Author notes:
#1. 1-3 chapters back, I mentioned that soon, the story will be about the adventures of Eliot (of course if he is still alive) but this might be later, because I realized, that this 'arc' might be a bit longer, and go on for a while, because Salud was not even shown yet.
#2. This chapter is longer, and I put in more time to write it, so I recommend you to read it carefully, if you want to find the secrets.
Some of the patients watched horrified at the beheaded young boy, who was almost running here, and was talking a second ago.
"That's what you deserve!"
"Yea, nice job Saber!"
"Where were you all this time? This guy beat the commander! We couldn't find him! You should have helped us." – said a few patients, but the man in front of them didn't look at them, he only smiled a bit, as he reached for the head on the ground.
The others in the room were waiting, and almost celebrating. Betsy was still shocked and looked at the beheaded boy she only knew for a few days but noticed something that was strange. The people around her were not aware of it yet, but she looked at them, and still saw all the people floating in the air. In the happy moment, of some criminal's death, they were too occupied with the celebration. It only ended when Saber lifted the head, and the body with his hands, and heard a voice. It was hearable not only to him, but everyone in the room:
"Some good fruit you ate, eh?" – laughed the head.
The room was in dead silence in a second. The celebration ended, and they all looked at the voice direction. It was not Sabers low and cranky voice. It was the youngster's who was decapitated a second ago. In the room, there was shock, surprise, and some relief too, when Saber reacted to his question:
"You think so?" – the people heard Saber's voice now. Yes, it was completely different from the other, so they were right about the man, and he was alive, but some of them were still in shock, and couldn't believe. When some of them finally started to understand, that the head was talking in Saber's hand and were bold enough, started to talk.
"Ye...Yes! He didn't even bleed! Saber's fruit is so powerful, he can cut anyone without killing them." – a man said still in bad shape of the fact, that a head was talking, and ended half-happy with an awkward laughing, from Saber's power.
"Yea!"
"That's right!"
The people agreed with such words, and one of them went even so far, to praise Saber to the heavens.
"He is the strongest guard! He is much more powerful than the commander! See you fool? Our town's guard is the strongest! You were only a second to get beaten by him!" – he said, but was cut off, when the head talked again, loud enough to be heard by all of them again:
"See ya later, I'm gonna see what this guy wants." – Eliot's head said. The people in the room were silent again, as they tried to swallow the same fact: the head talked again.
"You stay there, I take care of him first." – Saber said, and a minute later, he was out of the room, but they could still hear all the people shouting after them for help, so they might get down onto the ground. While they were getting farther from the room, they met with a few other people, but Saber said the same thing to them too, and just like before, the townspeople were mad at him for it. After the fifth one of them, Saber opened his mouth:
"When will you let them down?" – he asked with not a single emotion recognizable on his face.
"After I'm done with you." – Eliot said, as he was trying to be comfortable in Saber's hand, because while they were walking through the hospital's corridors and rooms, Saber almost dropped him twice.
"How long can you float them?" – Saber asked, still without any visible emotion, and he was not even looking at him now.
"I don't know my exact limits yet. The longest is about a few hours." – Eliot answered, and for that, Saber showed some emotion again that same one Eliot already saw on him. It was the first time since the attack that he showed emotion. He smiled just like at that time.
They got in front of an office's door in a few minutes, and he reached out to the latch that was on it. It was thick and high on the door. It looked strong, even though there was rust on it, and a part was obviously broken off it.
"Are we there yet?" – Eliot asked.
"If you don't shut up, I'll cut you into some more." – he said, as he pulled the latch and opened the door. Eliot sensed, that something changed at the other side of the door, before he opened it, that must have been done with his ability to teleport or something like that.
Stairs were in front of them in the dark place.
"Room." – murmured the man, and in a second, they were in a small room. In front of them were a desk, around and on it were several papers scattered around everywhere. It was not simply untidy, it was a complete mess and the whole place looked like a hurricane was storming it just a minute ago. Half of the paper was in a puddle, because one of the walls was letting in water from somewhere, and it was even crumbled a bit. Saber knew this place. He walked straight to a door that was so big, even an elephant could easily walk through it. The huge door was clearly made to not let in or out anyone or anything. It was high, wide and looked thick too, made from iron or something like that. This was a strange moment for Eliot. When he noticed that he can sense this room, the hospital, and others as usual, but anything from that specific room they were headed. It didn't happen in the last days, since he used this new power that he barely understood, that he couldn't sense a room. He felt weaker and strange, as the man opened the door with a high-pitched creak sound. Even when he stepped in, he couldn't sense anything around himself with his abilities, only with his eyes could he see what was there, in the hall-like huge room, probably under the hospital, filled with cages.
'That man must have come out of here, that I floated, and he is gone now.' – Eliot thought, as he remembered the insensible man, that suddenly became visible for his abilities just before he went to Betsy, to ask about Salud.
"This is your new home" – said the voice from above his head. – "You shall sleep well in one of these cages. They are at least as comfortable as the hospital's rooms." – he said with a smirk and used his devil fruit power to teleport Eliot into one of the opened cages, that automatically closed, and locked itself, not just locking out anyone, but locking in Eliot, who was on the floor now. After the cage was closed, he tried to sit up, but he felt some danger. He listened to his instincts and jumped back a step. Standing in the cage now, he saw a needle pierced into the ground of the cage, that was made from simple stone.
Saber laughed some.
"You are pretty jumpy. But there will be more like that. Be careful!" – he said, and turned around to walk away, but after a few steps, he stopped, and looked back at Eliot.
"Hope you'll sleep better, with your head at the right place." – he said laughing and was already gone when Eliot was done looking at his legs and hands to make sure his statement was true, that his head is really at its place.
After he was done, with a confused look on his face, he looked around and searched for him in the dark, but couldn't see him anymore. Saber was gone. After that, he tried to look for any other people who might be there with him. All he could see was torches or some light far away from him. Guards or other prisoners weren't there. The explanation of the whole situation was late too, because he didn't see a soul there from who could ask a thing. This was not the only problem. He got irritated by the fact, that they just left him there and nothing was going on. He stomped on the ground to let some of the irritation go away, when he felt a sharp pain in his leg. It was like if something bit him in return, so he snatched his leg, thinking it was a mosquito, but was surprised, when he hit something else, and caused it to bring more pain in his leg. It was a needle. He was surprised as his mind was processing the information, that he didn't sense it at all with his new powers, that it was not just a mosquito, but the same kind of needle that missed him for the first time. He only discovered these powers a few days ago, so his mind was not calibrated to it yet, and so he was realizing it only at this moment.
'I can't sense anything.' – he thought. In that instant, he remembered that feeling that he felt a long time ago, and that he never ever wanted to remember to, or feel again. It was the shaking of his bones and mind, it was that one feeling that can easily paralyze anyone but the strongest or the complete idiots. It was fear of losing it. He didn't want that power to vanish, it was his, and he wanted to beat so many people with it. He needed that power. He tried to focus, and desperately concentrated, if he might be able to use it again and move the cage or the bed, but was unable to do so, because of some sudden sleepiness that caught him, and he immediately reached for the needle to wrench it out, as he gritted his teeth.
"Won't happen again!" – he hissed. – "Never again!" – he squeezed hard, as he fought with the sleepiness and the needle that was surprisingly deep in his thigh. It was at least three inches inside it, but was thin, so he barely felt it, when he could finally get it out, leaving a small bloody point on his thigh, where the needle caused the smaller damage. The bigger one was the drug that obviously was on the needle.
The anger that emerged after he was reminded to the memory of the fear he once felt did not melt, from just taking it out, and the drug was still working in him with more power than before, so he wanted to act fast and he stepped closer to one side of the bars but was surprised by another attack. He saw it from the corner of his eye, that other needles were shot out from a robot, and it seemed slow enough to him, to try to divert it so he started to focus his abilities and make them disappear.
He couldn't escape in this small cell, nor jump out of the way of them now, and he didn't even want to. He only wanted to make this cage perish and destroy this whole place. The fear and the anger were working in him along with the sleeping poison and so, he could barely and only divert, all the needles with an airwave that he sent, by moving the air around himself, from his way in the direction of the needles. All those that were flying to him were sent into other directions, and he was unharmed. Relaxing was not option though, because this was one of his last breaths before the violently pursuing sleepiness took over, and he knew it. When he felt that the drug got to his head, he let his upper body down to hang a bit, along with his arms, as he thought for a minute, gritted his teeth once more and said quietly:
"Clear… out…!" – and with his last bit of sense, he made his blood clear from the poison atom by atom, and felt immediately better, as he drew out the drug slowly, but the process' speed was accelerating, as Eliot felt himself more powerful by every atom of this drug that left and was out of his body. In just about ten minutes, he was done.
"Finally…" – he exhaled, and breathed heavily as he stood up straight, and looked around to see the next thing he wanted to get rid of. The bars of the cell looked just as strong as before, but Eliot did not care about it.
"The next thing is this…" – he said and focused around himself. The air he could move was not much, only the air-atoms, that were close to his skin could he manipulate, just like before, when he diverted the needles.
At that time though, he didn't notice it, but he was only able to move the air close to his skin, just that small amount, and so he felt a bit disappointed now, especially when he thought about how he lifted that huge amount of sand, that could have covered the whole town just a few hours ago.
When he diverted the needles, he was too focused on the sleepiness, but now, he could move the air much easier, and he started to move the atoms, so it became a fast-moving wind around his skin.
"This wind feels good" – he laughed, completely forgetting about his anger and fear. He was concentrating now, on this wind, and made the air move faster and faster. The air was a bit farther from his skin now, but he could still control it. As he increased the speed of its movement, he almost fell from an explosion-like sound, that it made, and he immediately covered his ears, but laughed at it. The air was still controllable, and he made it move so fast now, that the things in the cell were getting affected by it. The bed and the table were pushed to the cell's sides, and the pillows were already flown out of it, as the wind was so strong now, even a man could be sent flying by it. His clothes were raging in the wind, and he was smiling, when he raised his hands and sent the air he manipulated to the cage bars, that held him inside. With loud creaks and scraping sounds, the cage bend like if it was rubber, and was torn out like paper at several parts.
When he was done, he let the air to slow down on its own way, and let it go freely wherever it wanted to, and he looked around to see if the cell needed some more, to let him out. He laughed hard as he saw, that only a few bars held out the pressure of the air he sent, and even those were all bend. He quickly went to the biggest door that he just made and jumped out through that. He was surprised by the sudden weakness and landed like a ragdoll. He fell with a low voice. After one minute, Eliot was still on the floor and didn't move. His eyes were in tears from the pain that the fall caused. He desperately tried to focus on the surroundings. He couldn't. He felt weak and lost, as he tried to move his arms, but he couldn't.
'What is going on?' – he thought. – 'I can't even move. I have no strength left. Even my eyes are closing.'
"He really got out!" – a voice, that Eliot heard from far.
"Are you sure?" – another questioned.
"Yes, but he fell. He's still laying on the floor." – she said. A young girl's voice was it. She seemed to be able to see him.
"Really?" – the older said, and changed her voice to a loud one, as she tried to call out to Eliot. – "Hey! Stand up! You should get up and help us out too!" – she said.
Eliot heard their voices, but was unable to answer… Until he heard something that shook his heart: crying. In that second his muscles tensed, and he got up from the floor slowly, because he felt almost as weak as before. 'Where's that sea-stone?' – he thought and searched his body with the same slow movements, so he might not fall from the weakness. He was done with his hands, shoulders and all his upper body, when he saw a small piece of sea-stone in his shin, that must have got under his skin when he fell. When he tried to touch it, the weakness got even bigger, and he barely got it out, without falling again.
"Stop crying, I'm coming." – he called out in the dark, so he might be able to calm the girl, that was still crying. Eliot started to walk. He was trying to sense the girls he heard, but for a few minutes he could only hear the crying.
'This way.' -he thought and went straight to their direction. The sobbing got louder now.
"Calm down, there's no problem, we will get out from here." – she said. Eliot saw them now. A cage, that held back two girls. One of them was about seven years old, and the other was twice as much. Both had blonde hair and looked like each other. Eliot walked slowly to them. He was moving closer now, and observing everything around him, because he wanted to concentrate his power, and scan the hall, but just like before, he couldn't. This place seemed to his senses, as a bleb under the ground. He couldn't see or hear anyone, but these girls, and although it was dark, he could clearly see them.
"Who are you?" – he asked as he got next to their cage. The older girl who was trying to calm the other was startled by him. She didn't know he was there, and even now, she seemed to be searching for him in the dark. She definitely was unable to see him.
'This must be the effect of the devil fruit too.' – he thought, because he knew it was pitch dark, but he could easily see the girl who was obviously blinded by the darkness.
"P… Prisoners… Who are you?" – she asked still a bit afraid of the unknown man, although it was her, who asked help.
"I'm Eliot, right here. You don't need to fear." - he said, but didn't move closer to the bars, as he feared, he might lose his strength again. – "Why are you here, and what is this place?" – he asked. Both the girls were trying to find him now, but only the smaller could see him, and looked straight into his eyes, while she was forming glasses with her small hands.
"Tell him." – she said. For this, the older leaned close to her, and asked silently, but Eliot could still hear what they were talking about, and so he thought about his devil fruit again.
'I can hear them, even though they are whispering. Is this the devil fruit's effect?'
"Are you sure?" – the younger looked at her with a smile.
"Yea, he's a good guy." – was all she said to her, without the hand-glasses she formed before, and at that moment, the older girl looked at the thought direction Eliot was in and started to talk.
"We ate a devil fruit, and they are holding us here for that. We've been here for weeks now. And… I don't know what this place is."
"Can you free us?" – asked the small girl, almost interrupting her. Eliot did not hesitate and lifted his hands. He sent similar airwaves that struck to the cage loudly and so fast, that it shattered. This time he sensed them finally.
'I shall destroy all these cages, so I might sense them too.' - he thought. The younger girl she sensed, watched him, while the older was hugging her in a protective way, as Eliot lifted his hands high, above his head, and showed some pained expression, because of the hard concentration, to be able to start massive shocks and airwaves strong enough to shatter the hundreds of cages, like theirs in the hall. His eyes were closed for the better focusing. He started with the closest cages, he could see before, when he was trying to find these girls. When he was done, the girls knew it was over, because the loud, ear-hurting sounds ended, those that was from the shattering, bending and tearing of the cages. He opened his eyes, and let down his right hand, while he motioned the left, still in the air.
'I can still use my power, I can really sense them…' – he thought and was relieved completely because he sensed everyone in the hall, after he destroyed their cells, the cages, that did not let them free. He sensed hundreds of sleeping people, that were in similar cages to his. He started to float all of them at once and was trying to examine them from the far. Hundreds of prisoners were floating closer to Eliot and the girls, while it was obvious, that they were sleeping. Eliot sensed it, and was trying to find out the reason for their abnormal state.
'Everyone should be up to such noise.' – Eliot thought, and started to use his senses to see, what was going on. In just a minute, Eliot's face distorted, and only the small girl could see why, as she was using her 'glasses' again.
'They are beaten… Women and children also… Half-dead…In coma… and drugged…' – he thought, as he gritted his teeth with more power at every one of the things he thought, and started to heal all of them immediately. They weren't free from the drug, that he got from the needle that pierced into his thigh, and he started to clear their bloods too, so they might wake up, but he let them sleep if they wanted after so many shock and pain, their body and soul needed it. They were asleep, even after he gathered them in one place, where he stood with the girls he set free first. A few minutes passed as he was thinking and examining all the people around him one more time, so now, he was sure, no one was hurt, and he really healed all of them. When he looked around himself he saw hundreds of sleeping men, women, and children. They were all ok now, but he still felt anger for what their captors did. He sighed to calm down a bit and let himself relax just a minute, so he might be able to forgive them, but soon, he was thinking about this place, and it's destruction. Soon he got to the important part, that he didn't know.
'Why are these people locked inside here?' and the most important question 'Is there any more, that are held captive?' After he thought about the situation, he lifted his gaze on the two other people who were not sleeping.
"What is going on here?"
Author notes:
#1. Did you find all the devil fruit users? I think all of these are canon.
#2. I was thinking about that few hundred people that are (was) in the cells. There's about 166 devil fruits we know about (canon, non-canon etc.) so these hundreds of people have devil fruit powers we don't know.
#3. The huge amount of power and the power these people have, should be guarded by powerful people, right? Well... Salud is the most powerful marine of the last hundred years...