"This is by far the stupidest thing I've ever been involved with," Macario stated firmly.

"...You coming?"

"Yes. Freakin..." Macario grumbled, before coming along.

---

Macario hadn't seen so much red staining the ground in his life. Things were fine at first, but then Chester rolled in and...the carnage.

As the Crimson Company returned to their camp, reveling in victory, Macario wanted to know when it'd be over, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be so simple.

---

Stooping down, Lina repeated Kuhn's question, "Who did this? I thought there was a festival going on?"

The girl muttered, "This is...normal."

"...What!?" Lina gawked.

"It happens every year...just not this bad. Such is fate." Slumping, the girl collapsed, wallowing on the ground.

Blinking in bewilderment, Lian turned to Kuhn, stating, "This isn't right! This is supposed to be a festival! What's going on here!?"

"Cause and effect is the natural order of things." Looking over, Lina saw tall woman with long hair streaked in black and white, a crinkled cigarette in her hand, yet to be lit. Her face was somewhat wrinkled, indicating her middle age, and she wore a loose white, long sleeved shirt and long green running pants. As Lina stared, she continued, "If 'effect' is fate, then 'cause' is human actions."

Lina tilted her head. She kiiiiinda got it.

The woman came over, clapping her hand on Lina's shoulder. "My name's Kobicha. What brings you two here?"

Chester emerged back into the camp, his body covered with red stains, from holding the spray can the wrong direction, spraying himself, instead of the tree he meant to spray onto. He grabbed a bottle of rum, and uncorked it at blinding speeds, taking a long gulp, swallowing hard. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" He shouted. "WE SURE GAVE IT TO THEM!" The rest of the guys in the red shirts grinned, softly. "Uh, Chadbro, you sure Chesterbro's good? He.. He went a little hard. Harder than we usually do.." The man said to Chadwick, whom scoffed.

"I would imagine he would. He's more animal than man, that one."
"just make sure to keep him drinking, and he'll stay on our side."
"Yes sir."

"HEY CHESTERBRO!" The guy shouted, grabbing another couple of mugs from a stand, handing one to Chester, before entanging his arm around his, as they did a armhook drink, cheering first. "That was awesome! You sure stuck it to the greenpansies!"

"Macaribro, drink, too!" another one said, brining more drinks to the bigger man, still donning the far too tight shirt.

***

"What kind of animal would do dis?" Kuhn asked, before he was interrupted by the woman. oh boy. Kuhn walked up towards her, leaning near her, a soft smile on his face, his eyes sparkling, his face was contorted into some kind of blue steel, trying to look as attractive as he possibly could. The woman was a bit older than him, but despite her few wrinkles, she was attractive, clearly taken care of herself. "Nevermind what brings us here, it's just something stupid, our captain drowned, or whatever. But what's important is."

"What are you doing here, beautiful, and what are you doing later?" He said, grabbing her hand, kissing it softly. "Name's Kuhn, the best sharpshooter in the whole North Blue, at your service, fair Kobicha." He finished, a lighter in hand, lighting the cigarette for her before she could get her lighter out.

Taking his drink, Macario easily resisted the urge to take a sip, instead saying, "You know, I was really hoping to take a look at the whole Four Color Festival thing. How long is this gonna take?"

---

Lina grimaced. "Really?"

Her words were drowned out as Kobicha giggled. "At my service? Why aren't you forward. I haven't even said what I would want your help with." Folding her arms in front of her, she asked, "If you're just here to enjoy the festivities, I wouldn't want to impose..."

Looking around at the carnage, more and more eyes starting to catch on to them, Lina held up her fists, "I can't enjoy anything knowing about this!"

Kobicha sighed. "They cause trouble every year, but this time they've gone too far. We can finally get back at them, and right where it hurts." Nodding, she added, "And they won't know we have help. Maron?" As the girl from before sat back up casually, Kobicha said, "You know Chad: he'll be wanting to restock his supplies..."

Smile whipping onto her face, she bounced up, raising and arm in salute. "Roger!" As she began to head off, she said, "Come with me!"

Chester finished his 27th drink of the night, and as he put the mug down, he nodded for it to be refilled. One of the fratboys looked at Chadwick, a look that said a million words. Most notable 'If we keep this up, he's gonna drink more than his debt is worth'. Chadwick took the opportunity when it came, Macario asked about the four Color Festival. "Ah, you see, the festival is starting soon, and we're here, on this island, to drive off the green scumbags. When they've had enough, they'll leave, to the next island over. And then this island - which is the best one - will be ours, and we'll be able to have all of our activites here, fro the festival." He noted, as he smiled. Chester frowned, looking for another drink. "What's the difference between the islands, anyway?"

"What do you mean? This is clearly the best one!"

"The one a few hundred meters that way seemed exactly the same to me, just a slightly different shape."

"Pfff, you can clearly not see how impressive this island is!" Chadwick assured Chester, whom shrugged. "I think you're lying.", grabbing two bottles from two frat boys, whom went to get their bottles back, following Chester around a corner. A few seconds later, the two guys came flying around the corner, roughed up, but without any serious damage.

***

Kuhn smiled softly. "For you? Always." He responded to her question, her soft giggle made him feel a warmth in his chest, his cheeks slightly flustered. "It is the way of da Trigun, after all." He said, as if that would mean anything to the woman. "Who dares make trouble for you? I'll give them hell!" Kuhn promised, puffing his chest, following the girl - whom was cute, but a little too young for him, he had already set his sights on Kobicha.

"Where's dis Chad guy? I'll make him pay!" Kuhn exclaimed.

Drinking only lightly, Macario sighed. It was his luck that the festival hadn't really started yet, wasn't it?

As the Crimson Company guys were starting to quiet down, whispers of discomfort flew along. Macario heard that apparently they were getting a bit dry, but the guys making a run for drinks hadn't come back yet. Thinking about Chester's affinity for the sauce, Macario chortled as he leaned back to watch.

---

"Chad's just a drunk," Maron giggled. "Which is exactly what we're going to fix."

Lina nodded, the word 'drunk' somehow passing through her ears without the raise of an eyebrow. Instead she kept along as they got closer and closer to the town, still busying itself with preparations. Maron kept her eyes peeled, commenting, "If we're lucky..."

"Aha!" She cried. Pointing a finger, she noted a cart with a few men around it, loaded to the brim with kegs and crates of booze. "Those are definitely some of the guys who wrecked our stuff! How unlucky for them~" Maron's giggle turned into a sinister cackle. Lina began to grow worried, having some second thoughts.

As Maron explained what they had to do, Kuhn's eyes went blank, his expression turned cold, and he spoke, harshly. "Leave dis to me, young lady." He promised, as he rounded the corner - to where the cart was, before the two girls did. They could hear the echoes of loud bangs and crashes, wood breaking and stone cracking, as they turned the corner, all four of the men wearing "REDICAL DREADICAL" T-shirts were knocked out, bleeding from their noses, shattered ribs. Kuhn held one of them by the throat, pushing him against the wall, his revolver against his head. Pulling the hammer back.

"Now. You're going to apologize to this little lady." Kuhn said, as the man looked over at Maron with tears of fear in his eye. "S-sorry!" He stuttered, as Kuhn's face curled into a smile. He pulled the trigger. "Bang." He said, as the gun clicked. It was empty. He let the man go from his grip, the man fell to the ground, not moving. He had passed out from the shock.

"Whoops."

"Needless to say, these boys are more than sorry for what they did, and they offered us dis alcohol as compensation." Kuhn said, grabbing a bottle of cider that he uncorked, took four swigs off, and immediately started blushing, a little bit, clearly already getting intoxicated. "We should, uh, head back to the camp. Tell the beautiful angel there of our succes."

***

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO MORE BOOZE?!" Chester shouted, his voice echoing across the entire block. "WHERE DID IT GO?!"

"S-Sir, th -WAH" The man cried as Chester interrupted him, punching him in the face. Chadwick came rushing into the room. "Dude, Chesterbro! It was the green ones who took our booze, not our fault! But don't worry, we're gonna show them what the REdical squad is really all about! we gonna bring it to em, tomorrow, at noon!"

"... You better have more booze hidden away, or I'm not waiting till noon." Chester promised, Chad swallowed, hard. "Y-Ye, I have a mini fridge with beer, only meant for me, but I'll share it with you, bro!"

"Great!" Chester exclaimed, with a smile.

***

"Lady Kobicha! The reds are saying we should old The Games tomorrow at noon! They weanna meet in the plaza, it's frat vs. Frat this year. It might get messy!" A young man, dressed in a green T-shirt, brown shorts and flip-flops informed the woman.

"Heck does Frat vs. Frat mean?"

"You don't know?" Another voice added.

"It's a prank-brawl! And this year, those idiots have really gone too far!"

As Kuhn returned, gains in hand, Maron giggled, "Ehehe, they're getting what's coming to them!"

A bit further back, Lina was starting to find things a little strange...

---

Some time later, the Crimson Company had found themselves partied out. Their booze was dry, and the conflict with the Verdan Company was less than a day way.

Macario, who'd taken a quick map, was roused by a certain boss. As he woke to see Chadwick, he grumbled, "What!?"

"Um, dude, about your bro..."

Rubbing his eye, Macario asked, "He dead?"

"Well, it's just...the dude drank my stash in all of ten minutes! I mean, it was kinda...but-"

"So?"

"That was an hour ago man! What's he gonna do?"

Macario grumbled, "I met him, like a few days ago. If he hears about any more booze though who knows."

"Guys!" came a sudden yell from the fringes of the restless reds. "Blancson just got back! He said the Verdant Company took our booze!"

Macario wished he were wealthy enough to own a camera: Chadwick's face was something special, priceless: a memory now impossible to share, for the implacable agony of so many factors Macario could never truly grasp: from the wrath of Chester to the soon to be shattered inter-company honor of not holding oneself to pre-planned encounters; such an agony that had his jaw dropped, his eyes bulging, and a dribble running from his nose in perhaps the most uncool, unredical manner ever.

"Heh," Macario chortled.

Kuhn nodded to the younger woman. "They sure are, sweetcheeks. I'll beat any buffoon to win da heart of da fair lady!"

***

Chadwick and Macario stood next to a house, where Chad's secret stash had been half an hour ago. Their conversation ended, and as it did, rumblings were heard. Like the great giant of old had awakened. Fi fai Foo. The wall came down with a mighty explosion, tearing the wooden planks into nothing but splinters. "THE VERDANT COMPANY STOLE MY BOOZE?!" Chester shouted. "THAT'S IT. THEY'RE GOING DOWN!" Chester shouted, as Chadwick tried to plead with him "I-it's nothing more but a silly pr-" he tried holding Chester back "P-please Chester! Your debt! You have to do as I say, bro!" Chadwick cried out, as Chester ignored him. "You said we were gonna bing it to them tomorrow. We're doing it tonigt. Right now." Chester told Chad, who's face was still in shambles.

"Dude. Clean yourself up first, though. You look like a mess." Chester told Chadwick - whom could not believe the pirate, still covered in his own blood.

***

"The Red's are coming now! They can't wait to noon, they said! They're out for our supplies! This isn't a panty raid! They thorn down our guys in downtown, it's full on war now!" One of the green men said. "We need to fight back! We can ambush them in the plaza!" He said, as men mobilized around him. Two guys approached Kuhn and Lina "T-This is it, guys! Can you help us?"

"Certainly!" Kuhn said, as he picked up his holsters and weapons from the ground, patting his sides, dust came off his coat, his fingers trailing around the brim of his hat. "Always willing to help da ladies in charge out."

***

The guys wearing the Redical shirts were making their way towards the plaza, where Kuhn and six other men, armed with bows and arrow, the arrows were blunts, like the rubber bullets Kuhn had in his rifle. He fired one bullet, one red fell to the ground, he aimed down another, and another after that, till he reached the middle, seeing who was in front of the pack.

"Well, fuck me.."

"Reinforce!"

Lina took a breath. She'd been hesitant earlier, but if this conflict was going to escalate, Lina was going to be on the side of the little guys.

As another group went to the side of Kuhn and his men, Lina stopped her charge as she caught Kuhn's hesitance. Lina couldn't help but stop either.

"Chester!? What are you doing here?"

The red and greens each slowed down, intrigued at the unfolding events.

"What are you doing with the Verdant Company?"

Lina stared. "The..."

"Verdant Company."

"You mean...reds... Crimson Company?"

"All mafia assholes."

"...I quit."

Each of them stepping forwards, Kobicha and Chadwick each asked, "What's going on here?"

"I'm done."

Macario shrugged, "Eh, my heart was never in it in the first place."

Chad turned to Chester, "This is all your fault, man! Own up!"

Taking a breath, Macario moved his arms a bit, his redical shit practically exploding off of him, his purple dress shirt returning. "Hey, Chester, tell you what: I'll take full responsibility for your debt. It's the least I could do since I've been hitching a ride."

Lina raised an eyebrow. After a moment, she turned to Kuhn, grumbling, "And what about you?"

Chester halted, dropping the unconcious Verdant man he held by the collar to the ground, as Kuhn and Lina arrived next to Macario and himself. Chadwick looked at him. "but Mac, what about my de- oh, thanks." Chester said, grinning. He looked over at Chadwick. "OK, he'll pay my debt. All five hundred belli." Chester said with a big grin.

"Y-You worked for the red swines for five hundred belli?!" Kuhn asked.

Macario leaned forwards, head lowering to meet Chester's.

"I...are you..."

Face covered by hands, Macario stooped down, squatting in a cocktail of emotions. Lina could only blink in wonder at the full context she was missing.

After a moment, Macario stood back up, before reaching for his wallet, saying, "Fuck it. I'll pay. Here you go."

Chad took the offered coin, before beginning, "Well, this was over one beer, and Chester drank-"

"He joined up with you."

"Aha! But you didn't! So you owe me another 500 for what you drank."

Macario nodded, raising a finger, before clenching his hand into a fist, holding it so tight the veins could be seen.

"HERE'S WHAT I THINK ABOUT MY FUCKING DEBT!"

Macario's fist struck so hard it seemed to catch flame. "Li!" Chadwick was struck, being blasted back, pulling a good number of Crimson Company members with him, many of the others going to quench the flame.

With one hand, Macario regained his coin, dropped from the impact. In the other...

"Hwah! Ah! Ah! Why did I do that!?" Macario cried, eyes bulging at his burning hand. He tried fanning it out before ducking back down, quenching it with dirt.

As that bit calmed down, Kobicha had a bit of sweat on her forehead as she pointed at Chester, muttering, "Wait...Azure Company Chester? Who ended up on Kesrizu Chester?"

Chester laughed at Macario's outburst. "Come on dude! Don't have to get some violent over a couple of drinks!" He said while giggling. "Oh hey, look, it's Lina, and Kuhn! They're not dead! Nice." He mentioned, still chuckling. "Whatcha been up to? We found some idiots from the crimson company."

Kuhn blinked twice, a sense of disbelief washed over him, Macario's display of fire was impressive, but Chester's complete nonchalance of it as even more so. What kind of monster was his captain? "Uh, stuff, I guess."

"Neat!" Came Chester's reply.

Chester looked at the woman whom was pointing at him, and he pointed back at her. "Hey. You,woman there."

"Y-Yeah?"

"Doesn't feel that good to get pointed at, does it."

"I-uh, just answer the question!"

"I am the guy who keeps getting ticked off at you company guys, yeah. Lina and Kuhn are the ones with real bones to pick with you." Chester said. "So like, watch out."

Kobicha's eyes were a bit wide as she looked over to Lina and Kuhn. Lina said, "We're not working with you guys anymore."

Kobicha waved, "I'll be honest: I don't want anything to do with you guys." Turning off, she began to drag her men off, most of them going along.

Lina reached out and grabbed Kuhn's sleeve, insisting, "No."

As the situation finally petered out, Macario suggested, "Alright: I need some shoes, first aid, and some real food. Let's hit the town."

A bustle of cloak rushed from the Verdant Company forces. Lina turned to see someone rushing at her. She went for her sword but he leaped above, green cloak falling off revealing blue rags wrapped over most of his body, knife in hand leading as he fell towards Chester.

Kuhn watched as Kobicha walked away "Wait, my love!" He shouted, as Lina held him by the sleeve. He grunted, but he realized she was right. The beautiful Kobicha was no different from the likes of the Goldenrod, he could never trust them, no matter how pretty they were. ".. Fine." Kuhn said, as Macario mentioned food and first aid. "Yeah, I guess."

Chester looked at the two "Haha, how crazy! We all washed up here, after all? I was sure I was gonna drown."

"Yeah, what they hell are you doing on da water if you can't swim, you idiot?!" Kuhn asked him angrily, and Chester looked over at Macario. "Hey, Kuhn thinks you can't swim, should I tell him? Also, not very nice calling Mac an idiot, Kuhn." The captain said, as Chester lead the four towards the small town, where Chester had seen a tavern next to a drug store.

That was when the man in green came out of the bushes, leaping high into the air, Chester not noticing him, Lina and Kuhn both shouted at him as the man fell onto him from the sky, Chester managed to turn around in time for the dagger to hit him in the shoulder. "Boss Cerulean sends his regards, vagabond!" The man spit out. "He's coming for you. You're going to pay for Melonberry." as he was met with a fist to his lower jaw from Chester, knocking several of his teeth out and sending him a meter into the air, and in the next moment, Chester, Kuhn and Macario all hit him in the face as once, sending him flying into the sky, out of sight.

"You okay, Captain?" Kuhn asked, as Chester scoffed.
Chester pulled out the dagger that had gotten no further than to create a flesh wound in his shoulder. "I'm fine. Cerulean Shitface won't be, though."

Watching the opponent fly off, Lina clicked her tongue. "It sounded like he was avenging Melonberry." Throwing a short shadow punch at the air, she said, "Now I can't wait to give those guys a beating."

Letting out a sigh, she said, "But let's forget about them: we dealt with a bunch of them already and there's a festival so lets get going!"

In due time.

---

The next few days, as the festival began, the Grog Crusaders were ready. Wit htier funding, they were not only able to keep their ship supplied and maintained, but a few other projects went underway as well unfortunately...

---

The sun beamed over the bustling Great Horn Archipelago. As midday arrived the Four Color Festival continued to swell with festivities. Cheers resounded, great food and booze were consumed, explosions rang out...

Macario's fist punched out, waves of air striking down an incoming cannonball.

Above the crew under attack, the sails billowed black, emblazoned with a skull, a bottle neck hanging in its teeth and a keg painted behind it.

"I didn't put them up!" Lina insisted.

"But how didn't we notice!?" Macario growled, grabbing the helm again. With every cannonball hitting the water, he turned back to his small boat, worry clear on his face.

Looking through a spyglass, Lina took note of the different emblems on the flags of the pursuing ships: one was clearly the local Antler Kingdom, but the other was of a helmet emblazoned on a shield with a rapier: it was no Four Seasons country she recognized.

A whistling from above signaled a cannonball, but as Macario looked, there were in fact several. As they began to get picked off, one slipped through, crashing into the main deck near the bow. Lina grimaced.

The cannonballs were flying, missing the boat, or being destroyed before they could hit by Macario. A volley of twenty cannonballs came at the ship from the pursuing ships. In a flurry of smoke, all of the cannonballs got shattered, broken metal showering into the water just in front of the Hinnon Breeze, as Kuhn landed on the railing, his duster blowing in the wind, he flexed his wrists, and the empty shells inside of the chamber of his revolver poured out, all eight of them. His shotgun popped open and the empty shells also hit the deck. "Who da fuck's shooting at us?" Kuhn asked, turning around, jumping down onto the deck - just as one ball hit the front of the ship. "Fuck." He added, holstering his weapons he reached for his rifle.

"... Them there are soldiers of the Antler kingdom. Was it really de best idea to put up a flag?"

"We're pirates, dammit!" Chester shouted, as he emerged from below the deck.

"And these fuckers are dead! I'm getting us in close so we can board them!" Chester shouted - Kuhn was surprised his Captain didn't decide to just jump into the water and try to swim. "Our ship's never gonna be able to hold up against all that fire power. We're gonna have to run away dis time"

"What?! The Grog Crusaders don't run!" Chester shouted.

"We do if we wanna live, unless you wanna swim to land!"

"Oh, there's an idea. Try it Chester."

Knocking another cannonball down, Macario growled, "I'm not jumping in after you."

However, the hail of gunfire seemed to cease. Noticing, Lina said, "Hey, they're leaving!" Wiping her forehead, she said, "That's a relief."

Going back down to the main deck, Macario following, he said, "If we switch the sails back, we should be fine. Or I guess we could take my ship for runs to the island if we anchor properly, though we'll want someone to keep watch."

However, there were some more pressing concerns. The four went down to the lower deck to evaluate the damages. The cannonball pierced through the deck and detonated below, tearing a hole into the men's bedroom. One of the hammocks was now across the floor, one end tied to the remaining wall.

"Looks like someone's going to have to make a trip..."

"Lina! Don't give him ideas, you know he just might!" Kuhn shouted, firing his rifle at one of the cannons onbard the pursuing shit, destroying the weapon. "Might do what?!" Chester asked, as he climbed the ropes of the mast with two quick steps, leaping out from the mast, hitting a cannonball hard enough to send it back at the enemy without destroying the projectile, it landed on the maindeck of the pursuers, Chester was freefalling it seemed, straight into the water, but the pirate had secured a rope around his ankle, catching him at the height of Kuhn's barrel, Chester waved and grinned. "Howdy."

"I swear, Captain." Kuhn said, as the rope gave way, and Chester almost fell into the water, his fingers holding onto the edge of the ship, he heeved himself up, rubbing his shoulder - the one the guy from the other day had stabbed him in. He had showered since then, and was donning a couple of bandages

"Phew. They've stopped chasing." Chester confirmed. "All right, they did not like us, no sir."

Chester went with the rest to check on the damages. "Man, that's my favorite hammock!" Chester said, as he was heading for the hole in the hull, as if he was gonna jump to the ships that had attacked them, Kuhn grabbed him by the collar. "Calm down, Cap'n."

"I'll go." Kuhn said. "I'm the least.. piratey of us. Well, except for da lady. But I wouldn't wanna risk her well being on the island. And besides, I'm the one who'll end up repairing this place." The gunner said.

"Hey, I wanna go!" Chester said.

"I'll get parts to build the distillery I showed you the blueprints for, Cap'n."

".. You may go."

Clapping his hand on Kuhn's shoulder, a few bandages around the light burns, Macario said, "Alright let's go then. No offense but it is my ship."

Order of things decided, the two went to the smaller boat, taking down the rope and sailing off as the Breeze had its anchor lowered.

Gasping out, Lina exclaimed, "Ah!" Bolting from the room, she went back up to the deck, going up to the next level, where three potted plants were lashed to the railing by the steering wheel. One of them had somehow fallen, dirt spilled out, but the Melonberry sapling was still undamaged. Lina called, "I've got to clean this up, but when I'm done I'll make something to eat!"

As she headed into the storeroom, her happy musings on what to cook were dashed when she saw their hard earned supplies strewn about. "Augh, we need to rethink this..." Stooping down, letting the hem of her light blue sun dress brush the ground, she began to clean up. Face hardening, she looked up, calling, "Chester! Get down here and help me!"

_"It...ts.."

"What!?"

_{"It...hurts..."}

"I can't..."

Moments later, the calm ocean winds were pierced by a shrill cry of fright, echoing throughout the Hinnon Breeze.

He looked at her, and then he realized what she was doing "OH SHIT, the Melonberries!" Chester said, as he darted up after her, he looked at the plants, they seemed to the mostly unhurt. "Phew, can't have them getting destroyed now, not when we've almost gotten our distillery!" He proclaimed proudly, imagining all the booze they'd make once Kuhn built the damn place. Chester had promised Kuhn that Chester would offer some of his alcohol stash (Which turned out to be the majority of the cargo deck) For Kuhn to have a workplace - if he also built Chester a way to make booze. Well, a place for Chester to tell Lina to make booze. Lina went to work in the kitchen.

Chester came down into the kitchen, a bottle of beer in his hand.
"Hey, is there anymore booze in the storageroom there? I feel like I've misplaced a bottle of grog" Chester asked, as he looked at the kitchen - the place was a mess from the attack. "Weren't you supposed to clean this up?" the captain followed up - no response to either of his questions, he took a few moments to grab himself a sandwich Lina had prepared earlier from a plate on the counter, chewing the sandwich and swalling it down with a mouthful of beer - the bottle empty at the time the sandwich was done. He heard the shriek from the storage room, and he walked over there, finding Lina on the floor. "You OK? See a spider? You know you can kick it's ass, right?"

"... Unless it's a really big spider. In that case, wait till Macario comes back. He's also a really big man. Or Kuhn, he's got a hat." Chester mused, grabbing the bottle of grog from the shelf. "Oh, found it." He said with a big grin, walking out of the storage room.