Chapter 39: 12 p.m.

Two months before the auction started, on a fishing boat.

“Hey, hey, Caasi!”

Lying on my back like a dead fish, the sun’s rays baking my body, it’s been hours I try desperately to sleep to get rid of my boredom. Slightly lifting the straw hat that has been protecting my face, I yawn to tears. “What is it, Airim?”

“I’m bored to death!”

I drop the hat back on my face. “Me too, dumbass.”

“DON’T CALL ME DUMBASS!” She shouts, throwing her fishing line on me.

“OUCH!” I shout, and cover my eyes when she pulls the fishing line that takes my straw hat with it.

Boiling from the heat and a little bit from anger, I stand up and run towards her.

The cries of seagulls cover our fighting and, in a splash, we end up in the sea.

Getting wet doesn’t calm us and we splash water at each other’s face while swearing.

Slowly, we run out of energy and just end up doing the plank. The situation makes me laugh softly.

“Hey, hey Caasi…”

“What is it, Airim?”

“When are we going to do something fun again?”

While I was wondering what fun activity we could do next, the sound of a motored boat approaches.

On top of it, the familiar face of the young Camorra mafioso in his usual green suit and green hat waves at us. Next to him are standing two black men in traditional Nubian attire.

“Whassup? Having fun?” the Camorra named David says with a big smile on his face.

“Not at all.” We answer together.

One of the Nubians jumps on our fishing boat and type on his phone. The other one signs us to get on the motored boat.

“What are you doing here? You’ve been spotted by our security drones without a registration number. You’re fishing illegally on Nubian seas, are you looking for trouble?”

“My, my, calm down Kernabes! Our friends here are just lost!” The Camorra, of course, came to negotiate and picks out a wad of banknotes from his inner pocket.

The Nubian named Kernabes sharply points his gun at him. “You uncivilized bastards think you can bribe anybody, eh? It’s been decades since we don’t use those anymore.”

David rolls his eyes. “God damn it, you see what kind of mess you bring me in!” He says at our intention.

The other Nubian shouts from the fishing boat. “It was stolen, we found the owner!”

“Good, you two are arrested. And you, how are you going to pay for this, uh?” Kernabes responds.

His massive dread locks remind me of the wigs worn by pharaohs and the severe look in his eyes prove that he’s no amateur in this field.

“They’re going to pay, of course.” David smiles.

“Wh-” I try to interrupt.

“You don’t know them but they’re the best thieves in our family!”

“We’re not from your family!” Airim says.

“They’re not from your family?” Kernabes repeats, pointing the gun on David’s nose even more menacingly. “Why are you saving them?”

“They’re just the best, okay? The Bonnie and Clyde of this century. They can steal anything they want, anywhere they want, and they owe us money.”

“But we get caught!” Airim laughs proudly and I don’t know what to do anymore.

“They got caught!” Kernabes says, pointing at his partner on the fishing boat.

“I confirm they are currently caught.” His partner adds.

“They can steal and go away! Here they got caught on purpose because they didn’t know what to do anymore and needed some excitement in their lives, I know them by heart, isn’t that right, guys?”

“No, no, we didn’t want to get caught, we’re just that bad.” I continue.

What David said was actually entirely true, but I feel he's bringing a mess that’s far greater than what we want, and we can just escape prison easily.

But David who felt that his life was threatened a bit too much started panicking.

“Do you really think they would say that?! Okay, here is the thing! Diamond! Diamond!!!”

“What diamond?” Kernabes asks intrigued.

“I exchange our lives for a diamond from the Sea of Stars! A Nubian diamond! That has been stolen from its rightful place! A beautiful diamond! You love diamonds, right? Everybody loves diamonds! The biggest and most expensive one! Banknotes aren’t worth shit anymore, but precious gems? Great investment. If you keep it preciously, its value won’t stop growing! It’s the best of stocks!”

Kernabes slowly turns to his partner and they whisper to each other for a few seconds until he hides the gun back in his clothes.

“Stealing from the Sea of Stars, now I want to see that. Your family versus the yakuza! I heard they have a real monster on board too. It’s a deal.” He says, extending his right arm.

David and Kernabes grab each other’s forearms in a form of handshake and get closer like a short embrace, a common way of greeting in North Africa.

But the embrace took a little longer than normal and Kernabes, frowning, whispers in David’s ear something that we can’t hear from where we are. During that moment, I notice that Kernabes’s left hand is squeezing David’s testicles which explains the pained expression he is making.

When they release each other, David walks a few steps back, visibly in pain and sweating a lot.

“Aren’t you hot in this attire?” Airim laughs with her hand covering her mouth.

“Shut up, dumbass.”

“DON’T CALL ME DUMBASS!”

 

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After rushing through the ship and reaching a hidden deck on top of the highest one, we finally get to the surface.

Like swimming up from the abyss, our ray of hope is the helicopter in hover waiting for us.

“Is that Francesco’s? Where is he?” I ask Grandma and Grandpa.

“Don’t worry, he’s already inside! Let’s go!” Grandpa shouts.

CLANG!

The noise of the helicopter makes it difficult to hear each other, but we all turned around to hear where that sound came from.

Here we can’t see the fire but the smoke that moves upward from below us. Because of this, I remember something that we forgot. “BOOBIES! WE LEFT FRANCESCO’S COUSINS!!”

Boobies frowns and shakes her hand left and right. “Who … ab … uys?”

“WHAT?”

“WHO CARES ABOUT THESE GUYS?!” She repeats.

“HOW ABOUT TIAN SHUI AND TIAN HUO?!”

“THEY’LL FIND A WAY OUT!”

It’s true, the Chinese are very strong so they’ll figure a way out, but we left Francesco’s cousins unconscious in their cabin. He cares about them a lot and shouldn’t leave without them.

“I’M GOING TO FIND THEM!” I shout.

“WHAT?! NO! COME HERE!” She grabs my hand.

Grandpa and Grandma are already climbing the ladder that’s hanging from the helicopter.

“NO, BUT-!”

“THINK ABOUT IT, THEY DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! THEY’LL THINK THEY’RE VICTIMS OF THE FIRE! THEY WILL SAVE THEM AND RELEASE THEM! NOW GRAB THE LADDER!”

I suppose she’s right, I didn’t think about it.

I put a hand on the ladder and slowly start climbing.

Behind me, Boobies follows and sighs from relief.

She mumbles a few words in her expiration that I can’t hear clearly, but I recognize as “you can’t save anybody.”

Inside the helicopter, Francesco is lying in the back. A nurse, probably also the copilot, is measuring his blood pressure. She gives a cold stare to everybody. The pilot is an old man named Andrea that I’ve seen many times when I went to Francesco’s mansion. He was a butler.

Grandpa and Grandma are already seated, and we put soundproof headphones with microphones on, that would otherwise make any communication impossible because of the noise.

“Is everybody here?” Asks Andrea.

“Yes.” Boobies says, coldly.

She pulls the ladder and closes the door with swift movements, like she has done it a lot, and the helicopter starts moving.

“Is he okay?” I ask the nurse who answers me with a cold stare.

“He’s fine, he’s fine, we talked a lot earlier.”

“He’s fine, he’s fine, Cavalcanti are robust!” Grandpa and Grandma laugh.

“Shut up…” Francesco coughs.

“See, he’s fine, he’s fine!” They sing.

The nurse jumps at their throats with her scalpels and spits. “Why are you so happy? Are you the ones who put him in this state?! I’m going to slice your throats!”

“Grandpa! Grandma!” I shout.

“It’s not them.” Boobies responds. “He got caught in a fire.”

“And who started the fire? Do you think a fire could begin accidentally on the Crowned Shogun?” The nurse continues.

“Calm down, Fabiola!”

The butler stops her with one sentence, and the nurse releases them.

“Francesco wouldn’t have asked to wait for them if it was their fault.”

Old man, you have a lot of faith in Francesco’s sanity…

“Fine, but drop them anywhere. We have to hurry home. I already called the family’s doctors and surgeons. Let’s not keep the dead weight.”

“That’s fine with us.” Boobies sighs.

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After a few hours of flight, we finally arrived back on land and after checking my phone, I notice it’s already noon.

Abhi should wake up soon, I can’t wait to tell him everything.

The Cavalcanti helicopter drops us on top of a building that’s conveniently not too far from our home.

The Camorra couple disappeared as noisily as they appeared, and I pray that our paths never cross again.

For some reason, DIANA got attached to them, though.

Walking in the streets after such an eventful day and night feels strange, like nothing happened, but I just have to put my hand in my pocket to feel the jewels inside.

A bit curious, I finally ask DIANA: “So, why did you call them Grandpa and Grandma? They weren’t that old.”

She takes a few minutes to think before responding. “They kinda reminded me of my grandparents. No, I actually don’t remember my grandparents at all, but they were exactly like I would have imagined my grandparents…”

“I see…”

We stay silent for more minutes until I continue. “I don’t remember my grandparents either, I actually don’t even remember my parents…”

“It’s probably better like that…” She says.

What an awkward conversation, I need to change topics.

Yet, while I was still pondering what to talk about, a tall, slender silhouette shows itself in a building’s shadow.

“Heyyy DIANA, how are you doing?”

The unforgettable face of her sister SIRONA smiles.

I turn to face DIANA who instantly froze. I notice her hand slowly rubbing her belly and remember all the scars she gave her.

“What are you doing here, you piece of junk?” I spit.

She walks slowly toward us. “I’m here to take back my sister. Your home isn’t a safe place for her anymore.”

“What?”

The time it takes for me to understand the implications of what she said, she puts her hand on DIANA’s shoulder and hugs her.

“I missed you…” She says.

I pull Gandiva from its strap mode and points it at her.

“What the fuck do you mean?”

She clicks her tongue and a sniper shot comes flying at me. Since I’m highly trained, I have the reaction time to avoid it with a backflip, but there is no way I can take SIRONA and her backup in a fight now.

“Nice reflexes, how did you hear that? Oh, but you have more urgent matter at hand, I thought you kept a tiban at your home. I fear he must be dead by now.”

“WHAT?! WHY?! STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!”

“You should run, sweetie. Your home is burning!”

Panicking, I start running towards the apartment.

On the way, I notice the sirens of firefighters and groups of people screaming.

Looking up behind the buildings, I see a tower of smoke scratching the heavens.

Inside of me I pray that it’s a different building. This devil made me a prank.

Yet, when I arrived, it’s definitely our home that is set on fire.

I run madly in the crowd, screaming. “ABHI! ABHI! ARE YOU THERE?!”

When I notice that he’s not there, I rush inside the building, ignoring the shouting of the firefighters.

“ABHI! ABHI! ABHIIIIII!” I cry.

I can’t breathe. I cough. I stumble and crawl.

In the flat, there is none. My only hope is that he found refuge in the bunker.

I crawl to the underground and fall in the stairs.

My head bleeding, the heat growing, my brain gets filled by unwanted memories.

My dry lips repeat meaninglessly. “Everything is a weapon in the Punjab desert…”

I remember I left DIANA with her crazy sister and the thought makes my heart ache. When I had to choose between her and Abhi, I didn’t hesitate.

But I didn’t save Abhi either.

As a curse…

I couldn’t save anyone.

In my dementia, I feel like I was back 15 years ago, with a backpack in the desert, a grenade in hand.

That everything that happened was just a dream I had in the cold nights of the desert.

And when I wake up, I’ll be back in the blazing fire.

 

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In the middle of the day, under the blazing sun, a hand reaches out to me.

“Shixiong, are you alive?”

The shidi I almost kicked last time, the one who helped us get on the ship, he’s the one who saved me now.

On a motored boat, he smiles, noticing that I’m conscious.

“Thanks God. We had a meeting with the Masters. We’re going to war.”

“War?”

“Yes. There was an incident with the yakuza.”

“I noticed… What about our mission…?”

Shit, I almost spilled about the spying the agency with a shidi.

“What mission? I think when we’re at war all the missions are put on hold.”

“How convenient…”

Going to war against the yakuza doesn’t sound too bad, it gives me a chance to get TIAN SHUI back.

“What’s your name?”

He looks at me with a smile that shows a missing tooth. “I’m XIAO SHUI, under the Master of Defiance. We’re in the same branch, shixiong.”

XIAO SHUI… How mysterious, destiny is…

 

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“WE’VE LOST MORE THAN 20 SECURITY OFFICERS IN THE ATTACK!”

“IT’S NOTHING COMPARED TO THE LOSS OF THE NUBIAN DIAMOND!”

“ARE WE SURE IT WAS THE TRIADS?”

“THEY’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!”

“SOME SAILORS SAY THEY SAW OTHER PEOPLE!”

The Crowned Shogun’s first deck meeting room is a real battlefield right now.

All these scums under my service are shouting complaints left and right without moving a single finger themselves.

The frustration and bitterness that grows in me get stronger when I see pigs like them acting like they are important.

I walk out of the office, my cigarette in a holder in hand and call out. “TSUKI.”

The little bodyguard dressed like an assassin jumps on her knees from the shadows in the ceiling in front of me.

The Crowned Shogun needs a purge.

These parasites have no idea of what it is to be in the front line.

We’re going to need only the brave and the strong from now on.

“Kill them all.”

“Yes.”

In the blink of an eye, she disappears to give birth to a wave of screaming and gunshots.

I take a good puff of tobacco and when the room gets finally silent, I enter again.

In the middle of it, one young man with his raven black messy hair and suit covered in blood is laughing maniacally. He’s the only one TSUKI left alive, which means he’s the only one worthy of staying alive.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

He juggles with his spotted with blood knife and responds in a hiccup. “NANAYA. I have no rank.”

“NANAYA, I give you the rank of Oni. Come, we’re going to war.”

Leading the way to the exit, we walk together on the sea of blood.

END OF VOLUME 2

 

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