(Note: Thank you all, we've finally reached 10 reviews, and I know its short lived and by the time I've posted this chapter we'll have dropped but we managed to reach No.10 on the monthly ranking for at least a brief moment.)
"You're sure you don't need a navigator?" Arch asked, standing in front of the Perfume Yuda, Hancock had finally decided to head back to Amazon Lily on the premise of her being "bored" but Arch assumed it was because the Kuja settled in well and she was a bit homesick.
"Naturally this Empress knows what she's doing the Yuda know the way back to Amazon Lily by heart." She replied from atop the ship locking eyes with Arch. "Okay then, I hope you don't trip and fall into the sea on your way back." Arch said waving goodbye.
"And I hope your brother doesn't "accidentally" eat another devil fruit and explode." Hancock attacked back as the boat began to move. That last attack had hit a critical spot and Arch would be lying if he didn't feel a bit of pain from that.
"Goodbye, and see you in a couple of months!" Arch shouted before turning back and making his way to the castle. Likewise Hancock turned around and faced the seas ahead.
'She's still annoying.'
'He's still detestable.'
They both thought simultaneously, and although they didn't want to admit it, the past few weeks were quite enjoyable. Arch had finally grasped Tier 1 Haki, and was preparing to give Achilles the beating of a lifetime. While on the other hand Hancock had enjoyed interacting with other people outside the Kuja and the pirates she regularly turned to stone, even if those who interacted with her had the exact opposite thoughts.
Arriving back at the palace after taking a brief stroll, Arch went to have a brief meeting with Ade Wilhelm (minister of internal affairs) and 4th.
"So is there anything I should be worried about?" Arch questioned as they sat opposite each other having some tea. "Well not really. Due to the funds you acquired the main food issue has been resolved, and the distribution has gone quite smoothly. While the shipment of new military equipment was costly it amounted to around 100 million Beri." Ade explained, before going further in depth into what the 100 million was spent on.
"There's also the 50 million Beri spent on various materials to repair the old roads and buildings including expanding the farms." Ade continued, as he listed some other minor expenditures, but all in all Arch was quite pleased.
He had decided on the purchasing of new military equipment himself, and seeing how the food issue was solved, Arch had allowed them to have a budget of 80 million for the month which in his opinion they used efficiently and effectively.
"Well seeing as I've informed you of all there is to know, I shall be taking my leave as I need to oversee the reconstruction of the western road." Ade said, leaving the road. "By the way Aristophanes if you can come and help me manage them at around 5 that would be great." He added on before shutting the door.
After a few minutes of silence Arch decided to start the conversation. "Was that accurate." He asked before sipping some tea. "Yes that was about it, in fact we managed to get quite a good deal on the military equipment cutting down the price by about 20% due to buying in bulk. The purchasing of materials on the other hand was my suggestion since I thought it would be an appropriate purchase." 4th replied.
"Apart from that I crunched the numbers, and the Kingdom has exactly 102,356 citizens, with 10,506 in the military. The number of citizens could be higher or lower considering the dead and the newly born." 4th added on.
"Hmm, good to know by the way have you seen Achilles lately?" Arch asked with an evil grin on his face. "Oh Achilles, he's been running around the palace lately shooting off flames, we're lucky he hasn't started a fire yet." 4th replied with some anger mixed with envy.
'How cool would it be if I could throw fireballs.' He thought before remembering his current devil fruit was much more useful in his day to day activities.
"So what I am hearing is, he's not with Arthur?" Arch asked yet again his smile widening further. "He shouldn't be as far as I know." 4th replied with an equally wide smile. "Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?" The boy wanted to confirm.
"What, if you mean guide my brother on the correct path then of course!" Arch declared righteously before getting up from his seat. "Now do you want to watch my guidance?" He laughed exiting the room with 4th in tow.
After about 10 minutes of searching they finally found the little runt. "Hehe, Fire Beam! Fire Ball! Flame Canon!" He shouted as he shot off move after move, almost setting the palace on fire.
Soon he noticed his two approaching brothers and smiled. "Hi Arch, hi 4th!" Achilles greeted before walking up to them. "So how are your powers, enjoying them?" Arch asked with a smile that was not a smile as he crouched down to about Achilles' eye level.
"They're pretty great, thanks again!" Achilles replied with the most "punch me in the jaw" face Arch had ever seen before. "That's great, I was just thinking about asking you for my money back." Arch chuckled placing his left hand on Achilles' shoulder.
"Money? I ain't paying for nothing!" Achilles declared before trying to escape, when he noticed Arch held him in place. "H-How Big Bro Arthur told me only haki can keep me in place now." Achilles said with shock.
"Naturally its not haki, but seastone." Arch chuckled as he showed Achilles the glove. "Oh no." Achilles muttered. "But don't worry, look my head will go right through you." Arch replied before headbutting Achilles with a haki coated forehead.
"Owch!" Achilles cried, as a bruise started to form on his forehead. "Oops it must have been haki after all. Now come with me, I shall be dishing out some brotherly justice!" Arch exclaimed before carrying Achilles and taking him away.
'That had to be the funniest shit I've seen in my entire life.' 4th thought, before laughing uncontrollably he couldn't help it after all that little shit head had been running around acting all tough for about 2 weeks now with his flame powers and 4th simply wanted to see justice.
Needless to say, but after Arch's "brotherly justice" Achilles learnt his lesson, and stopped shooting off fireballs and fire based attacks anywhere near Arch, lest he rage at him for wasting his devil fruit.