The next day, we spent time studying and investigating the city, not only for the union, but also for the journalists, all while Hun kept an eye on the places already indicated in the documents.
Later, when night fell, we met to discuss what we were going to do.
Trini: "Then we won't have to bring AT."
Sulli: "It would be too much to bring him for what we're going to do."
Dante: "Besides, we'll be in very small and narrow spaces, so AT will only get in the way."
From a backpack, I took a map, which I got for a quick job at a store. With a pencil, I marked the places mentioned in the document given by Méndez.
According to the documents, when he moves from one place to another, he tends to cover almost his entire face, so he can be identified by Hun.
Dante: "Hun, which of these places are most frequented by these guys?" Hun stood over the map and pointed to one spot with his beak, then another, and another. There were three in total out of the eight he had marked. "Thanks, Hun." I gave him a little pat and a large piece of rabbit meat.
Interestingly, I didn't set foot in any of those places. Of the eight, I only checked two. The rest of the time, I was flirting with a woman, but no one should know that.
Dante: "So, what do you think?" I asked the traumatized ones.
Trini: "Of the three marked spots, I only checked two, and one is actually pretty good for an ambush, what do you say?" referring to Sulli.
Sulli: "The other place where they pass by tends to be frequented by commoners. If someone looks at us, they'll know everything will go to waste, so it's no good."
Dante: "So we'll stay there. I'm going to go out at night to find a place to hide and wait until someone comes by."
We have to capture the first person we find. We can't waste any more time; we need to get on with the other mission as soon as possible.
*The next day*
We already had the materials we needed to catch these guys ready: a rope, a sedative, and a lot of faith.
The idea is simple: we knock out the first person we see, kidnap them, and extract the information. It's easy enough for the whole family. We had to be fast, though, so other people wouldn't notice. That's why we have a very large sack of potatoes, to put the corpse—I mean, the body of the unconscious person.
And there we were, the three of us, struggling. Two hours passed, and our legs were already hurting when someone passed by, just like a member of the thieves' guild, all covered up in black, ugly and smelly, everything fit.
I was passing by the roof. Trini, with her Haki, sensed that he was going to pass over me. We were all hidden as much as possible, and I couldn't see what was happening. I only knew that they gave me the go-ahead. And the moment he passed over me, I grabbed him by the leg and slammed him down with one movement. I was instantly knocked out by the blow to the head.
But there was a problem: two others appeared and noticed what had happened. My observation haki wasn't very good, so I didn't notice. The one who did notice was Trini, who already had her guns out and shot them in the legs, making it harder for them to escape.
With the person knocked out, I was able to immobilize the other two. The two, still wounded, were able to move anyway. Each one broke away, but with a Soru, I managed to catch him and knock him out with a punch to the stomach. The other was about to disappear, but Sulli appeared from around the corner and knocked him to the ground with a punch to the throat. And so, with one thief, we caught three.
We tied them up and gagged them in a hidden place while we looked for more bags to transport them. Once we were ready, we moved with a wagon. This way, the transfer wouldn't look so strange. We arrived at our cabin. We boiled some water, and once it was ready, we threw it in their faces, so they wouldn't notice we were already bored with all this.
Dante: "Let's be quick. Who's your leader and where is he?" I asked, ignoring their cries of pain.
Thief 1: "Fuck you."
Thief 2: "Fuck off."
Thief 3: "I hope your family becomes slaves." That would be impossible, but yes, my mother was a slave, so it's not far off.
Dante: "Well, it'll be the hard way. Sulli, work your magic." At that moment, Sulli entered with scissors, a syringe with unknown substances, a handkerchief on her shoulder, and a can of oil. "All yours, that is, if it leaves one of you alive to at least extract some vital information," he nodded.
I left the room, not wanting to see what she was going to do.
*Sometime later that same day, somewhere*
???: "Do you know where they might be? I heard they went to the west side of the city to give false information to the farmer about his competition, but they told me they never arrived."
???: "I have no idea. I know they went there, but nothing further from there. It's as if the earth had swallowed them up," the two were thinking.
It was already nighttime, and they were in an abandoned warehouse. The two were just talking about the situation of the three missing members.
???: "Could it be they could have been captured?"
???: "Maybe."
???: "Should we be worried?"
???: "No, they won't open their mouths for any reason. They're very loyal. Besides, the Church members will just kill them the moment they don't get what they want. The guild's valuable information won't be leaked."
Dante: "It's a shame it wasn't the church members who caught him." At that moment, I came out of hiding. In front of me were a man and a woman. Of the two, only one interested me: the man, Gerald Nazar, owner of a cafe and leader of the thieves' guild.
Gerald: "Tell me, what did you do with them?" he said, his face filled with anger and frustration.
Dante: "That's what matters now." I raised my sword at him. "What matters is how quickly I can capture you."
Gerald: "Go," he said to the woman without looking. She left quickly. I didn't care. Trini and Sulli took care of her. "Is there any chance of dialogue?"
Dante: "If you surrender voluntarily, there is."
Gerald: "Then there's nothing to discuss," he said with a pitying expression. From the black trench coat he was wearing, he pulled out two long blades. They looked very similar to the black keys of Fate, the ones used by the church.
In an instant, I threw the two blades at him. I quickly deflected them with my sword. I looked at him and saw him standing on a thread. That must have been there before. He already had three blades in each hand. Throwing them again, he threw them so that they collided, deflecting and aiming for two different vital points. I can see he has an Itachi Uchiha complex.
As smoothly as possible, I dodged the two blades, each of which tore my clothes. Turning my gaze to Gerald, I saw him throw himself at me, propelling himself along the thread. Blades and sword collided. With that same momentum, he jumped back, leaving a distance of 4 meters between us.
I positioned myself and launched myself at Gerald, intending to cut him through. What I didn't expect was that with his blades, he'd be able to deflect my sword slightly. He placed the blades in a cross shape. When they squealed, he moved my sword slightly with the horizontal one, moving while he dragged himself along with the vertical one. His intention was to use the vertical blade to make a vertical slash and cut my face, but I didn't let him.
To avoid the quick blow, I had to release my sword, as the momentum didn't let me move backward with my sword. It would have caused a counter-shock of forces, rendering me immobile.
But Gerald didn't stop, throwing himself at me again. This guy is pretty good. I couldn't fight him barehanded. I returned to my original position, where there were some blades stuck in the ground. I quickly grabbed them in time, as the guy was within striking distance of cutting me. And that's when the knife fights began.
Clash after clash, sparks from the same blades flew all over the place. In terms of strength, I was better, but when it came to using knives, he was superior. We both managed to injure each other, but not seriously. He tried to kick me, but I managed to protect myself, moving me about 2 meters.
After that, we just stared at each other and did nothing.
Gerald: "You know, I didn't expect the church to hire you to eliminate them? But it's not that unusual, considering you were doing work from city to city."
Dante: "If you can blame someone, blame your people. They swindled one of my colleagues, sending him to prison. The jobs are there to get him released, nothing more."
Gerald: "Then we can only attribute this moment to bad luck," he said, laughing at the situation. "But tell me, your hero, are you capable of helping people who extort and deceive others?" My expression contracted slightly. I already knew something wasn't right with the church, but I haven't had time to find out anything concrete. "I don't mind investigating anything anyway. Every person who does it, the church makes them disappear." A clue.
Dante: "So you're doing it in retaliation?" I'm going to try to get as much information as possible.
Gerald: "The previous leader, maybe, but I don't really care. I was just trying to help and protect my people."
Dante: "Regarding the people who investigated the churches?"
Gerald: "I have no idea who they were, just that they got involved where it didn't concern them." I don't think I can get any more information out of him, but now I know it has to do with the church.
I lunged again, but in the process, I threw one of my two blades, which he managed to deflect. With the other, I tried to stab him. He moved to the side. In the process, he tried to cut me, but I managed to block. With a jump, I threw the last blade I had at him, but it didn't matter, as I fell next to my sword.
Once he was positioned, I decided to launch an energy attack, one after another. He was able to deflect and dodge it, but he was already making mistakes and getting tired. Suddenly, one managed to cut his leg, causing him to lose concentration.
With a soru, I managed to get within slashing distance. Gerald noticed and tried to block with his blades, but it was too late. With all the strength I had, I launched a vertical slash from bottom to top. The force was enough to move the blades, making the blow hit him squarely. The blow wasn't a foul, but enough to defeat him.
That was the day the Thieves Guild lost its leader. I can't say that the guild fell because of that, since what really caused it to disappear was something that happened later, but this was where the snake lost its head and sadly it never grew back.