had been abandoned fast.
He was going to push it but gave up, he knew there was no point.
It wasn't like he'd win anything, the woman held no embarrassment over her declaration over the new giant among them. Well he could admit maybe only a giant to him. He hated being so small sometimes.
By the time she shoved through the tavern door, Kaidou was eight drinks deep and still going. Atlas gulped just as fast without any sign of slowing down either.
"Mama-hahaha! Look at him go!" Linlin dropped onto the bench beside Atlas hard enough to rattle the table. "This is exactly what I chose you for."
"You didn't choose anything." Atlas didn't look up from his mug. "I ain't yours remember crazy woman!"
"Yeah yeah Mamahaha." She snatched a drink off a passing tray without so much as a glance at whoever'd been carrying it, and slid it down the table to Streusen as he finally caught up. "Drink with us."
"I'd rather not." He said tiredly. He was too old for this youngster style fun.
"Drink." She wasn't asking. Streusen knew by now it was better to do as she said. The memory of some idiot having his soul taken from him for annoying her sat in his memory.
He drank.
Kaidou slammed his empty mug down and reached for the next. "Not bad, lab rat. Didn't think you'd keep up this long." His words slurred slightly, but he looked happier now than Atlas ever remembered seeing him. Not that he'd known him long.
"You're the one swaying." His own words came out slightly slurred too. Turns out drinking without distorted future is harder.
"I'm not swaying. I'm standing solid as rock dumb rat." Kaidou bellowed, he arched back to laugh louder before grabbing at the table to stabilise himself again.
Linlin cackled loud enough to turn heads at the table over. She slung an arm around Atlas' shoulders like she'd been invited. He didn't shrug it off. Whether that was choice or the ale, even he wasn't sure.
She kept sneaking looks at him between rounds. Never held the look long enough for anyone to catch it, herself included. At some point she had managed to get her own mug, joining in on the fun.
Streusen watched it all over the rim of his mug with the particular exhaustion of a man who'd dealt with her antics too many times to count. Although this type was a new one. He watched Atlas evaluating him properly. Maybe she had found the one she wanted after all?
---
Newgate walked without a destination in mind. Hands shoved deep in his pockets, boots scuffing sandstone he barely felt underfoot.
He kept turning the same minute over and over in his head. The look on the kid's face when the word sorry landed. He cringed at the memory. Like he'd never heard it said out loud before.
He didn't regret saying it. He regretted needing to. He was just trying to help... but he'd put his foot in his mouth
"You don't know what it took just to have a road!" The words still tasted sour in his own head, even now. True. Useless anyway.
He sighed heavily to himself. The guilt wouldn't help anyone. Instead he carried on, hoping to walk it off.
The night didn't have any answers for him. He kept walking, letting his feet find their own way.
Linlin's laughter carried over two streets away. The sound so unique he couldn't mistake it, pulled him out of his own thoughts.
On a hunch, he followed it. Maybe being with crew mates might help him out of his funk.
By the time he pushed through the tavern door, he saw not just Linlin. On the same table sat Kaidou, the young brat he first tried to help out, and Atlas too.
He was shocked to see Atlas, the way he seemed relaxed around the other two. He brushed it away.
Whatever had brought them all together like this had clearly been forgotten somewhere along the way. Kaidou sat slumped against Linlin's shoulder, still talking, barely making sense anymore.
Streusen had stopped pretending to be annoyed and was laughing, properly, at something Atlas had said.
And Atlas sat in the middle of it with a small, easy smile Newgate hadn't seen on him since he'd stepped aboard.
Newgate stood in the doorway a moment. Just looking.
Atlas caught sight of him first. His shoulders went rigid. The flinch came and went fast, quick enough no one else at the table caught it.
Newgate pretended he hadn't either. If only to spare his own guilt.
Instead he made his way over to their table.
"Room for one more?"
Linlin waved him over without missing a beat in whatever story she was telling. Atlas didn't answer right away, but he shifted down the bench. Left just enough space. Newgate took the invitation for what it was and sat. Asked nothing. Offered nothing. Just let himself settle into the noise of it.
It was only once he'd sat that he noticed the figure at the bar counter.
Shiki. No telling how long he'd been there. Half turned toward them. A drink at his elbow he hadn't touched once.
For a short second he seemed to just watch them. An easy smile on his lips that felt less friendly than it looked. Then he seemed to find something amusing.
He gave a short laugh to himself, private in whatever meaning it had, and floated off the stool toward the table.
"Mind if I join?" He didn't wait for an answer. Settled into the last open seat, chin propped on one hand, eyes moving over each of them in turn before landing on Atlas.
"That little display of yours during the ceremony. The one that dropped the last of them like puppets with their strings cut."
The table went quiet.
Atlas' jaw tightened. "What about it."
"You know what that was?" His tone playful, enjoying the attention. The others knew, but didn't interrupt, deciding to let Shiki have his little fun.
"No." Admitting it hurt Atlas. Especially with the smugness wafting from Shiki, and even the way Kaidou smirked finally having something over him. It seemed he was the only one in the dark here.
Shiki's smile widened. "Didn't think so."
He let the silence sit a while. Watching Atlas the way a man studies something he hasn't decided the worth of yet.
"Haki." He said it plain, like it cost him nothing. "There's a name for it. Something most in this world never learn to touch. What you did back there wasn't your fruit."
Atlas' mug stopped halfway to his mouth.
"Then what was it." Again, he fought with the feeling of needing answers. He promised he would one day learn something Shiki needed to know and repay the favour.
Shiki shrugged. Reached for the drink he'd carried over. "That's a conversation for another day."
He drank slowly, almost deliberately eking out the desperation for answers from Atlas. "But I can tell you that there are other branches too, one that gives you a sixth sense and another that hardens your body too."
Atlas remembered the sea king and then back to Saturn's iron-like blackened skin when he'd tried to attack him.
The world was so much bigger than he ever knew it was. Still his mind was too fuzzy from drink and he felt a feeling of ease he hadn't in a long time. Too long. These questions could wait.
"Another round Barkeep!" The table roared with approval. They were all in for a heavy night.
Atlas looked around at the others, it was a weird feeling. But for once he didn't really mind this one. He took another gulp as he settled in and laughed at some joke Charlotte made. She could be funny sometimes at least.