Kael and Jones stood facing each other. Both men's instincts were at their peak waiting for the moment the other would make a move.
"That's truly unfortunate" Jones adjusted his glass feeling the throbbing sensation in his left arm which he'd used to block Kael's blow
"Did Leonard ever tell you what happened to his first friend that went against us?"
"He said quite enough" Kael replied
"Quite enough? And yet you stand here fighting for a man who sacrificed his friends lives to save his own life"
Jones' words made Kael relax for a minute and he leveraged that opportunity. He ran at Kael bringing out a small dagger from underneath his belt, aimed it at Kael's face. Kael side stepped allowing him to speed past him
"What do you mean he sacrificed his friend's life to save his?"
"He didn't tell you? That's like him. Tell you what? If you can defeat me then I might–"
Kael flashed in front of Jones, fist shooting for his face. Jones barely got his arm up to block—only for Kael to stop mid-strike. In the same breath, his other fist slammed into Jones's gut, the impact hurling him backward.
Jones hit the ground hard, rolled, and sprang back to his feet in one fluid motion. Two pistols flashed into his hands as he squeezed the triggers, shooting at Kael
Kael moved aside, bullets wheezing past him. He closed the gap in a heartbeat and slammed Jones across the chin with a brutal strike. Jones crashed to the floor, this time he stayed down. His body throbbed with pain, suit shredded and filthy, his glasses lost somewhere in the dust.
"Are you going to tell me what I want to know?" Kael moved towards Jones who was struggling to pick himself from the ground
"I'm not…done yet!" He lunged at Kael from the ground.
Kael coated his left hand and cracked Jones on his face. He rocketed backwards crashing into the factory building that was their base. The hit caused a tremor that shook the building from its base.
"So much for being strong"
***
Leonard made his way into the building. He was already familiar with the place and knew most of what each room served as. He manoeuvred through the hallways and found his way to the back door of the store warehouse.
A big hall where all their artillery and melee weapons were kept after shipping. At the front of the huge doors were two men still passed out on the ground, they were meant to be on guard duty and it seemed like they were also affected by Kael's Haki.
Leonard disarmed them, taking a pistol and cutlass. Despite the fact he came to the warehouse looking for weapons which he did, there was one he was looking for.
Leonard slammed a button beside the door that turned it on. It gradually elevated, revealing a huge hall of stacked weapons ranging over pistols, to machine guns and ship canons and different kinds of blades. Most of them were stored on shelves, the others on wooden crates.
As the door completed its elevation course. Leonard saw some people still going about with their designated jobs. He ran inside and hid behind a huge crate, watching and waiting for an open opportunity.
Leonard closed his eyes as though he was looking for something in his head. Whatever it was he definitely didn't find it.
"What are you doing here"
A worker suddenly appeared before him
"Erm I am…"
"Wait a minute. I've seen you somewhere" He rubbed his beards "You are from the town, you ain't meant to be here. We got an imposter!!" He barked and reached out for a gun at the shelf, however Leonard was already ahead of him, pulling out his pistol from his waist and burying three bullets into his chest.
The gunshot alerted other workers and the entire hall became a warfront in matter of seconds
"Imposter, we have an imposter!!"
They picked up weapons and ran about the place looking for whoever broke in.
Leonard sat there on the ground looking as the worker bled. He stood up and began his way out of the warehouse. He moved from crates to shelves avoiding the wandering workers and finally making it out of the warehouse through the same backdoor. He pressed on the button and shot the door before they could notice him.
Whatever it was he was looking for was never there to begin with. He continued upstairs.
Leonard arrived at the next floor. It was awfully quiet. He continued through the varander, alert, turning his head from side to side in anticipation of any ambush.
He came to stop at a slightly open door. He raised his pistol above his shoulders, leaned on the door and peeped through the opening. It looked like a clinic.
On top of an office table was a box containing bandages, behind the table was a showcase glass stacked with drugs. And lined up all the way to the other side of the room were hospital beds, each of them having a blind covering.
There was nothing important to find in a clinic, Leonard was about to leave when he heard a groan coming from inside.
If there was someone in there maybe he could collect information from him. So he decided to step into the room.
As he moved he looked at the end of the blinds to know which bed the person was occupying. He passed the first three beds, almost approaching the last, then he finally saw someone's legs sticking out. Leonard tiptoed to the blind holding his pistol firmly. When he was a breath away from the blinds he dragged it open and saw a man awfully familiar.
Old, bald and ugly.
Those were the words he described Fang to be. He dropped the nuzzle of the pistol on Fangs forehead
"Hey hey! Please don't, please. You're from that restaurant right…the Chamberlains. What was your name again…"
As he listened to Fang plead for his life there was a strong impulse in him to pull the trigger, to finish what he had started.
"I'll pay you. Whatever you want just name it – money, houses, women – anything at all I'll give it to you"
Leonard's grip tightened on the pistol, his finger squeezing the trigger. He looked straight into Fang's eyes then whispered
*What we do for love"
"What? Wait wait don't–!"
The gunshot echoed and an eerie silence followed. Fang's blood painted the bed sheet red as his life sources slowly depleted. Leonard remained rooted to the spot, he could only watch as the lights left Fang's eyes.