Chapter 34.3- And so the Dragons Danced

“Yeah, but the problem with this plan is that we have no idea where this headquarters is, unless your ancestors happen to know where their headquarters is”

“They wrote about a place called Lake Laogai. I assume you’re familiar with it” I said, replying the pirate captain. His eyebrows were lifted and he seemed to be thinking to himself for a few seconds before he nodded.

“There’s nothing there but I don’t think we lose anything by giving it a shot. It’s in the Agrarian zone so it’s not like it’s going to be well guarded by any means. So that’s your plan then? Make it to this secret headquarters and rescue your princess?”

“Not even close to it. The plan needs as many prongs and moving parts as we can spare. I don’t just plan to free Princess Azula. I plan to take Ba Sing Se. To do that, I need an army, and thankfully we know exactly where I can find one” I said to him.

“Where’s the rest of your crew?” I asked him next.

“Below deck with the cargo. I run a tight ship so there’s only four of us. Ming wants nothing to do with you lot but will take her share of the gold to keep quiet. Ping and Ling don’t care much- gold is gold, and work is work to them. They won’t fight earth benders for you, though. None of us will” He said.

“You will do whatever is necessary to get your gold, Captain Kai. That is the kind of man you are, or did I see wrong?” I said, squinting at him.

“Yeah, you’ve got me. But if you want us to fight for you, we’ll take double the rates.” He replied, instantly beginning to haggle.

“Don’t worry about that. I won’t need you lot to win this. I have all the firepower I need, right here” I said, tapping Toph’s head from where the little girl had still yet to let go off me. I knew part of it was comfort, and part of it had to do with her discomfort from being on a wooden ship of all things.

“Okay then.” He said with a shrug.

“So what do we do, Natsu?” Toji asked.

“We wait. I’m not yet at 100% and I’d prefer we took the time to recover rather than rushing in and getting ourselves killed”

“For how long?”

“Two days. After that, we begin. We split ourselves into two groups. Captain Kai, Toph, and I will head to Lake Laogai and free the Princess. You, Maki, Amara, and the rest of his crew will infiltrate that prison camp they have outside the walls and free as many loyal men as possible. Amara can heal those who need it to get as many of them battle ready as possible. I will see the gates of Ba Sing Se opened from within and the city will be ours” I said, and Toji honored the incredibly basic plan with a round of applause that I will not admit made me blush.

A/N; Progress