The seas of the Ming port were calm as its resident went about their daily basis, most still wary of the events that took place two days ago after a dozen of the Crimson Sails Armada pirates were found dismembered at the pier.
Some were curious of just who did it while others did not care as they were far too wary of anyone coming back to make sure every witness who knew were taken out.
"Man, I really wish we saw who did it," A man with short black hair and dark brown eyes spoke with a grunt as he dipped his mop into the bucket of bloody water besides him, the other cleaners rolling their eyes as they did their best to clean off the blood still staining the pier.
"I wish we never find out. Guys like those that leave messes like this behind only care for one thing and that's death."
"How the hell would you know? You're too scared to even join the war," The first guy spoke with a snort as he continued mopping and a few of the guys laughed as the second one frowned.
"I was, but I wasn't the only one. You were just as scared as I was. In fact, you pissed your pants when they called you to the battlefield and faked an injury to get released early."
"Well, yeah, but you saw those fucking firebenders, right? Those bastards would burn the shit out of us with smiles on their faces and not lose a night of sleep."
"Urgh! You're both fucking cowards! I was in the war and no firebender dared to fight me!", The only woman of the group spoke with a smile that had a few teeth missing and the first guy rolled his eyes as the second one responded.
"That's because your teeth look like a Pai-Sho board. The fuckers were probably scared away by your ugliness."
"Whose dick was I sucking last night, huh?", The woman asked with a mocking smile, the others bursting into laughter as the second guy turned a bright red from rage before stopping as the first guy held a hand out.
"You can get mad later and see if she gave you anything. I wanna know what the fuck that is," He said while pointing into the distance and everyone looked only to raise eyebrows at the small ship slowly sailing towards their pier.
"Don't know…Wait a fucking second! That's the Renegade Phoenix flag!", The second guy hissed and everyone's eyes widened in horror as they realized who was coming, most of the others quickly rushing away from the pier.
"Come on, damnit! We gotta get our asses back!", The woman shouted as she began jogging and the first guy went to run only to curse as he saw the second guy still standing with his mop.
"Oi, fucker! Do you wanna die?!"
"I'd rather fucking die here than get captured by the bastards!", The second guy exclaimed as he stomped off the end of his mop and his friend let out a frustrated sigh he did the same.
Both men waited in silence while hearing the panicked footsteps and cries of those in the village as the ship pulled into harbour, a rope flying out from the side only seconds later and securing the two-mast wooden ship.
"Urgh, never again," Both were confused by the young voice that spoke up and surprised as a young boy, barely 9 years old, walked off of the ship with a groan while easily dragging a large cloth bag that was almost ten times his size.
"W-Who the hell are you?!", The first guy shouted and To looked up before raising an eyebrow at the two men standing in his way, looking past them to see even more running with makeshift weapons towards them.
"The name's Toji and I'm a bounty hunter."
"Bullshit!", The second guy shouted and Toji rolled his eyes before speaking.
"I'm also the one that's responsible for the bloody mess about two days ago. I'm sorry if you had to clean that up."
"You expect us to believe that you, a 9 year old kid, was able to kill off that many men?"
"Well, many have said the exact same thing and many of them are now dead. For example, all but one member of the Renegade Phoenix," Toji said while gesturing towards his ship and pulling the rope tied around his waist.
The next moment, gasps echoed on the pier and the two men at the front froze when the boy pulled a shaking man from the ship and onto the pier with ease.
"Also, I'm going to need you guys to move out of the way because I need him to do me something and if you're going to stop him, I'm going to have to kill you," Toji spoke as he continued walking, the two men slowly shuffling to the side as the boy gave a thankful nod before continuing on to drag his prisoner and package behind.
"A-And what's in the bag?"
"The heads of every member of the Renegade Phoenix. Now stop asking questions unless you wanna join them," Toji answered as he turned and made his way away from the village, no one daring to stand in his way as they were more occupied with the bloody trail his bag left behind.
"…Holy shit."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Well, you ready?", Toji asked as he stopped a few kilometers away from the village they just arrived at, dropping the bag of heads while undoing the rope around his captive's hands and waist.
"Y-Y-Yeah, you're not…going to kill me, r-right?"
"Nah, how is Kangana going to find out about me if I kill the only messenger there is? All you need to do is not die along the way and you'll be good."
"O-Okay. I…can go now?", He asked and Toji shrugged as he picked up his bag, smirking in amusement as he watched the pirate scurrying away before shaking his head as he began making his way towards the cave that Iron was in.
'W-Wait, isn't he on the other side of that border?…Urgh!'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"There he goes!"
"Keep aiming!"
"Faster, boy!", Toji hissed as he laid flat on the cart, Iron huffing as the komodo rhino charged through the forest while Toji grunted as the cart bounced with each rock they rode across.
Loading his crossbow while lifting up the makeshift shield he had made from a tree trunk, Toji grunted as the first fireball hit his shield, waiting patiently before quickly acting as he felt the force begin to wane.
With swift cat-like reflexes, his bow was already aimed and shot a bolt through the air, piercing the skull of one of the pirates on an ostrich horse before rolling as a fireball barely missed hitting him.
Loading another bolt along with picking off a small chunk from his shield, Toji waited before aiming and throwing the piece towards one of the riders, taking his crossbow and shooting another bolt before hissing as a fireball hit his shoulder.
However, he grinned as the wood chunk sliced into the neck of an ostrich horse and made it tumble to the floor, tripping most of them while the crossbow bolt hit one of the pirates in the neck.
"Oi! You can either go or you can die! Which do you choose?!", Toji shouted while loading his crossbow, watching as the last three riders looked at each other before shaking his head as he saw one of them pulling his fist back.
Aiming at the ground, the bolt flew from his crossbow before ricocheting into a spin off the ground, slicing through the leg of one of the ostrich horses and making it shriek as it began to bump into the others before falling down.
The other two ostrich horses leapt over its body, but Toji was not done as he picked out two wood chunks before chucking them through the air and gave both pirates a wooden chunk to the chest.
"Alright, Iron! Pick up the pace!", Iron just gave a snort in acknowledgement and Toji sighed as he sat back down, lying on his back while smirking as he stared at the bag of heads besides him.
"This is going to be a good day."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I heard you hit the jackpot," Yung spoke with wide eyes as Toji walked in, everyone else looking just as shocked as the bartender while the boy snorted as he carried his heavy sack of coins over his shoulder.
"The entire Renegade Phoenix crew along with their captain Tengfei, though they were a lot weaker than I expected."
"You being serious?", Yung asked with a blink of his eyes and Toji responded by placing the bag of coins on the counter before opening the top of it.
Staring at the bag filled with gold coins, the bartender slowly looked back to Toji who grinned as he closed the bag and crossed his arms.
"Not bad," Yung spoke after his shock faded and Toji shrugged as he kept the bag next to him.
"Eh, it wasn't much, but your intel about the Armada having some…disapproving members in their ranks was wrong. When I asked some of the pirates about where their headquarters was, none of them could wait to off themselves."
"Yeah, but you also tried to interrogate the Renegade Phoenix members. Their crew is the most loyal to Kangana and her ruling as she lets them run havoc unlike the other captains. Who you need to talk to is Captain Mosi of the Dancing Nobleman's Fleet or Captain Duga of the Burning Wave."
"Are they the only ones that have a problem with her ruling?", Toji asked and Yung frowned in thought before shaking his head.
"Nah, there is another, but it's best to leave him for the worst case scenario."
"Loose cannon?"
"That would be a severe understatement. Cook is quite the gentleman and someone who knows how to manipulate the crowd, but that is where the problem lies as the guy know show to control the masses."
"Wait a sec, the guy's name…is Cook?", Toji asked with a smirk and Yung smirked as he nodded.
"Yep, he got it after chopping up the bodies of sixteen of his fellow orphaned children in a large pot before feeding it to their orphan mother. Afterwards, he went on to kill her along with the staff and made his way towards the seas."
"…Sounds like a guy I can take," Toji spoke and Yung rolled his eyes as he simply sighed and nodded.
"Sure, Toji. Anyway, the guy will definitely help you out for a good offer, but the problem is that he will also betray you for an even better one. Cook can be good, but it's best to leave him until you have no other option left."
"Fine, what about Duga and Mosi? Which one would be better?"
"Mosi. Duga has a large crew, but he knows each one personally and even then, only a select few of his most trusted crew members are allowed close to him and only an even smaller amount are allowed to interact with him. You'd be stuck in his crew for years before you get any information."
"What about Mosi? What's his deal?", Toji asked and Yung chuckled as he nodded.
"Mosi sees himself as a man of carefree guidance, only providing advice and help when one seeks it from him and never attacking any ship that doesn't carry enough money for him. The same could be said for his fleet as none of them are as bloodthirsty or as battle-crazed as one would expect from pirates, but that does not mean all of them are weak."
"Fire Nation traitors?"
"Oh, the Fire Nation knows about them. They just can't get to them without drawing the wrath of Kangana and by extension…the Crimson Sails Armada. The reason for that being that their ships are not only faster but the crews managing them are more skilled."
"I see. So, where can I find a way in to get to this Mosi guy?"
"Easy. From what I've heard along the treeline, Mosi is having a secret gathering in Omashu where some of his officers are going to recruit new members in four days, I think."
"You think?"
"Hey, it's the only lead you got," Yung spoke with a shrug and Toji groaned at that before slapping himself lightly and nodding.
"Fine, here's for the help and another five bags of feed," Toji spoke as he took out ten gold coins and Yung grinned as he took the cash and gave the food in question.
"You going to be gone for a while?", He asked and Toji nodded as he picked up the coins on one shoulder and the five bags of feed on the other, moving around a bit to get used to the weight.
"Yep, anyone comes asking for me…"
"Don't know you or what the hell you're doing," Yung answered with a shrug and Toji nodded with a smirk before he turned and began making his way towards Iron.
Omashu…that's one of the few Earth Kingdom cities still holding strong against the Fire Nation, right?
'Huh, maybe I'll take a look up close and personal.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"And there it is. Omashu," Toji spoke with a smile as he sat on top of Iron, his new saddle a lot more comfortable than the last with his bag of coins secured safely to the side of the rhino.
Staring at the second largest city in the Earth Kingdom that was situated on the side of a tall mountain, Toji glanced at the large walls and gates that protected the bustling city before shaking his head.
"Looks like this is going to be a hard one, eh Iron?" Toji spoke with a smirk and chuckled as the beast snorted, signalling for the komodo rhino to continue walking as he covered his head with the hood of his cloak.
'Step One: Infiltrate the City. Step Two: Find out where the meeting is being held. Step Three: Attend the meeting and become a pirate. Step Four: Blow the goddamn city up if I fail to become a pirate. …Yeah, that's a good plan,' Toji nodded with a grin as Iron began walking down the hill.
A soft humming came from the young boy/ old soul as he slowly walked up to the gates and Toji's smirk was visible from under the hood as a few of the earthbenders stood at the rest while the head earthbender spoke with a commanding tone.
"Halt! State your name and purpose for coming to Omashu!", The man barked out and Toji took off his hood with a smile as he shifted into mission mode.
Time to become a pirate.
A/N: And we end off at a cliffhanger as Toji is now going to infiltrate Omashu. Like I said, this next arc is going to be a slow burn as Toji is going to be doing full stealth and manipulation.
No more just killing people by the dozens.
Anyway, next chapter: Becoming a Pirate and the Mad King Chases Me?!
And now, like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until next week...
Ba-Bye~!