[N/A: This is the prologue II with the pov of Hestia, i hope you will enjoy reading this chapter]

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– POV Hestia –

"Fuck fuck fuck !"

"Hiiissss~"

"Yeah well all those deaths made me forget about the other girl ! She was supposed to be at the Opera House so I kind of skipped over her existence in the mansion"

I was back in the Kokosnuss estate this time perched on their roof, sitting high up and looking at the map my mother had drawn in her journal. I had left Loki, Azeil, Buggy and Douggy outside waiting for me to return with the girl in less than 10 minutes. I didn't know where her room was and my mother's plan was only for the first floor, which didn't help me much. 

[And then with the mess the building is in, it won't be easy not to be noticed now, sigh...]

I could already see my crew members slapping their foreheads when they heard how my mission had gone and it made me laugh all the same. The most important thing for me was not the path we took but the result and so far they were pretty good. Anyway, at this point I wasn't one infiltration away and waiting while staring at a map wasn't going to get me very far, now I had to move.

"I'm not going to find her by staying here, let's try the right end and see".

The first time we had gone left to enter the servants' kitchen, this time I wanted to try my luck on the right. Who knows, with a little flair I might stumble upon the Lady or maybe even one of her maids who could point me to her room. Putting my hood back on my head, I moved as quietly as possible on the roof, taking care not to make noise because of the tiles.

"Watch out they may be close !!!"

"Yes ! Look everywhere, even in the smallest bushes !!!"

"We must not let them escape ! Lord Von Kokosnuss wants them alive !!!"

From above, I could hear the many officers of the house bustling about in the hope of finding us even though they had no chance of doing so. They were in the garden and looking behind every plant which promised to make for a very long search. The Lord's estate was huge and in the dark with only small oil lamps they would not find the hole for days 

[Let's see here for a start.]

Smiling, I reached the end of one of the roofs I had walked along before noticing a balcony bathed in darkness and seemingly completely empty. I couldn't see well because of the reflections of the lights in the garden but since it was silent I decided to venture out. Adjusting the bag I had on my back, I jumped as discreetly as possible, landing on the stone without making a single sound despite what I was carrying.

[Perfect, now I just have to...]

"Y-YOU AGAIN ? HEY, YOU FOLLOW ME OR WHAT ? YOU SICK FREAK !"

"Eh ?"

Just as I was about to cross the balcony, a shrill voice echoed in my ears to my left from a form I hadn't seen at first. Squinting at the person who had just shouted at me, I discovered a shivering girl almost cowering in a corner. She was wearing a short skirt, shoes, a jacket and had a knife that I recognized because it had a wooden handle that I had carved.

Knowing where it came from, I looked up at the face of my interlocutor, who I also recognized very quickly. The girl had blond hair tied this time in a ponytail and a small irritant on the face, yes I was not mistaken. At that moment I understood better why she had told me that I was following her, she was the girl I had saved this morning from the clutches of a nasty big gutter rat.

"Yo cutie~ what the hell are you doing here ?"

"NO, YOU WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ? THIS IS MY ROOM AND...

"Shhhhh !!!"

As I wondered if she had stolen her employer's clothes this morning to strut down the street dressed as a nobleman I rushed at her. This idiot was more than loud as she screamed like a madwoman in a voice that made me want to throw her over the balcony. Very quickly, I stuck my hand against her mouth to shut her up but unfortunately it was already too late, the soldiers downstairs had heard her.

"Tch...great !"

I clearly didn't have time to linger here with this idiot who had just screwed up my plan with one sentence. As I cursed her in my thoughts, I grabbed my pistol from my belt knowing that I would soon have visitors. I clearly didn't care about the one who had me spotted and as I was about to leave, her small trembling voice sounded again near me.

"Y-You...are...a...pirate !?"

"Are you afraid of pirates, young lady ? fufu~"

Her demeanor had drastically changed from the snotty little girl to the scared little mouse I had seen this morning in the dirty alley. There was no denying that I liked it better when she was like that, so I didn't have the urge to kill every two minutes. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to enjoy it as already the first officer was coming in the room just behind me after having broken down the door.

*BANG*

[pffhahaha~]

He had been so loud as he entered the room that I didn't even have to turn around to aim at him and kill him instantly. But as I smelled the powder, a thought that I hadn't had until now crossed my mind. From the way the girl was dressed I had deduced that she worked here but with more objectivity I was more and more sure that it was the person I had come to look for.

I had to be sure, but if that was the case, my return to the manor would be very short. In the hallway, the officers coming from the garden would soon arrive and my presence on the balcony would last forever. Yet my intuition told me that I should ask her, taking only a few seconds, which I did in the simplest and most understandable way possible.

"No time for fun here even though I'm dying for it. You ! Are you part of this family Koko...thing ?"

"Y-Yes.."

"Very good. Even perfect."

[Knew it !]

The girl was giving me the answer I was hoping for, and that would free me from a weight I didn't want to carry any longer. Everything was going almost as planned and despite the haste in which I was, I told myself that indeed this evening was more than exciting. Without wasting another second, I grabbed Achi suddenly to hoist her on my shoulders, not letting her understand what was going on.

"EEEEEHH ??"

"Sorry but...no actually I'm not sorry at all. I just need some insurance by the time I leave this field. See cutie, I'm kinda in a hurry and expected somewhere fufu~"

That was a lie of course, I didn't want to explain to her the real reasons for her kidnapping yet until I was safe. Two of my crewmen and my two tigers were waiting for me at the exit and I knew they would be surprised to see me return only after 5 minutes. Anyway, in my mind they must have already figured out for a while that I had found the girl as she was so loud and agitated. 

"L-Let go of me you brute, murderer !!!"

"Aaannw~ How cute~ No."

Achi struggled in vain in my arms kicking and punching me but my muscular and strong body felt nothing. In fact, seeing her squirm like that even made me smile madly making me want to tease her even more. But unfortunately I didn't have time and it had to wait because already the soldiers from the garden were bursting into the room discovering the scene.

"L-Lady Achi !!!"

"A-Assassin ! Thief ! L-Let go of her ! Let go of the young lady !"

[Ara~ we already have a visitor]

The officers had arrived in the young Lady's room in numbers, their words confirming once again that the one I was carrying like a sack of potatoes was my target. There were men and this time women as well, which intrigued me, but I had already hung around enough. They said I was crazy so I was going to prove it, climbing on the balcony's embankment holding Achi tightly I turned in their direction with a smile. 

"Ladies, I would have loved to train you, play with you and taste you. Gentlemen, I would have loved to break your bones, hear your cries of pain, spill your blood but unfortunately...or fortunately for you, I am in a hurry !"

"W-What...AAAAAAAAHHH !!!"

Without saying another word I let myself fall backwards into the void, the shrill cries of the brat almost deafening me. The ground was getting closer and closer so I kicked my foot in the air and landed on the grass in the garden. I didn't have time to go through the small hole and it was now useless since they had seen me, so I opted to simply go through the big door.  

Being very fast naturally I didn't use my gift, running at full speed towards the gate which was several meters away. Luckily, I saw Buggy, Douggy, Loki and Azeil who had started to run down the street towards the ship without me saying anything to them. Arriving at the doors I gave a violent kick to destroy them and pass through fleeing straight south towards the dock.

"You crazy woman ! You steal my money, you steal my house and now you literally steal...me ?! Put me down right now ! Pl...plus I feel like throwing up, don't throw me around like that !" 

It was barely 1 minute that I was running catching up little by little with those who had gone ahead of me that already Achi was starting to annoy me again. At that moment I would have given a lot to throw her in an alley but it was not possible and I did not want to have done all that for nothing. Instead, I responded by making her faint, eager to get back to Cerberus and the others so we could get the hell out of this city we'd ransacked.

"I'm not stealing you, I'm making sure I don't get shot from behind ! Now shut the fuck up and if you feel like throwing up, sleep !"

______

"CAPTAIN, THIS WAY !!!"

for 10 minutes I was running towards the harbor with a girl on my back and finally I could see my ship that had already pulled the anchor out of the water. Everyone was already on board and the only thing missing was me, who had zigzagged a bit in the city to lose my assailants. All the sails were out, Joe was at the helm, Mysie in the crow's nest, Edward and Lucas on the ropes and Kali waving at me from the stern.

Little by little the Cerberus was leaving the dock with the wind and the waves heading south and I had to hurry. Running along the wood of the harbor at full speed, I could see the edge approaching faster and faster as I went along. Then, taking a big impulse I jumped as high and as far as I could, landing the next moment on the deck of my ship surrounded by my entire crew.

*BAM*

Automatically turning my head towards Belfort City that we were leaving I saw to the East a building on fire and in the main street an incalculable number of guards getting off. Silently we were leaving without anyone noticing, which made this evening even better after all we had done. If you listened carefully you could even hear screams that were gradually disappearing into the wind.

____

"Wow...that was..."

That was it, the port of Belfort City was far behind us, its lights shining dimly on the horizon as we headed as planned to Gaze. I had watched it sail away from the beginning to the end contemplating with pride our first piece of pirate art. All the strong feelings, adrenaline, bloodlust and sadism had subsided as I finally turned to everyone who had joined me. 

Mysie, Edward, Joe, Lucas, and Kali were all in a mess, covered in blood, soot, and dressed to my surprise as Opera officers. I didn't know what they had done but from the looks of it, their night had been intense too, maybe even more so than mine. One by one I watched them, squinting, taking care to anchor this sight in my memory before suddenly bursting into laughter.   

"HAHAHAHAHA~ Y-You....PFFFHAHAHAA~ Blimey ! Did you see yer faces ? Sea monsters ?! Oh no just ye, ye scrappy, ghastly blaggarts ! HAHAHAHAHA~!"

It was sudden but their disguises made me laugh so hard that I suddenly began to speak naturally like a pirate which was rare. We used expressions but the accent only came back during moments like that of intense surprise and laughter. My words didn't surprise my friends, who were all laughing with me once the pressure of the night finally subsided.

"Did you see yourself Captain, before you spoke ? Hahahaha~"

Our laughter carried through the night and mixed with the sounds of the waves that I had more than missed after only two days on land. That feeling of accomplishment that washed over me, I knew it was also for the others and I knew we were in for an all-nighter. More than anything, I could see that they were all okay and it made me both so happy and so proud even though I didn't necessarily show it. 

"You know we managed to kill a lot of people with Kali and I didn't even throw up hehe~!"

"Is that true ? haha~"

"Yes yes ! I also used my gift to help with the slaves and maybe even the animals but that I'm not sure. And then we made a huge explosion to help you get in easier by rousing as many officers in our direction as possible !"

 Mysie was the first to pounce on me with her tired but bright amber eyes, her clothes were all stained but she didn't care. She was talking extremely fast and giving me information without their context but it didn't matter. The bard of my crew and archer at that moment was adorable and as I patted her head helplessly, I looked up at Kali who was waiting a bit back.

"Congratulations, Kali~"

"O-Oh uh, it's nothing I just felt braver"

"And that's why I congratulate you, and everyone else too, great job mateys !"

Smiling, I congratulated all my crew because they had all undeniably deserved it after our two missions that had gone well. I may have been the Captain of Cerberus after the pact we made, but they were all still my childhood friends, well most of them. I was eager to hear what had happened on their side but as I was about to ask the question, Lucas stepped forward with a serious look on his face.

"Captain."

"Mmmh ?"

"Well, we looted what we could while we were at the Opera House using the slaves and animals from the auction. But...after we got on the ship and got everything ready for an express departure, we realized that we had what looked like stowaways...ahem"

Frowning at his statements straightening up feeling a bit of anger in my mind at the thought of people sneaking in here. I hadn't noticed anything since we had left very quickly before we were all stunned for long minutes assimilating what had happened. I couldn't see what Lucas wanted to talk about and as Kali spoke in turn, I could see them all move aside to give me a view of a corner of the ship.

"B-Before you get upset if that's the case, know that they followed us, are scared and hurt !"

Not paying attention to what she was saying I was moving in the direction they had all pointed discovering who or rather what they were talking about. Hidden under the stairs leading to the poop deck, six shapes were clumped together thinking they were discreet. It didn't take long before I realized that they were the exotic animals that were to be auctioned off.

[Yup no, I'm not dealing with this right now]

I had a feeling that if I started thinking about this, it would either make me angry or send me into a fit of giggles. All I wanted right now was for us to get together, eat and drink and tell each other about our two missions in detail. The night was still going to be long and they would have plenty of time to explain it to me so I shook my head and walked away from the stairs.

"It doesn't matter, we'll see about it later or tomorrow, in the worst case I'll throw them overboard"

"You killed three dogs tonight after all, Captain"

"HUH ???"

Buggy had unfortunately not understood that I was joking and had said in front of everyone what I had done in the treasure room. Of course the first to react right away was Kali who had looked up with shock, her mouth wide open. It was cute and I wanted to tease her so I walked away to the barrels I had brought back talking about something else while she chased me to find out with a pleading voice.

"Come on let's drink and eat we have plenty to talk about, my cuties~"

"CAPTAIN ! WHAT DID YOU DO ?? IS IT TRUE ?"

"Tonight it's alcohol and meat !"

"W-WAIT, HESTIAAAAAA !!"