A week after Miko arrived in the Newgate Country. He was still in the capital and had yet to venture out to see the other cities; this was a bit surprising to Newgate’s Queen, Bloom. She was certain that Miko would immediately tour the country before coming to a conclusion as to whether or not he wanted to ally with her. However, forget leaving the city, Miko and his group spent most of their time with either Bloom or Kaido and Hana.

“I must say, I was skeptical at first but this genre you call manga is pretty interesting.”

Miko said while he sat in the corner of Bloom’s office reading a comic.

“Compared to the comics I’m used to, the writing style is completely different. It takes a slower approach and focus on the character development rather than moving the plot along. It’s nice.”

“You totally get it, Miko. I knew that you’d join the otaku culture.”

Regis gave miko a thumbs up. She was sitting around a table with large stacks of manga books in front of her. She had gotten addicted to manga and their animated adaptions that was called anime in this country. She kept referring to herself as an otaku or a weeb; both terms Miko were unfamiliar with until she explained them to him.

“I have a question though. Most of the setting and characteristics of these manga are closely linked to the Wa culture of the Wakoku Nation. Are you perhaps from there?”

“No. I was born and raised here, but I’m a huge fan of the culture. If it wasn’t so hard to get in I would’ve went there myself. Its pretty much like trying to enter Wanokuni.”

Bloom mumbled the last part.

“Wanokuni (Country of Wa)? Isn’t the same thing as Wakoku (Land of Wa)?”

Author Note: Wa is one of the ancient names of japan.

“Wanokuni or Wano is the name of a place in the manga one piece. It’s heavily based off Wakoku Nation, so you aren’t wrong.”

Regis explained. Miko looked confused for a bit but he decided that it wasn’t important and put down the manga he was reading.

“Speaking of, your name Gamiko isn’t that from Wakoku?”

Bloom asked him.

“According to my grandfather, his mother loved the Wa culture and wanted to give him a name using their language. However, she only knew it on a basic level and made mistake when naming him.”

Bloom nodded.

“It should’ve been Kamiko instead of Gamiko if she wanted his name to mean child of god.”

“Ironically, my nickname Miko can be accepted as a correct way to mean the same thing. So I guess it works out.”

Miko laughed. Bloom nodded.

“By the way, where are the others?”

“Ishma is sleeping, while Tia and Momo are hanging out with Hana. It seems they want to study her blessing, but they also seem to enjoy her presence.”

“Kaido must be pissed.”

“You know it.”

Miko and Bloom burst out laughing. It seemed like messing with Kaido was fun for both of them.

“Say, Miko. You’ve been here for a week. Tell me what do you think about my city?”

“It’s pretty lively. I can tell that the people here are enjoying a vivid life mostly thanks to you. Your creativity is praiseworthy to say the least.”

Bloom smiled.

“Thank. It’s nice to be appreciated.”

“Yeah….This is a nice place.”

An innocent smile appeared on Miko’s face.

“I’ve decided. I’m going to take it for myself.”

“?!”

Bloom was visible shocked by his words. The smile immediately dropped from her face.

“Tell me you’re joking.”

“I am. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you.”

Miko stood up and dust himself.

“You’re very attached to this place. That’s good to know.”

Bloom had her eyes locked on Miko’s every movements. Anyone could tell that she was on alert, which was understandable considering Miko’s personality. Miko didn’t seem to mind her gaze as he stretched his body.

“Calm down, will you? I said I’m on vacation didn’t I? Also, taking this place wouldn’t be easy. I just came out of an intense battle and I have no intention of entering another one so soon.”

Miko showed a childish smile which Bloom couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread behind it.

“So let’s get along.”

*******

Later that day after Miko left, Bloom had put all of her tasks on hold and left her office. She used a secret elevator and headed down; she had past the ground floor and went lower. In other words, she went underground. When the elevator doors opened she stepped out and was now standing in a large bunker-like space. She could see a long Hallway with dozens of doors on the sides. All the doors had nameplates on them which indicated that they led to different rooms.

Her footsteps rung out as she walked down the hall. She walked for about a minute before stopping at a door that was labeled Meeting Room. She spread her sense and could feel several presences in the room, after which she entered.

“Good afternoon, everyone.”

She said after entering. In the room was a large wooden an oval table that was on a carpet with a Silver Crow on it. The table had seven chairs around it with only four seats currently being filled by three males and a female. Bloom sat at the head of the table and smiled.

“What’s the matter, Bloom? It isn’t time for our monthly meeting. So why did you call us all down here?”

Asked one of the males. He had short spiky red hair, and red eyes to match. He had a delinquent-looking face. He was wearing a black leather jacket with red stitches, and a silver crow design on the back. He had on a plain red t-shirt under the jacket. He was wearing a silver necklace, with a hawk pendant. He had on black jeans, and red and black sneakers.

“There’s obviously an emergency, Idiot. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have interrupt our missions.”

One of the other men answered with a sleepy tone. His face had a dangerous look to it. He had blonde messy hair and gold beast-like eyes. He was over 180 cm tall and had a muscular build. He was wearing a sleeveless version of the jacket that other man was wearing. He had on a yellow tank top, with a drawing of a furious gorilla’s face on it. His overall look can only be described as “wild”.

“Nico, I know that you’re irritated because Bloom woke you up but don’t take it out on Ryker. We’re all family here.”

The final male defended the red haired delinquent, Ryker. He had a gentle face. He had long black hair and gentle looking blue eyes. He had on a black plain T-shirt, black leather gloves, black leather pants with chains on it and stylish black boots to match. On the back of the chair that he was sitting on, you could see what looked like the trench coat version of the jacket that Ryker and Nico were wearing.

“Tsk. That’s easy for you. I’m the one who’s stationed in the Red Light District. That place is only active in the night so the day is the only time I can sleep.”

Nico complained.

“Sorry about that, Nico but it’s as you said. We have an emergency….Well, a possible one anyway.”

Bloom explained.

“Oh? Then do you want me to turn some people to ash? Just say the word and I’ll do it.”

Immense heat could be seen coming off Ryker’s body.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm but it’s not at that level yet.”

“Oh, ok. That’s too bad.”

“Moron.”

Nico placed his head on the table. The bags under his eyes were seemingly increasing.

“You said that it’s not at that level yet, then I assume that it has to do with our guest?”

The man in full black asked.

“That’s right, Axel. But before that. Chrome, where are Jin and Sapphire? I told you to notify everyone right?”

Bloom called out to the other girl in the room. She had short black hair and green eyes. She had a beautiful, but stern looking face. She was wearing a black top with the initials “CR” in green on it. She had a black and green headphone, with a silver crow design on the sides on her head. She had on a black skirt with green stitches, and combat boots on her feet. Like Axel, her jacket was hanging on the back of her seat.

“I did, but Jin said that he couldn’t make it while Sapphire said that she’ll be late.”

Chrome answered with an apathetic tone. Bloom sighed.

“Fine. I’ll just discuss the matter with the four of you. I’ll inform the stupid couple later.”

Everyone nodded.

“Like Axel said the potential threat is Miko. He’s expressed desires to obtain this city as his own. Although he immediately tried to pass it off as a joke, I can’t ignore it. As such, I want you all to keep an eye on him and those he associates with when you can. If he enters the cities you’re assign to drop everything and watch him.”

“You’re not taking any chances with him I see.”

Chrome said.

“If you’re certain that he’s a threat why not remove him from the city?”

“Because the benefits of allying with him are worth the risk.”

“What about Kaido? Why not have him monitor him? He’s the most familiar with him.”

Nico asked.

“Because he alone can’t do it. Miko’s too crafty.”

“What if you fight him?”

Ryker asked.

“If you beat him into submission won’t that fix your problems?”

“Fix? That’ll only make things worse. What if the Dragna empire gets involved then? We already have our hands full with the Four Pillars. We can’t afford to take on a stronger enemy at the moment.”

Nico answered.

“…..I didn’t think about that….Speaking of which, are you sure that you don’t want me to go pay that Natassa Kingsley a visit?”

“No, it’s best to avoid starting a war at the moment with Miko here.”

Bloom replied.

“I recommend we focus on the certain rather than the ambiguous.”

Axel said.

“We can keep an eye on Miko like Bloom asked but we shouldn’t get distracted. Our only enemy at the moment are the Four Pillars.”

Bloom nodded.

“Isabel Luna, Tommy Akabe, Bastian Brant, Natasa Kingsley. These four are our main targets; that hasn’t changed. The moment they step out of line…”

Bloom looked at Ryker.

“We turn them ash.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Ryker was all smiles like a child.

“Bloom.”

Chrome lifted her hand.

“Yes?”

“My contacts tell me that the underworld is becoming rowdy again. It seems that the several gangs are planning to go to war. If left alone there will be civilian casualties. As such, I propose we step in.”

“Hmm….Nico, I’ll leave that to you.”

“Roger.”

Bloom looked at all of them again.

“Silver Crow, we might get a little busy in the next couple months.”

She grinned.

“So brace yourselves for what’s to come.”

*******

“You seem to be in a good mood.”

Tia said to Miko who was reading a manga called Kengan Asura.

“Is that comic that good?”

“It’s pretty enjoyable. Hina had a similar comic a few years back.”

Miko put down the book.

“There was one scene that I liked above everything else. It’s a scene where a character showed his fangs to another character. He did this to force the other character to act and gather his forces just like he wanted. You see, he was only testing the waters and had no intention of fighting. His sole objective was gather information on his potential enemies.”

Miko grinned and tapped his head.

“He just wanted to get in that character’s head and mess around a little bit.”

“That character sounds like a twisted person.”

Tia laughed. Miko laughed as well.

“Well, I can’t deny that.”