Inside and Outside the Door (2)

"You, me, Joey, and Ando." Her voice was flat, as though she were reading from a list.

"Which one of us only has what we have today because the Uchiha family acted on a whim?"

She turned back to Koldo.

"Without them, we're nothing. Retainers?" She bit down on the word so lightly that the sarcasm was almost imperceptible.

"Even calling us Uchiha's dogs would be giving us too much credit."

The waiting room fell silent for about three seconds.

The silver flask in Koldo's hand stopped midway.

He looked at Rosa's face and saw something he had known for a long time on those delicate features.

Inferiority tinged with resentment, along with the clarity she had brought out of Melton Casino—a clarity steeped through with blood and fear.

That clarity would not vanish just because she had changed into nicer clothes, nor would it evaporate because someone called her "ma'am."

He set the flask on the low table, rose, walked over to Rosa, and sat down beside her. Their shoulders touched, like two dockworkers taking a break.

"Rosa, listen to me."

Rosa neither moved away nor looked at him.

"You think it was a whim, right?" Koldo said. The slickness in his tone had completely vanished, replaced by the bluntness he used only with old friends.

"That day at the docks, when Mr. Barlow held a knife to my throat, I thought it was a whim too. I thought I'd be dead the next second, sunk into the sea along with those Sea Serpent Gang bastards."

He paused and tapped his fingers against his knee.

"But I didn't die. Why? Mr. Barlow definitely wasn't in a good mood that day. It was because the first thing I said when I got on my knees wasn't begging for mercy—it was the location of the Sea Serpent Gang's secret warehouse in town. That was intelligence I'd gathered myself. Melton didn't know. Edwin didn't know. Only I knew."

He lowered his head and met Rosa's eyes.

"That wasn't luck. That was the value I built up over seven years at the docks. Mr. Barlow saw that value, so I lived."

Rosa's lashes flickered.

"Joey too," Koldo continued, lowering his voice, though his tone grew firmer.

"You think Mr. Barlow handed Red Skull over to him because he was kind? It was because Joey had spent years tending bar. He knew everyone on the docks—their tolerance for alcohol, and exactly how much it took before they started spilling their guts."

"And Ando—Mr. Damian personally backed him, sure, but he managed to sit in the mayor's office for three years without being thrown out. That wasn't because of the title of Uchiha retainer. It was because he knew how to run a town."

He pointed at Rosa, his fingertip nearly touching her nose.

"And you? Miss Mila let several female dealers from Melton Casino go. You were the only one she kept. Not because she was softhearted, but because out of all those women, you were the only one who hadn't gone crazy. Do you know what a woman who can spend two years in a place like that without losing her mind is?"

Rosa said nothing.

"Gold," Koldo answered for her.

"Pure gold."

He stood, slid his hands back into his pockets, and paced a couple of steps around the waiting room. His leather shoes struck the floor in a steady rhythm.

"So don't call us dogs. Dogs get fed even when they don't work. Dogs don't have to remember wind data for shipping routes, and they don't have to serve as the link between a mayor and a trading company. We're the backbone. People like us can't be called dogs. We need a name."

He turned to Rosa. The corner of his mouth rose again, but the slick shell had not returned.

"Then we'll be the Uchiha Four Retainers. I came up with it, and I think it sounds good. The other two probably won't object either. Joey definitely won't. Ando will probably blush, but he's even more fun when he blushes."

Rosa's mouth twitched. It was not quite a smile, but it was not no reaction either.

She reached out, picked up Koldo's silver flask from the low table, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip. The strong liquor made her narrow her eyes.

"How did you convince them?" she asked, her voice a little less tense than before.

"I haven't asked Ando yet." Koldo returned and sat down.

"I mentioned it to Joey last month. He said, 'Whatever, as long as you don't make me drink.' Ever since he became manager, that guy hasn't touched alcohol. Says he needs to stay sharp. Can you imagine it? The manager of Red Skull doesn't drink."

Rosa placed the flask back on the table, leaned into the chair, and looked up at the plaster molding on the ceiling.

The waiting room was quiet for a while. From the main hall came the sound of a stack of documents being stapled together, faint and rhythmic through two walls.

"Uchiha Four Retainers," Rosa repeated.

This time, there was no sarcasm in it. It was like trying on a new outfit.

The sleeves were a little too long, but at least it was clean.

Koldo tucked the flask into his pocket, sank back into his chair, crossed one leg over the other, and stared in the same direction at the ceiling.

He suddenly spoke, his tone drifting. It was the kind of thing that had come up in the flow of conversation and could no longer be held back.

"What do you think we'll be like in ten years?"

Rosa did not answer.

"Mr. Barlow's route maps already reach the Grand Line." Koldo raised one finger and traced an invisible path across the ceiling.

"Give Uchiha another three years, and it won't just be about the East Blue anymore. We might have the entire first half of the Grand Line. By then, the people coming to negotiate with us won't be small shipowners. It'll be the Marines, the World Government, it'll be—"

"That's what you're thinking about?" Rosa cut him off.

Koldo shut his mouth, his finger still raised in midair.

Rosa did not look at him. Staring at the edge of the ceiling, she spoke so softly it was almost to herself. "I've been thinking... what if one day they don't want us anymore?"

Koldo fell silent.

His expression did not change. His brow did not furrow, and the corner of his mouth did not droop.

He simply stopped speaking. Slowly, he lowered the raised finger, folded his arms over his chest, and looked out the window.

That question had lived in his mind too.

Not for a day, but in certain late nights over the past three years, in the emptiness after certain account books had been settled.

The four members of the Uchiha family treated each other absurdly well, but they showed an entirely different face to outsiders.

Their circle was too tight.

Blood ties were a chain. Outsiders would never find where its clasp was.

But he did not say any of that.

He turned back and smiled again.

"Then before they stop wanting us, let's at least live our lives properly."

He stood, walked over to Rosa, and held out his hand.

Rosa glanced at his hand but did not take it. She stood on her own.

"As for the gathering, ask Ando and Joey. I don't object," she said, heading for the door.

Koldo followed behind her, straightening the cuff of his vest, then his collar. The instant he stepped outside, he resumed the image of the Uchiha Trading Company secretary who moved effortlessly between the docks and the trading company.

Rosa walked half a step ahead of him, her back and shoulders held straight.

At the end of the corridor, the copyists in the main hall were still writing away with soft scratching sounds.

Afternoon sunlight poured in through the high windows, shining on the spines of over two thousand scrolls on the shelves. Handwritten labels such as "Konomi Archipelago Fish Catch," "Orange Town Fruit Shipping Schedule," and "Loguetown Monthly Wind Chart" had faded slightly yellow beneath the sun.

The first floor of the Uchiha Trading Company was quiet, efficient, and orderly.

The black door on the third floor remained shut.