Taku was very excited when he opened his eyes. He was very elated that he was alive, but the other thing that excited him the most was that he had just figured out a way to find Saru. He turned around and saw his teammates looking at him with a weird expression.
He just smiled wryly as he introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Takunda Gumbo. It's nice to meet you all…."
"Of course it's nice to…" Again Ranga was the first to reply, but before he could even finish Tadi had already placed her hand on his mouth.
"My name is Nyasha Ngundu."
"I am Tadiwa Moyo. This idiot here is Ranga Mambo. He has this stupid idea in his head that everyone should be pleased to meet him. " Tadi said this as she rolled her eyes at Ranga and then removed her hand from his mouth and it was at this moment that Ranga went on a rampage.
"Of course, people should be pleased when they meet this King! Even if you are in love with this King, with such beauty by my side do you think that people should look down on me? I conquered your heart and that is enough for people…"
Ranga did not even finish his sentence as he was directly punched this time by a visibly embarrassed Tadi. Nyasha who was used to this type of scene just smiled wryly when he saw the two acting this way. Taku and Tino on the other hand were greatly shocked by this scene. They looked at Nyasha both with a questioning look on their faces.
Nyasha could only laugh bitterly and spoke. "You will get used to it in time."
The two just nodded and stared at the duo who were wrestling with each other on the ground.
Over the course of their journey to Honde Valley, Nyasha had gradually gotten used to the two of them. It had taken some time for him to adjust to the two, but in the end, he found them rather amusing. There was a time they faced off with some bandits and the bandit leader had made remarks about how he was going to defile Tadi after he killed off the two boys.
This greatly enraged Ranga. Instead of recklessly attacking as most hot-blooded youths would, Ranga first berated the bandit leader before freely declaring the love he and Tadi "apparently" shared between each other, and as if to prove that he was telling the truth, Ranga went on to smack Tadi's ass in front of everyone.
Instead of focusing on the enemy before them, Tadi threw out a punch that sent Ranga flying and then chased after him and began her barrage of attacks. When they came back, Ranga was so swollen that it looked like he had lumps on top of lumps. With his very Fat figure, the scene was pretty comical.
As the trio decided to face off against the bandits they realized that only the leader and about two of his men were left. The trio of bandits immediately leapt off their horses as they kowtowed and begged for forgiveness. Nyasha felt sorry for them because the scene of Tadi beating up Ranga was one that could injure any veteran soldier's pride.
Tadi knew why this situation had turned out like so and could only smile wryly whilst feeling sorry for the Bandits. Ranga on the other hand was not so forgiving. He remembered the bandit leader's words about Tadi and he was not ready to let them go just yet. He quickly healed himself and went to work.
After mercilessly beating up the bandit trio, he quickly ran out and captured all 34 of the other bandits who had run away. He stripped all of them naked and tied them up onto different trees in groups.
At the moment even though Tadi was not being as vicious as she was in the past, she was still strangling the poor fat guy. The trio of Taku, Nyasha, and Tino could not help but laugh out loud at this very hilarious scene. Tadi's tiny hands were not even big enough to wrap around Ranga's neck. After seeing that she was not really inflicting any damage she reluctantly got off the big fellow.
Ranga got up and looked at Tadi as if he had just won a prize. "This King…" he opened his mouth again when Tadi sent out a kick and sent him flying several meters away. Tadi stood there and smiled wryly towards the trio in front of her.
She was usually calm and cold in most situations, but every time that Ranga opened his mouth she would be left agitated. Most of the time, she could not help but throw a punch or two, at the poor fatty.
"Anyway…" Taku started. "Before anything I wanted to ask you guys a question."
The trio and the returning Ranga all looked at Taku with questioning gazes.
"I'm looking for someone," Taku said. "Since you guys have been in the Ivory Guard for a while now. Even though it's a long shot to ask this, have any of you heard of a girl called Maka? She should be about 20 this year."
His teammates thought long and hard for a while before Nyasha spoke. "You should know that in the Ivory Guard teams are ranked by color. We belong to the lowest Red rank, and this rank alone I can think of seven girls that go by that name. You should try being more specific with your details."
Taku nodded and then spoke. "I know that she is a manipulator."
"Well then I don't know any Maka who is a manipulator unless it's…" Nyasha said.
Ranga just shook his head when he heard this. "It is impossible for him to be looking for her. He is just a village boy; he would just be courting death if he was looking for her. Only people who are as noble as this King can search for such people."
Tadi glared at Ranga for a second before turning to Taku and asking. "Do you know what she can manipulate?"
"Gravity if I'm not mistaken," Taku answered plainly.
The quartet all sucked in a breath when they heard this. They all looked at Taku like he was a crazy man. "Why are you guys staring at me like that?"
"It really is her." The group of four all said in amazement.
This was a really weird question to ask. Who did not know this girl? Everyone knew her. Four years ago this girl was already at the Kudyara level, which is the first sublevel of the Kusakura level. This level was a full realm above the Pamamonya level that all five of them were at.
After four years one could only imagine what frightening level she had reached now. "Why are you looking for her?" Nyasha suddenly asked.
Taku's expression sank when he heard this question. He needed a pretty damn good reason in order to cover up his actual reason but he just did not have the time to come up with one. He did not want to disclose any information about his soul at the moment. Even though they were his teammates he was not ready to let such sensitive information out.
The four saw Taku's expression and did not ask any further.
"The girl you are looking for is a very important person in the Ivory Guard." Nyasha started. "Her status is something that the likes of us can touch. The team that she is a part of is in the Top 50 of the golden-ranked squads. She was once invited to join a team in the top ten but she refused. She is the youngest person in all the gold-ranking squads, she's rather cold and detached so if she is the person you want to find I suggest you just give up."
"Yeah, this King shall give you some advice, she would not even be obliged to give me or Tadi face when we meet, and I am the son of a noble and Tadi is the disciple of Mbuya Nehanda. Even though my family's nobility is not high, we are still on top of chiefdoms. So you can imagine what type of status you would need to get her."
Taku was dumbfounded by this situation. I only asked whether you knew her or not. Who said anything about getting with her?
"It is not like that." Taku started. "Just tell me how I can find her, and after that, everything will explain itself."
Nyasha shook his head. "That is going to be hard, to be honest. Apart from being part of the Ivory Guard, she is also a general in charge of an army. It's safe to say that she is forever busy, and is always in different locations. So finding her will be hard."
"Oh well." Taku shook his head in disappointment. "I am sure that you guys have the Tohwe fruits. We should get going now."
"We actually buried them..."Nyasha was the first to speak but was immediately cut off by Ranga.
"This King cannot accept this," He fumed. "I get that the higher-ups told us that you are our new captain, but I am not convinced. What qualifications do you have to be the leader of this King?"
Taku was shocked by this. He was greatly surprised because he himself had forgotten about the issue and for Ranga to bring it up now and in such a manner, not only shocked Taku but the rest of the team.
"Don't disgrace yourself, My Lord…" Tadi spoke with a sweet smile. "You are 19 this year and you are at the second sub-level of the Pamamonya level. You are considered quite talented, but… he still beat and killed the people who captured us. He showed that his battle power is no less than ours."
"I am still not-" Ranga wanted to retort but was again cut off, only this time it was Taku. "I actually have no interest in the leadership role. If any of you wants it then you can discuss it between the four of you." Taku had ambition buried deep within himself, but at the moment he had bigger fish to fry.
Tino then smiled wryly and spoke. "It is not that simple. If you are appointed as a leader by the higher-ups then no one in your team is allowed to oppose it and take your role away. It is either that person leaves the team or the leader goes and requests to step down from his role. So until then no matter what the King of fat may say, you are still our leader."
Taku's expression went dull when he heard this. What kind of f*cked up system is this?
Ranga's expression on the other hand was very ugly. Not because of the law but because of Tino's other words. "Who the f*ck are you calling me the king of fat?"
"You obviously." Tino retorted. "You keep calling yourself a king but you never tell us what you are the king of, so I could only guess by your appearance."
"You f*cker!" Ranga was getting ready to attack when he was again punched by Tadi.
"Don't just randomly attack your teammates. As far as we are all concerned Tino has a point. King of what?"
Ranga stared blankly at Tadi for a minute before he smiled slyly and said. "If I remember correctly, you did call me your King back when we were kids, so hey little brat, I am Tadi's king. If you have a problem with that, then you can seek out this King's beautiful wife."
"You…" Both Tadi and Tino did not have anything to say. Tino was shocked because he hadn't realized that this fat guy's skin was so thick. Tadi on the other hand was just embarrassed. She had not thought that Ranga would remember such an insignificant thing.
Taku and Nyasha on the other hand were just speechless. Just what games were you people playing when you were children?
It was at this moment that Ranga was sent flying again by Tadi's kick.
Taku looked towards Nyasha and smiled wryly. "At least as a team, we have the chemistry part down."