Explosions rang unendingly as fire fought against the heavy rain that fell from the dark clouds above.
The facility was a chaotic mess of broken rooms and dead defenders battered into the ground without being able to put up any real resistance.
A small group strolled forwards through the carnage, the orange of the fire mixing with the flashing blue lightning, painting them an eerie mix, while the night tried to claim whatever it could in its darkness.
The guards stopped fighting soon enough, some running and others falling to their knees to beg for their lives. Yet the people who had attacked then seemed completely apathetic to these ants.
Whimpering and crying as they were passed by, the glimmer of hope that they might survive snuffed out by dark tendrils that pierced their hearts a second later.
The tall, dark haired figure from before glancing behind with a deranged glint of joy in his eyes at seeing the sudden realisation of the pathetic guards.
A bark of laughter rang out as he didn't even pause after his senseless slaughtering, seeming to find amusement in the whole situation instead.
The others all seemed to hold different thoughts. Some held smiles too, clearly unaffected by it all, while others looked on grimly as they tried to ignore that gnawing feeling inside them.
They knew that this would be a bloody night, it would all be worth it if Saturn's blood made up part of that blood too.
The compound fell piece by piece as the group barely slowed, it all went so easily. Saturn clearly underestimated his enemies and overestimated how secret this place was.
It was ridiculous how little security actually existed here. The little that did, all seemed designed to keep people in, not out.
Some of them had already started to have those thoughts as they continued their rampage forward.
Whatever it was they were keeping here, they clearly wanted it to stay here. As they moved further in, they noticed how the walls almost seemed to start suppressing them.
Stopping abruptly, a giant man with long blonde hair stared intensely at the walls.
"Hmm, what has caught your attention, Newgate..."
Came the deep gravelly drawl of their leader. The giant man tensed for a second at his words before turning to meet his steady gaze.
Yellow pupils met dark as they locked onto each other.
"Sea stone, it's thin but the walls have sea stone lining them."
He finally spoke gruffly in answer.
"So they do... This might be more fun than I thought" the drawl came again, not tired but seemingly bored. It felt like the world was a game and he had already reached the top of it, all that was left was to play till he got bored again.
"Something, no someone, has gotta be being kept here then?" Another spoke out in confirmation of the silent understanding they'd all come to.
"It seems likely." Newgate answered with a nod of his head as they continued on again. It was certainly not what they expected, but it didn't matter.
They were here for Saturn's head, whatever was going on here didn't matter to them.
-------------
The room shook as plaster fell from the ceiling. A loud rumble drowned out the worried shouts and mad scrambling of the once apathetic scientists.
The power shut off had caused the hall room to flush the water out. Atlas took a breath of fresh air as his lungs deflated. He could feel his strength slowly returning to him as the sea water left through the grates in the floor.
His mind swirled as the haze was pushed back and his vision cleared. If he had been under that pressure any longer he doubted he could keep his transformation up.
As it was his form ahd started hissing as he deflated back to his original size. Standing tall, his height left him towering over nearly all who came close to him.
He couldn't remember a time before he was first made to distort his height. But now he no longer even needed to use his powers, at some point he truly had become the giant of a human he now stood as.
His eyes narrowed as they watched the scientists. The blaring alarms and flashing red causing a surge of emotion he hadn't felt in years.
Hope. He tried desperately to push it down, refusing to believe he could, that he might finally have a chance to be free of this place.
Getting his emotions under control, a cold glint flashed through his steely eyes as his gaze lingered momentarily on the fat old man. He was the only one still sat calmly on his seat in the centre of the erratic scientists.
Saturn's eyes moved, sensing a certain danger from Infront of him. His eyes locked onto his weapon in training, a small smile tugged at his lips as he felt how quickly the feeling had disappeared.
For a second, something else flashed across his features but it was gone before it could be read. Instead he just sat there, the scientists frantic attempts to fix everything becoming more desperate as they all failed.
Yet there he sat, unfazed as he stared into the eyes of the man he had spent the last ten years molding into the perfect weapon.
"Hmmmm I suppose this could be the time to have him.. field tested anyway." He mumbled to himself as his smile widened into a chilly smirk.
"ENOUGH!" His sudden shout scaring the rest into a cowering silence as they all stared wide eyed at him. Gone was the fear of the intruders, now it was once again replaced by their overwhelming dread for Saturn.
Nodding his head once to himself, seemingly confirming his acceptance to their reactions. "Grab subject 00, we will leave for the command room."
With that he stood up to his full height and stalked out of the room first. He never bothered turning around, already sure that they would do as he ordered.
The scientists all looked from one to the other worriedly as they glanced into the hall at the much too relaxed subject.
A chill ran down their spines as they saw the smile pulling at his lips, something unsettling settled in their guts as they saw him.
He seemed too happy, the gloomy and despondent test subject they knew was gone, this person was almost bouncing on his toes in eagerness for what was to come.
Some of them sighed in relief though, they had been testing and training him to become a weapon against the World Governments enemies after all and with all that brainwashing they couldn't help but feel that maybe they were truly safe.
With that in mind many stood up straighter and tried to regain their former stoney composure.
To Atlas it seemed almost amusing, he had seen them all running around like headless chickens as tears pricked at the corners of their wide eyes. No amount of pretense now could fool him of the cowards they actually showed themselves to be.
Still he played along, his moment would come soon, he could practically feel it. At first he thought about just making a run for it.
It would be easy, Saturn had already left and the facility was in shambles. By the time the old sadist even realised he ahd ran he would be out of here.
Then Saturn would be too busy with whatever managed to get this far to stop him. He could almost feel the cool wind lapping at his face and the fresh air it would bring.
But then his thoughts came back to the years of torment he'd endured here, that smile on the man's face as he'd watched him struggle. The way he would nod his head, satisfied by the show, all while Atlas could barely stand.
No, he couldn't just run. Saturn needed to pay. This would be his best chance at that. While they all tried to save themselves, letting down their guards and even removing any of the shackles put in place to weaken him, he could finally kill that smug old fuck.
Just a bit longer and he could finally taste revenge.
-------------
The Rock's pirates moved at the sedate pace of a group already assured of their own victory. How could they not be, they had trapped their target on his own secluded island. The very environment that he used to deter intruders now making any attempt at a quick get away nearly impossible.
Newgates face hung solemnly as his massive frame marched alongside his crewmates. His distaste for unnecessary death especially at any he couldn't know were deserving of it or not, muted by the knowledge that this was for the greater good.
The instability of losing Elder Saturn from the council might be the only way they could truly start to bring down the World Government, one crack in their seemingly impenetrable armour at a time.
With that thought in mind, he pushed any unsavoury emotions aside to focus back in on his surroundings.
Not all the crew seemed so at odds with their actions though, some seeming to enjoy the carnage and destruction they were leaving in their wake.
The drunkard John grinned widely as his body swayed with every step he took. His eyes glinting at anything even remotely shiny along the way.
The youth, Kaidou, seemed like an animal unleashed as he barrelled through defenseless or defended alike with no distinction.
His club swinging wildly as it smeared with the blood of its victims. He may be the youngest of their crew but he was already proving to be among the most ferocious.
Newgate shook his head at that as he sighed, the boy was a monster. Others had different reactions though, Shiki seemed unfazed by everything as he sauntered along and dispatched any who tried to attack him.
They were a crew of oddballs no matter how you looked at it. Then again Newgate knew that when you stood at the top you could afford to be different. I mean who was gonna stop you?
He himself wasn't exactly normal, standing at nearly 22 feet as a human attested to that. Sighing to himself, he trudged along keeping pace with his crew. Even surrounded as he was by supposed crewmates, he still felt completely alone.
He felt as though his mission for a family was somehow getting further away rather than closer no matter how many people littered the decks of the Rock's ships.
Still, he held on tightly to the hope that one day things would change. That he would make his own family one way or another.
That thought, made him turn to another of his crew, a pink haired woman with a penchant for sweet treats. He chuckled at the recollection of her 'dream'.
They had all been a little stumped when she stated that out loud, so confidently and unabashed.
"I will find the perfect man to create the ultimate family—one that can never be broken! Together, we will forge my utopia!"
He had nearly spat out his drink at the time. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, finding a little comfort in the fact that others in his crew were maybe not too dissimilar to him.
Although he thanked whatever lucky stars might exist up there that she had decided he was too much older and not good enough to be that 'perfect man'.
'Whoever gained that spot would need their help too gurararara.' he thought absentmindedly to himself to lighten his mood.
'the sea stone lining is getting thicker, we must be reaching the centre now. Time to find out what Saturn was really up to here.' Whitebeards inner monologue distracting him from his crew and their antics.
It wasn't long before they came to a long corridor that ran invitingly down to the heart for this compound, if this were any other crew they might have stopped at this obvious trap set up.
Then again, when had an obvious trap ever stopped them. No trap could hold them, either way they would always come out on top.
As they walked forwards though, the complete lack of anyone started to cause the first sense of unease amongst them.
Something was wrong. They were walking down the perfect bottleneck, a place that was clearly filled with nasty surprises for any would be intruders like them.
Yet nothing had happened. Each step they took was one ready to be defended, but no enemies came out, no floor traps or bombs or anything!
It was like their enemy had suddenly given up. As much as that would be nice, no one believed that a member of that council would just lay down and die though.
Something fishy was going on and it had nothing to do with the open door that was leaking sea water.
Finally though they made it to the end of the corridor with every nerve in their body on high alert and their muscles pulled tighter than steel string.
With a 'BANG!' they kicked open the door to the control room and rushed in, weapons at the ready and yelling out whatever war chants they had.
Just as the last member stepped in though, the roaring ended, weapons stuck awkwardly in mid swing.
Stood in the middle of a pool of blood, dead bodies scatted about torn, cut, sliced and beaten into various levels of pulp, was a young man holding a much smaller scientist in a choking grasp.
His once white clothes stained a deep crimson red, his black hair pulled out of his face as a crazed look lit his eyes as he snapped the neck of the man in his grasp.
The Rock's just stood there in utter confused shock as they tried to wrap their heads around the scene.
Suddenly a sinister laugh broke the tense silence.
"Kukukukukukuku!"
Rock's laughter filled the room as every body stiffened involuntarily to the eerie sound that bounced off the padded walls and left them all on edge.
"Well, what do we have here.."