Interlude
The meeting room was made of solid stone. The light of a few lit candles cloaked the room in large, foreboding shadows. It held a single table, surrounded by four chairs, two of which were occupied. Wanted posters lay scattered across the table, showing dozens of notorious pirates. The room was shrouded in an eerie, chilling fog.
One of the chairs creaked. A young man wearing a marine coat and a pair of dark sunglasses sat up and tapped the tabletop with one of his fingers. "Reports confirm that the Tea Pirates have made port in the city. We didn't expect this. They have become quite a thorn in the eye of the World Government, headquarters say we cannot allow them to run free, not with Whitebeard on the move. Something must be done!"
The other chair creaked, and a man with grey hair and several scars across his face sat up straight, smiling a wicked grin. "Hunting down scum like them won't be much of a problem. It's like a game of chess, Anthony; Take away the strongest piece, and the rest will fall." he drew a knife from his belt and slammed it down into the wanted poster depicting a young man in green robes having a cup of tea.
"We capture the monk. I'll personally see to it that he has an...interesting execution. And when his friends come looking for him..." he grinned again "...we kill them too."
Johan awoke, sensing something terribly wrong. Everything was too quiet. He cautiously rose from his bed and made his way outside into the courtyard of the temple. The night was cold. Too cold. And there was a fog, thicker than he had ever seen before. He silently drew his tekko and waited.
A sinister voice crept from the fog."How good of you to join us. We were going to massacre everyone inside, but it seems you've saved us the trouble."
Before Johan could react, a figure stepped out from the fog. It was a tall, grey-haired man, wearing a marine coat, holding a knife in one hand, and a pair of handcuffs in the other.
He pointed the knife at Johan with a ferocious smile and said: "Agonizing Needle."
Johan clutched at his head, unable to move. The pain of thousands of people shot into his mind like burning spears. He tried to scream, tried to make a noise to alert the others, but there was no use. No matter what he did, the pain kept increasing, to the point where he thought his soul would shatter. He felt his mouth fill with blood, and helplessly he coughed, spilling it onto the ground, falling to his knees.
"Pain..." the man said, grinning "It's a truly wonderful taste, is it not?" he secured the handcuffs around Johan's wrists with a sadistic chuckle. "These are seastone cuffs. This way, you'll be forced to behave like a proper little pet. Oh, we're going to have so much fun, you and I..."
Johan felt his strength leave him, he could do nothing but collapse in a heap on the ground, screaming silently at the pain in his head.
The man grabbed Johans hood and dragged him like a ragdoll across the courtyard, disappearing into the fog. The night grew still, and the only thing that remained was a small trail of blood from Johan's mouth and the compact silence of utter despair.