The starry sky, the cradle of souls. Where gazes carrying dreams and hope are cast in hope of rebirth or at least a mending to their lives.
Tired eyes and heavy sighs as they look up, sketching a life they may never attain, helplessness strikes the heart when what needs to be mended is smashed apart, and to pick up those fragments, is to go against our rebellious souls.
Alarin took a deep breath, as his pale face reflected the bonfire's light. Recovery wasn't easy for him but he comforted himself in knowing that he had a purpose, in following the one who saved him, be it being a pirate, a criminal or a vagabond sailing the seas.
He considered it a blessing that he didn't let it all go, unleashing the malice that buzzed like flies inside of him, that tried to escape every time he faced the Marines or heard about the Yonkos who were once part of Rocks pirates.
The only one that escaped his hate was what they called today Whitebeard. He remembered how he stood against Xebec when they started the torture.
But Whitebeard couldn't do anything against that demon, as he left disgusted by what he saw.
Many people sought his powers, a threat is what they called him. If he wasn't on their side then there was no need for him to live anymore, however, they didn't understand how his power worked, maybe due to ignorance or because no one knew how it worked in the first place.
The power of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Lich was far stronger than anyone knows, only when he died that the soul fire started to burn inside of him fueling his existence.
Alarin put his hand on the solid ground. Without even needing to use his observation haki, he could sense the giant skeletons underneath, waiting for his call.
A few seconds later he lifted his hand and grimaced, beneath the soil were some human skeletons he swore to never raise again, the pain that his minions inflicted upon him could never be forgotten.
He looked at the camp, a bonfire burned bright late into the night. His crewmates were all seated in a big circle around the flames, to his left was Alexander sitting while his wife leaned on his shoulder.
Next to Alexander were the trio, on which he had assumed the responsibility to teach and discipline as he did with his old crew. They might not understand his harshness with them, but he had no ill feelings towards them at all, he looked at them as someone from an older generation.
They were nothing but young budding sprouts and he had to do everything in his capabilities for them to grow strong, he didn't want to see his fate repeated again.
Alarin looked at the Kuja pirates, laughing and drinking merrily, far to the back their snakes grouped and did a strange mesmerizing dance around the big Salome who seemed to enjoy the attention.
"Here you go!" Sabine who had been inside the ship came and sat beside him, offering him a steaming cup of tea.
''Thank you,'' he said then took a sip, warming his cold body.
''I see that you keep staring in silence, is there anything on your mind?'' Sabine asked, she always felt that this man seemed to enjoy pondering alone when he wasn't training them.
''Nothing much…'' He said, looking at the fire. ''Memories, faded faces that I struggle every day to recall, a futile effort on my part.''
''Do you remember your homeland?'' She asked.
''That I remember… I was born in a small kingdom in the Grand Line…''
''Is it a nice place?'' She asked, feeling curious about this mysterious crewmate.
Alarin's eyes grew reminiscent ''It's a beautiful island, lush with trees, rivers and a beautiful capital…''
Sabine smiled, remembering her home, Weatheria Island that kept wandering without a stop, and the senile old men always playing with her with wind knots.
''Then why don't you take some time and go visit?''
''Why bother, Sabine? I had no parents nor any family I could call my own…'' Alarin sighed, then looked at Alexander.
''Better to forget, maybe that's what my mind had been telling me all the time, shielding me from memories that I can't handle…''
Sabine swept the few strands of hair behind her ear and followed his gaze.
''Yeah, maybe… today we're following Alexander, maybe one day I'll take you all to see where I lived, I'm sure that you'd love to see an island that floats amidst the clouds..''
''I heard about it before, I think?… my memories are a chaotic mess…'' he replied then turned to Sabine.
''Sabine, why do you follow Alexander?'' He understood that this young woman didn't have the spirit to fight, though he still trained her nonetheless.
She put her hand on her cheek and looked at her captain. "Hmmm, it's truly puzzling how we all started following him, carrying his orders without hesitation… How did he win us over? I don't know. Maybe his strength, perhaps his charisma and how he cares about us…"
She turned to Alarin. "Don't you feel that despite how simple and straightforward he seems, Alexander is unfathomable, like a layered riddle?"
"I agree." he nodded, his captain was strong, so strong that he couldn't even estimate it. His maturity and power only added to his enigma.
Moreover, that spear he saw Alexander use, he heard him call it Bolt of Gransax, it held power, it struck with lightning which was unheard of from cold weapons.
Alarin turned to Sabine, eyebrow raised as he asked.
"So I take it, this is the reason you followed Alexander, drawn by his charisma."
"Oh, no, ha ha!" She laughed and struck his shoulder hard, a moment later she realized what she had done, yesterday's training flashed past her mind.
"No, that's not the reason, he promised to protect me, I was done being a pirate, it's a life that chose me without my will, but there was no way for me to exit that life."
She warmed her hand with her cup of tea and looked at Alexander, then she smiled.
"He promised to protect me, you know… that's why I chose to follow him, but I know for sure that I can't rely on him forever." She said, her eyes went past her crewmate, from Hancock to the bickering Axe and Andretta, to Rindo, Cosmos and the laughing Daisy.
"But these days I had an unexpected motivation, to not be just this ship's navigator, I want to become stronger, which isn't like me… is it strange?" She replied while looking ahead.
"It's not strange at all…" he said with a smile, his eyes sweeping around the jolly crew. A few moments passed in silence between them then he spoke once more.
"I'd protect you too, and everyone else on the ship…"
Sabine looked at Alarin for a second, in silence, then flashed a wide smile.
"So would I."
_______________________
A few hours earlier.
"Granny Conney, is it here yet?" a childish voice rang inside the church.
"I'm afraid not," a wrinkled, short lady said, looking at the pink-haired little girl sitting on the floor.
"Why wouldn't he send me letters? He promised." Bonney pouted.
Conney, the old Queen Dowager of Sorbet Kingdom, patted the pitiful child on the head.
"He must be busy, Bonney. I'm sure that he just forgot and will send you double the letters next time." Conney smiled kindly, however, suspicion grew within her.
The nurse called Alpha and her assistants, their sudden appearance, and how they out of nowhere assumed responsibility for the girl didn't settle well with her. Moreover, those strange protocols, such as needing identification to see Bonney, hinted at a veiled truth.
She was an old fox who saw her kingdom almost get destroyed twice. She used to go to the Reverie and knew the World Government's true colors.
"Another year…" Bonney muttered.
"What?" Conney asked, puzzled.
"Daddy said he'd come visit in a year…"
"We'll wait for him, all together…" Conney smiled kindly, yet she felt unsettled.
"Okay." Bonney smiled, feeling a bit better. She turned to the side, where a fat man, who had brown freckled skin and large lips, was wearing a tank top and cowboy hat.
"Gyogyo, let's fight!" she suddenly shouted and grew in height, her muscles inflating like a balloon.
"Bonney, why can't you just play with your toys?" Gyogyo sighed in exasperation.
"Let's fight!" Bonney didn't pay his words any heed and jumped on him, taking him down as they began tussling on the floor.
'Another year…' Conney hoped that her suspicions wouldn't turn out to be true and that by that time, she'd be able to take Bonney with her to the castle where she could comfortably wait for Kuma.
BANG!
Suddenly, the church door was smashed open. One of the assistants, who had taken residence in the nearby town, entered, sweating and trying to catch his breath.
"Don't smash the door like that!" Conney scolded.
The man, gasping for breath, raised his head and looked at Bonney, who was back in her regular form, sitting on Gyogyo's stomach. Then he turned to Conney, the old Queen Dowager.
"I'm sorry, but I have something I need to talk about with Alpha!" He apologized, knowing better than to mess with a royal family.
Under Conney's suspicious eyes, he knocked on the door leading to the annexe, then entered directly without waiting for permission. The sound of locks turning rang immediately after he closed the door.
"Enri was caught!" he almost shouted in panic, though at the end he held himself. However, the threat of pirates with a collective bounty in the billions made him feel nervous.
Alpha, who was sitting at the desk, paused. Facing her was a newspaper and several letters, one of them in her hand, a look of ridicule plastered on her face as she read, but that changed once she heard her assistant's words.
For a second, panic enveloped her, yet a second later, she regained her composure. She was better trained and their superior for a reason.
"How was he caught?" she slowly said.
"I didn't see it with my eyes, but they discovered his presence and sent one of their crews to catch him," he replied while wiping the sweat that gathered on his forehead.
She put her hands under her chin and pondered. "This isn't looking good."
"I'm sure Enri won't say anything. We trained together for such situations, should they arise," the assistant replied.
A moment passed in silence. Then slowly, she picked up the den den mushi receiver.
Purupuru, Purupuru, Purupuru.
Click! She heard the sound of the call being picked up.
"This is the first time you've called twice in a single day," the man's voice lazily said.
"The situation... a problem occurred," Alpha replied grimly. While their base or who they were wasn't revealed, if they snooped around the island, there was a chance that they might discover something.
"What happened?" She had his attention now.
_______________________________________
Later into the night.
Silence dominated the church. Bonney was asleep in a room in the annexe building. The lights were off, except for the lights inside Alpha's office, as she sat unable to sleep.
The long conversation she had with her superior didn't ease her mind, nor did his reassurance that he'd raise the matter to Saint Jaygarcia. She knew she was no match for these pirates, and even if she holed up here in the church, there was a chance that they might find some clues leading up to her.
"I'm not being paid enough for this crap!" She sighed, then looked at the few letters on the desk she had forgotten to dispose of, her worry having eaten at her.
She shook her head, picked up the letters, and walked to the trash bin beside the door.
However, she paused as she lowered her head about to tear the letters. From beneath the door, a white smoke slowly entered through the narrow gap, moving like it had a mind of its own.
"Could it be a fire?" Alpha's eyes constricted. This didn't happen by chance. She thought that maybe they had caught on to her trail, and if it happened by chance, it could draw the pirates' attention to this place.
Without hesitation, she opened the door, then paused as a wave of white smoke engulfed her. She swore in her head that she had seen yellow eyes menacingly looking at her from the smoke.
A second later, without realizing it, she had inhaled enough smoke that her eyes started closing. Without warning, she dropped headfirst to the ground, and beside her, the letters haphazardly fell, next to the deep-into-dreams assistants who had been keeping watch.
A dozen heartbeats later, an eerie sound of a snake slithering echoed. Another second later, the smoke gathered from every part of the church, revealing the small form of Rakyl.
Rakyl looked around, then headed to the door and passed through the mailbox gap, dropping outside. The snake lifted its head and looked at the sky. After a few moments of tongue flickering, it picked a direction and crept fast through the forest.
Ten minutes later, it spotted the camp. It didn't stop as it entered the perimeter and passed by Salome, glaring at him. He had been doing nothing while it had been hiding for hours inside the man's apron.
Weaving through the crewmates' legs, it finally arrived before Alexander, who looked at it, eyebrow raised.
"You took your time," he said to Rakyl, to which it replied with a tongue flicker.
'Snake language!' he thought, but he picked up on how sad the snake felt.
"You did a good job." He stroked its head and felt the snake squirming in enjoyment.
Alexander looked at his crew, then back to Rakyl.
"Now lead us to where you found them!"
Another tongue flicker, then the snake led the way, followed by Alexander and the rest of the team.
Ten minutes later, they were in front of the church's wooden double door.
"Is this the place?" Hancock looked at the church. She didn't think that the ones who had been following them would come from a religious building.
Feeling curious, she pushed the gates, but they were closed. Then Sabine, without saying anything, turned into a cloud and slipped under the door.
A moment later, they heard the sound of locks turning. The door opened, revealing a smiling Sabine.
Alexander shook his head and strode inside. "Sometimes I envy you, devil fruit users."
"Oh! We can find you a suitable devil fruit," Sabine stepped to the side, leaving space for everyone to enter.
"No thanks!" He wasn't interested. He looked inside the pitch-black church. He could barely see anything, so he searched for a light source, which he found beside the entrance.
He pressed the switch, and the light bulbs hanging from the wooden beams lit up, revealing a large space filled with toys. To the right were two doors and a corridor under arcs that led to another room.
"Look what we have here…" Alexander identified the bartender who escaped; he was passed out just outside of the door, on his side were some other people.
Alexander walked closer, then crouched. "A nurse and another two unidentified men…"
"What's this?" Hancock came to his side and picked up a letter. She opened it and read for a few seconds in silence as everyone did the same with the remaining letter.
"It's a letter from a man to his daughter named Bonney," she said after finishing the letter.
"Yes, this one has the same content…" Axe finished reading too.
"Judging from the letters, he truly loves his daughter…" Sabine said while smiling a little; this had reminded her of her father and the letters he always sent on time.
Andretta sniffed a little and turned to the other side. "Yeah, same content here…"
Axe looked at her, noticing her out-of-place reaction. He reached with his hands for her and patted her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" he asked softly.
"Mhmm," her reply came stifled.
Alexander calmly looked at her, about to say something, but then Hancock shook her head at him.
Sighing, he stood up. "Did everyone find the same content?"
They nodded in unison.
"Let's see first who we are dealing with!" He sat cross-legged on the floor.
"Rakyl," he called. The snake was quick to obey.
Alexander looked at the snake and then caressed its head.
"I want you to make her dream about her purpose here and link me to her dream."
"Remember, mission, purpose, this place…" he knew that the snake somehow understood his intentions.
Rakyl bobbed its head and exhaled a silver dusty smoke that entered through Alexander's and the nurse's nostrils. In an instant, Alexander's eyes closed.
"Who could they be?" Sabine wondered.
"Perhaps the Marines…" replied Hancock. Their movement through South Blue wasn't a secret, and it could be that they sent these guys to keep an eye on them.
"Let's wait and see…" Alarin stood calmly while watching these men in case they woke up.
A few seconds later, Alexander's eyes shot open. Everyone flinched when they saw the look in his eyes as he looked at the nurse, then at one of the rooms down the hallway.
"What did you find?" Hancock asked, feeling a shift in his mood.
Alexander didn't reply for a few seconds as he had to calm his anger. Then slowly he exhaled and spoke.
"Don't let this place's appearance fool you… it's more like a prison," he said, gritting his teeth.
"A prison, you say?" Alarin lifted an eyebrow; as far as he could see, this place looked like a church from the outside and a kid's playground from the inside.
"And who's the prisoner?" Andretta asked.
"An ill child, held hostage against her father; she sleeps in one of the rooms," Alexander replied grimly.
"W-What?" Sabine asked, shocked.
No one spoke for a moment, then Hancock asked, her word carrying her anger.
"Who's the father? And the ones holding her hostage?"
Alexander looked at his wife; her anger further fueled the rage he felt within.
"Bartholomew Kuma, The Shichibukai… as for the ones holding the child…" he said, eyes narrowing.
"The usual scum of the World Government, under the order of one of the Saints…."
A complete silence prevailed among his crew as they struggled to understand why they would do that… and to contain the anger they felt.
__________________________
[Egghead Island]
Within one of the many labs this future island contained, a seven-meter-tall man lay on a bed. He had a wide upper body with strong apparent muscles; he wore spectacles, and his hair was long and curly with two protrusions resembling bear ears.
BOOM!
The door to the lab was smashed open; an elderly man with a ridiculously tall large head and a long-dropping tongue entered, his eyes filled with worry.
''KUMA!'' Vegapunk called and quickly arrived beside the man on the bed.
''What's the matter, Vegapunk?'' Kuma replied; despite his giant stature, he spoke softly.
''Did you send them? Did you go back on your promise?'' Vegapunk asked, his voice trembling in anxiety.
''What do you mean? I never went back on our agreement?'' replied Kuma. Fear started to creep into his heart.
''Then how come the Kuja pirates went to your island? Clashed against the agents taking care of your daughter?'' Vegapunk asked. What the Saint told him was too much of a coincidence to happen without a reason or motivation.
''Bonney?'' Kuma muttered, then all of a sudden he tore the tubes and the mechanical parts and got up. He bent down and caught Vegapunk's shoulder.
''BONNEY!! WHAT ABOUT MY DAUGHTER?'' He shook the doctor and shouted in his face; gone was the warm look, replaced by a creeping fear and panic.
''I don't know… they couldn't contact Alpha; no one picked the receiver…'' Vegapunk didn't shake the hands holding him, as he too felt fear for the little girl.
''W-What? You promised me her safety!!'' he felt despair gripping his heart.
''I know… they're sending the Marines to the island,'' Vegapunk replied.
Kuma felt fear; although he knew that the Kuja won't go so low as to hurt his little girl, but who knows what could happen…
''I'll have to go, Vegapunk. I'm afraid that the operation must hold until I assure Bonney's safety,'' Kuma said with resolve as he looked at the world's most intelligent man.
Vegapunk sighed; he knew it would come to this. In fact, Saint Saturn ordered him to keep the lid closed on this matter, and yet, he couldn't do it. He could remember the little girl running around his lab, curious about everything as she underwent treatment.
''Do as you wish…'' Vegapunk decided to bear the repercussions of his decision; he felt no regret. Even if they decided to punish him, they at most would cut his budget; he had already begun making the Pacifistas after all.
''Thank you!'' Kuma, without hesitation, swung with his palm; a large ethereal white paw enveloped him, then in the next second, he vanished.
BOOM!
''Why can't you depart normally?'' said Vegapunk, looking at the paw-shaped hole in the wall.
''I hope that everything will be alright… you must remain safe… Bonney…''
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I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.
Thanks for reading.