Chapter 32: Part 3.8
...Is Keystone serious? I thought he worked for the World Government, who were all about protecting people. Why the heck would he ask me to attack a village affiliated with them?
As if reading my mind he replied, "It's all a conspiracy, very deep, very troubling. Don't think into it too much. What do you have to complain about anyways, you're a criminal. If you're a criminal, you break the law. It's what you do."
Kreig was smiling a toothy grin and crossed his arms. "He's got that right. It is just what you do. Trust me, I know about these kind of things. It's tough at first, but every time you commit an unspeakable act, it's gets easier and easier."
Well, when Kreig puts it like that...
"So, when you say burn and loot, what do you mean?"
"Exactly that. But not in that order. Loot, then burn. You need to go to town, take whatever you want, attack some random civilians I don't care about, then take some ships from the harbour and set sail for Diz-Harmony. I'll be waiting for you there."
Wait, that doesn't make sense. "How are you going to be going ahead of us?"
Keystone gestured in a random direction off in the forest. "I have a single man ship hidden away. It's attached to a giant turtle! But the turtle is a snapping turtle... anyways I can use that ship to quickly move around. As long as I don't forget to feed it of course."
"What's stopping one of us from taking your ship and escaping ourselves, huh?"
"Good luck trying to hijack a giant snapping turtle. My predecessor cross-bred it with an alligator, so now it's a giant alligator snapping turtle."
I think that's even more terrifying, but I'm not sure. I'm getting some of those vague memories I have sometimes. Both alligators and snapping turtles are scary so a fusion of the two must be even worse.
"I'm still not sure what you have to gain from this." I tell Keystone.
The agent let's out a big sigh and replies, "I don't see why you're fighting this so much. I promised you freedom in exchange for you doing some tasks for me Manjū-san. This is one of those things. You can't trust me, but you can trust the things I say. Now listen to me when I say this. Attacking these people will bring you one step closer to freedom."
I sighed. "I do like the concept of freedom. Are you sure that's okay?"
He waves his hand dismissively and says condensendingly, "Yes yes. I'm sure it's okay. Now the town is in that direction." He points off into the forest. "It's shouldn't take you too long to walk there and there should be only paltry resistance because everyone should be busy watching the broadcast of Fire Fist Ace's execution. It will be a cakewalk. Especially for someone of your estimated caliber backed up by these guys... and it looks like the occasional girl."
There's girls among the prisoners? I check and sure enough, there is the occasional woman. Weird. Women don't usually last long in Impel Down. Good for them.
I continue to stare at Keystone for a few moments in complete silence. He shuffles around from foot to foot while standing in place. He coughs and looks away, but I keep looking at him. His gaze travels to the ground and he begins to kick some sort around, but I don't stop looking.
Eventually he snaps. He looks up in a split second with his hands crumpling the fedora atop his head and he shouts, "WHAT!"
"I'm not sure." I tell him honestly. "I think I was going to say something, but then I forgot. So I was looking at you until I remembered."
"Don't do that again! You were about to give me a heart attack with that stare of yours!" He calms down after a few quick breaths and then says, "So, are you going to do it?"
"Yah... I guess so."
The prisoners get really excited when I say that. They start to talk amongst themselves about how free they are and how they can return to the sea again to do as they please.
"Good to hear. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to leave and take my medicine before my paranoia flares up again. Ta ta!" He then does a 180° spin on his heels so he's facing away from us and quickly walks parallel to the shore until he disappears from sight behind a few trees.
I wait for a few seconds to make sure that he is gone, then I turn to everyone and ask, "Does anyone remember what direction he said the town was in? Because I forgot."
For the second time in my life a see a face fault. A few hundred of them in fact as every single person excluding myself flips in the air and lands on the ground. They groan about 'stupidity' while they pick themselves up.
The only thing I can say is, "Y'all suck."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone