The Contrast

Barlow passed in front of her without slowing, the hem of his coat stirring a gust past Rosa's ear.

Roy came so close as he passed that he nearly stepped on her toes, but his eyes were fixed on the half-open black door at the end of the hall. He already knew someone was inside.

Koldo paused for half a beat. When Rosa rose, he nodded to her, the twitch of his lips serving as a greeting.

Rosa returned an even smaller nod. Then the two stood side by side in the hallway outside, separated from the office by the threshold of the black door.

"Little sister!"

Roy's shout as he charged into the office was loud enough for the whole floor to hear.

Mila had just taken her legs off the desk. She knew Roy's speed through a doorway too well—if she moved even a second later, he would knock over both her and the chair.

But moving her feet did no good. Roy did not slow down at all. Like a stone shot from a slingshot, he flew over the ebony desk with his arms spread wide and pounced straight at Mila in the chair.

Mila, chair and all, toppled backward.

The chair legs scraped across the floor with a sharp screech, and then the two of them rolled onto the floor together.

Roy's forehead slammed into Mila's collarbone, while the back of Mila's head hit the wooden floor with a dull thud.

"Roy! Get up!"

Mila reached out to shove Roy's face, pressing her palm under his chin and pushing hard.

Roy grimaced from the force, but his arms only tightened around her. Burying his face in the hollow of her shoulder, he said muffledly, "I missed you to death. Why didn't you come wait for me at the docks yesterday?"

"Who was waiting for you?" Mila smacked his back three times, not too hard but not gently either, like she was patting a big dog that refused to get out of bed. "I went to the tavern after leaving town hall. Get off me first!"

When Barlow entered the office, Mila and Roy were still tangled together on the floor.

He glanced at the overturned chair, then at the purchase order on the desk dirtied by the mud on Mila's boots, before turning his eyes to the two on the floor.

Without a word, he went around the desk and crouched beside Mila.

He reached out, pinched the back of Roy's neck between two fingers, and tugged him away like a puppy. Roy hissed, loosened his hold, and turned to glare at him. "What are you doing?"

Barlow ignored him. He looked at Mila, who was pinned beneath Roy. Her hair had come loose, and one eye glared at him from behind her disheveled bangs.

"The purchase order is dirty," Barlow said.

Mila froze for a moment. Then she braced a hand on the floor, wriggled half her body out from under Roy's arm, and grabbed a fistful of his hair.

Roy yelped as his head was pulled sideways, but he was still smiling.

Barlow remained crouched beside them. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. If it could even be called a smile, it lasted no more than half a second.

But he did not stand up, move away, or keep his distance.

He and Roy crouched on either side of Mila—one as steady as a reef, the other full of restless energy, ready to spring up at any moment.

The two of them gathered around Mila in the middle, whose hair was a mess as she shoved at Roy with a look of pure disgust, like two big golden retrievers surrounding a little feral cat.

Like this:

Out in the hallway, Koldo and Rosa lowered their heads at the same time.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized. Their chins tucked toward their collarbones, their eyes dropped to the pattern in the carpet, as if the same hand had pressed down on the backs of their heads.

They were executives of the Uchiha Trading Company and retainers of the Uchiha Clan. At the docks, they could sign documents on behalf of the Uchiha family. On the streets of Orange Town, people would step aside for them.

But now, standing in the third-floor hallway and listening to the muffled thumps of Roy getting hit and Mila's indistinct muttering from inside, they looked like two apprentices on their first day of work, with no idea where to put their eyes.

Koldo swallowed and secretly glanced sideways at Rosa.

Rosa's eyelids were lowered, her lashes trembling. She clutched the document tube in her arms so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

"These people..." Koldo muttered under his breath, low enough that only Rosa could hear.

Rosa did not respond.

She heard Mila's voice suddenly rise from inside. "Barlow, do something about him!"

Then Barlow said something too quietly to make out, followed by Roy's strange yelp and Mila's short laugh.

That laugh was brief, almost immediately stifled by Mila herself, but it had been a laugh.

Rosa's fingers tightened around the document tube.

She knew this was not something she should see. The sounds coming from behind the door were not something she should hear. The sight of Barlow crouching on the floor and rubbing Mila's head was not something she should know about.

But she did not dare shut her ears, either. The door had not been closed properly, and the sounds were simply there. Pretending not to hear was just as improper as eavesdropping.

Koldo was clearly trapped in the same awkwardness.

He cleared his throat, shifted the folder under his arm from the left side to the right, and the papers made a faint rustling sound against the leather.

He looked at the ceiling, then at the tips of his shoes. Finally, he stared blankly at an empty patch of wall in the hallway.

He was a smart man. He knew where his current position had come from.

It was not because his intelligence network now covered half of the East Blue, nor because he knew the smuggling routes of the Wind Organ Archipelago like the back of his hand.

It was because three years ago, he had knelt before the right person at the docks.

He had seen Barlow negotiate with the presidents of other trading companies. His tone had been polite, almost conversational, but there had been no warmth in his eyes.

He had also seen Roy fight several smugglers in the alley behind a tavern when they refused to settle their accounts. Roy had smiled as he disarmed them, wiping down the blade while discussing with Joey what they would drink that night.

He had seen Mila emerge from the basement of Melton Casino, the stench of blood on her so thick that even the sea breeze could not disperse it, her face utterly expressionless.

Only now, as he listened to the muffled thump of Mila hitting Roy with a pillow and Barlow's unhurried remark, "Don't hit his face. He still has to meet people this afternoon," did the contrast leave him too afraid to move.

In the entire Uchiha Trading Company, fewer people than could be counted on one hand were able to relax naturally around Barlow and Mila.

Damian was one of them.

Other than him, there was only Roy in the office.

The Uchiha family treated their own people and outsiders as though they were two entirely different species.

Even retainers like Koldo and Rosa, who were considered relatively close to them, were no exception.

On the office floor, Mila finally broke free from beneath Roy's arm. Leaning against the overturned chair, she sat on the floor and gathered her loose hair behind her head, swiftly tying it back into a ponytail.

Roy had been kicked in the shin by her, but he did not mind. He simply sat cross-legged on the spot, grinning broadly.

"You hit harder than last month." He rubbed his shin. "Did you get stronger again?"

"You've gotten weaker." Mila stood, righted the chair, and sat back down. Her movements were exactly the same as they had been ten minutes ago—she leaned back into the leather cushion and propped her legs on the desk, though this time the mud on her boots fell onto another document.

Barlow stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, opening the blinds by one slat.

Sunlight flooded in, bathing the full map of the East Blue on the chart table in a warm golden glow.

He glanced toward the docks. Three cargo ships flying Uchiha flags were unloading, and the laborers' calls drifted faintly up from below.

"Did you bring Ando's expansion plan?" he asked with his back to them.

Mila pulled out the wax-sealed document from the tube Rosa had placed by the door and set it on the edge of the desk.

The mud print on the document landed right beside the wax seal, like an additional stamp.

Barlow turned around, picked up the document, flicked away the bits of dried mud with his fingers, and tore open the seal.

Roy got up from the floor, dusted off his backside, and moved over beside Mila's chair. Resting an elbow on the chair back and his chin on his arm, he continued looking at Mila's profile with a mischievous grin.

Mila pretended not to see him and took a sip from the half cup of cold tea that had been sitting on the desk for who knew how long.

"Did Ando ask anything?" Barlow flipped through the document, sounding casual.

"He asked about the Grand Line." Mila set down the cup. "Someone in Loguetown is asking about the sea routes."

Barlow's finger paused on the second page of the document for about a second before he continued turning pages.

"Normal," he said. "We haven't finished with the East Blue yet. There's no rush."

Mila did not ask any further questions.

She leaned back in the chair, finished the cold tea, and placed the cup back where it had been.

Roy yawned above her head. His elbow slipped from the chair back, and his whole body flopped onto her shoulder again.

Mila rammed her shoulder into him and knocked him away, but he bounced right back like a burr she could not shake off.

Barlow finished reading the final page of the expansion plan at the desk, took a pen from the holder, and signed the back page.

In the hallway outside, Koldo finally gathered the courage to glance into the office.

All he saw was Barlow's profile as he signed, followed three seconds later by the afterimage of Roy pouncing on Mila again.

He immediately withdrew his gaze and lowered his head to stare at the floor again.

Beside him, Rosa had not raised her head even once.