“Sir,” the guard nodded as he held the door open, Karl returning the gesture as he stepped past him.

  The space beyond was vast—more of a hall than a room, and every time he walked in, Karl was impressed at its sheer size.

  The room served as the main hall of the best suite in The Gilded Compass, and it was very clear that it had been built to impress. But today it was empty, and the grand fireplace in the corner had been left to sputter out, leaving the space devoid of the dancing flames that usually gave it life. Their absence left a room that was much colder than the hallway he had just emerged from.

  He was here to speak to Jane, and since she was not there, the next most likely place she could be would be with Elisa in their personal chambers.

  Karl crossed the empty space of the room, his steps muffled by the plush burgundy carpet.

  As he walked towards the door in the far end of the room that led to their chambers, Karl thought back on the conversation he had had a few hours ago with the prince.

  Apart from the clear threat at the start, the intensity of the conversation had tapered out and had been replaced with innocuous small talk, as if the threat had never even been implied.

  The food had been just as good as the view, though the situation had prevented him from fully enjoying it... With any luck, the next time they visited the capital they could visit once more.

  After finishing the provided food, Karl had made sure to quickly excuse himself. The first thing he did after his departure from the restaurant was to dig for more information on this ‘Saint’ that was on his way.

  To do this, they had travelled all the way to the Merchant district to meet a man who called himself Vox. The most capable and expensive information broker that he knew of. A man that was sure to know more about the coming Celestial Dragon.

  Vox hadn’t been there when they’d arrived at his shop, ‘The Veil and Ledger’. They had waited and waited, but the broker had taken far too long, and Karl had left to go talk with Jane, leaving two of his guards behind with a promissory note to pay for the information.

  Karl hoped that by the time he had finished discussing the situation with Jane, the guards would be back with the needed information to make an informed decision.

  Having finally crossed the room and reached the door to their quarters, Karl pulled himself out of his thoughts, he grasped the handle and pulled the door open, only to be blasted by the sound of Elisa’s shrieking giggles as she played with a large dog that he did not remember ever having.

  It was huge, twice the size of his daughter , with golden fur so thick that Elisa seemed to sink into it as she played.

  Jane, who had been facing away from the door and knitting something as she watched their daughter play, turned to him with a smile. “Welcome home, and look what Elisa found.” She pointed at the pair roughhousing on the carpet floor with her needles.

  “A stray?” Karl frowned as he glanced at the dog, which at least looked as if it had been washed.

  “Not exactly–”

  “Daddy!” Elisa untangled herself from the dog and ran towards him. “Meet Puff!”

  Karl picked her up just as ‘Puff’ came bounding after her, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he flung himself forward.

  Karl had just enough time to widen his eyes, as he felt the fluffy impact of the large dog. He lost his balance and they all tumbled backwards into a pile of tangled limbs and one decidedly proud Puff, who lay on top of them like he was the king of the hill.

  From his vantage point on the ground Karl could see how Jane struggled to contain a bemused smile.

  “Daddy can we keep him?”

  Karl looked down at his daughter as she stared up at him with her big blue eyes. The dog rolled off the pile and stared at him also.

  “Let me talk about it with your mother first.”

  “So…No?” Her eyes started watering.

  Jane set down the scarf she had been working on. “Elisa! What did I say!”

  As if they hadn’t existed, Elisa’s watery eyes vanished and she scrambled up and back into the room. Puff licked his face and bounded after her.

  Karl lay there for a few seconds—just…recovering there on the floor—and then stood up to follow after his daughter.

  Elisa ran, giggling as Puff chased after her, the maid at the far end of the room opening the door to allow Elisa to run through, Puff right at her heels. Karl nodded in thanks to the maid, who curtsied and stepped after Elisa, closing the door behind her.

  Jane looked up at him as he approached the sofa she was sitting on and sat beside her. She then set the knitting needles aside, crossed her arms, and faced him.

  “What do you think of Puff? She named him after the dragon you used to sing to her about.”

  “Oh? Thats…”

  Karl shook his head, “We can talk about that later, first I need to tell you about the meeting I just had with Prince Caius.”

  Jane frowned, “I thought you went to meet his representative?”

  “I thought so too,” Karl leaned back on the plush couch, closed his eyes, and released a tired sigh as he continued, “I was just as surprised when he revealed himself.”

  Karl opened his eyes and looked at his wife. “He was there to threaten me in person.”

  Jane’s eyes widened as she sucked in a breath, “Why?”

  “Because of the ball,” Karl paused as his mouth suddenly felt very dry. “A Celestial Dragon is coming.”

  Jane’s breath caught. Anyone who was anyone knew about the rulers of their world, the Celestial Dragons.

  “But…but why threaten you?”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “He needs me there to entertain this ‘Saint’,” Karl spat that last word out, disgusted at how those pigs had poisoned the title.

  Karl had always seen Saints as holy figures, men and women so good, so virtuous and holy, that they had a special place close to God. They were the models all others should strive to live by.

  Nothing at all like the Celestial Dragons. The fact that those monsters had even tainted the very idea of Saints for this world sickened him to his very core.

  Jane placed her hand atop his. "Do you have a plan?"

  “Yes, somewhat,” Karl cleared his throat as he refocused on the matter at hand. “I had first thought that if I sent you away—”

  Jane shook her head.

  “I know,” Karl winced. “So instead, we need to find a compromise.”

  “I’ll go with you to the ball.”

  “N—”

  “Wait, let me finish.” Jane scooted in closer. “I can put makeup on to change my appearance, to make myself less desirable.”

  “That…” Karl took a moment to think, he wanted to refuse the idea out of principle, but was it actually a bad idea?

  Jane smiled at him expectantly, her grey eyes shining in the dim lighting of the room. In that moment, with the backlight framing her, she looked so beautiful that it took his breath away.

  He etched the image into his memory, and looked into those expectant eyes. Karl could not bring himself to refuse. “It’s not actually a bad idea,” he finally sighed out.

  There was a knock on the door

  “Come in,” Karl turned to the entrance.

  “Sir,” The guard came in out of breath, and held out a scroll. “The information you requested.”

  “Thank you,” Karl took the scroll and dismissed him.

  Unfurling the scroll, Karl’s expression soured the further down he read. He looked up at Jane and nervously wet his lips.

  “Listen to this,” he brought his eyes back down to the scroll, scanning for the passages that had caught his attention.

  "On the 13th day of the fourth month this year, Saint Augustin took his third ‘memento-slave’ (as he calls them) from Lvneel. A minor kingdom in the North Blue. Lady Vivienne Montclair—the prize he had acquired—had once been extolled as the most beautiful woman in the region, and Saint Augustin had thus deemed her sufficiently–”

  Karl looked up at his wife with a worried frown, summing up his findings. “Whenever the Celestial Dragon finds a woman that he finds sufficiently exotically beautiful, he takes her. “

  “Well then, now we know what I need to be as undesirable as possible,” Jane held up a hand to stall his protests. “I’ll make myself less exotic to his tastes. But I’m going with you.”

  She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “We face this together, or not at all.”

  Karl simply nodded, resigning himself to the fact that she wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise.

  Far from The Gilded Compass, the Capital and the Briss Kingdom. To the south in fact, and hidden in a sea of mist. A large boat—that looked more like a colossal wooden castle than a boat—floated in calm waters. Its sails hung loose, and had been marked with a very unique Jolly Roger: a boars skull, with its long tusks curving to form a cross under its skeletal head.

  On the highest tower of the wooden floating castle were the Captains quarters. The room took up the entire topmost floor and was so extravagantly decorated that a more apt description would be to call it a suite instead of simple quarters.

  Its floor was an ocean of pillows, and in the center of the room, scantily clad female servants draped themselves over, or fed grapes to, a bare-chested man who dwarfed them in size. His heavy gut spilling over the thick leather belt that held up loose-fitting pants.

  He lounged on a massive pillow that seemed small beneath his bulk, as one of the servants that lay draped over his form filled the space with the musical notes of a lyre. Only for the sudden knock on the door to abruptly shatter the moment, her music faltering into silence.

  “Enter,” his rumbling voice carried across the room, and the door opened as a servant walked in.

  “Lord,” the man bowed, presenting a den den mushi with its mouth covered by a piece of cloth to prevent it from making that annoying ringing sound that so annoyed the Lord. “You have a call from Prince Silas.”

  “From whom?”

  “The second Prince from the Briss Kingdom, Lord.”

  “Ah, yes…that one.” The servant set the snail on a pillow in front of him, and went to stand to the side.

  “Answer the call,” the Lord dismissively waved his hand in the snail's direction and the closest scantily clad servant pulled the cloth away from the snail's mouth.

  “Agirni Bonnano?”

  “Yes…What do you want, Prince?” Agirni adjusted his position, his rolls of fat shifting as the servants fretted over him.

  “I have a job for you… I am willing to pay handsomely for the death of a certain merchant—a man named Karl Brooks."

  “How much?”

  There was a pause, and the snail smiled, reflecting the face of the prince on the other end. “Information on where to find a devil fruit. A map.”

  Agirni sat up, now the prince had his full attention.

  “A devil fruit you say?” The very thought of getting another brought a smile to his face. “I will require proof.”

  “The Royal Briss Auction Hall, has confirmed it—"

  Agirni interrupted him with a scoff. “Some insignificant Auction hall is not enough. No.” He leaned forward, his smile like that of a cat that had just caught the canary. “I will see this map in person.”

  The snail narrowed its eyes at the Pirate Lord. “Well, the Auction hall is actually controlled by the Figarland family.” The snail then smiled back at Agirni. “ So… I wouldn’t call them 'insignificant'.”

  "I see,” Agirni leaned back. “You at least know where this merchant is?”

  “Yes,” the snail bobbed its head. “He is currently in the Capital and will be here for the next four days. Then he will head back.”

  Agirni waved his hand dismissively. "Where?"

  “Southspindle." The snail paused. "Bring me his head, and the map is yours.”

  The pirate lord simply nodded, "You have a deal, Prince."

  The prince cut the connection on his end as Agirni closed his eyes and leaned into the massage that had continued throughout the conversation. He then looked at the servant who had brought the snail and had been standing to the side. “Bring me the First Captain.”

  “Right away Lord.” The man bowed and rushed out of the room.

  It only took a few minutes for the First Captain to come barreling into the room, the man looking like a fitter—and slimmer—version of Agirni.

  “Onnagir, you do know why you need to show respect?” Agirni raised an eyebrow as he looked at the Captain.

  “Yes,” Onnagir bowed his head, but said nothing else.

  Agirni shook his head in exasperation.

  The servants that were still draped all over him frowned in the Captain's direction, but before they could say anything, Agirni waved at them. “Leave us.”

  The Captain and Agirni watched in silence as the servants hastily left the room, and once the last servant had closed the door behind them, Agirni held out the palm of his hand.

  The First Captain nodded and stepped forward, pressing the palm of his own hand against the Pirate Lord's.

  The moment he did, the flesh of their connected palms merged, and they traded memories at the speed of thought.

  ‘I see… Another devil fruit.’ Onnagir stepped back and their flesh disconnected.

  He turned and made his way out of the suite, but before he opened the door to leave, he turned back. “I’ll be back with the fruit, but I’ll have to borrow Edrie.”

  “Yes, yes, take him. You know you don’t have to ask.” Agirni waved him away.

  Onnagir shrugged. “You know why I do it.” He then shook his head, they both knew what he was going to say next, after all…

  “”We are one.””