"Yo, Marco! Come with us, were going to the center of the island!" thatch called out at breakfast to the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Taking his seat, Marco responded, "actually, I wasn't planning on going onto the island, yoi."
Thatch gaped at him, "what! No way! Why?!" he exclaimed exasperated, "what's more important than exploring an island that sinks!?" he asks no one in particular. No one gives him an answer. Marco shakes his head at the fourth division commander.
"you need to get your priorities right. I will admit, we are here to explore the island as more than half the crew got curious about what could possibly be on the sinking island, but honestly, I would much rather stay on the ship or help the townsfolk collect shells." Marco explains, eating his meal.
Thatch pouts, "aw, you're such a spoil sport, Pops will be here to look after the people who stay behind, you don't have to help him do that. Besides, I just think your scared." He taunted.
Marco sighed at his friend's immaturity, hopefully he grows up in the future, "I've also still got some paperwork to finish. I'm nearly done to, so I want to get it over and done with." He added.
Thatch groans and hits his head on the table, "you and your paperwork, urg. Take a break sometimes."
Marco doesn't comment. But he does roll his eyes at the pompadour wearing adult.
Suddenly, thatch perks up, "oh! I know!" he then left the table.
Marco watches him leave, before turning to the person sitting next to him. "so, which groups are going where?"
Izo looked up from his meal. "well, thatch and Namur are going to the center of the island, I think they want to bring you because you can fly, Vista and Curial have taken half their division each to go explore the coast in either direction, Jozu's convinced his entire division to help the townsfolk collect the rare seashells on the beach, I think half of the 11th division is helping as well, but Kingdew is going off with a small group from all over the divisions. I'm staying here, and some of the other commanders are doing other things I haven't been informed about, but that's the gist of it."
Marco nodded, eating most of what remains of his Breakfast. "why doesn't thatch take one of the other commanders, yoi?" he asked rhetorically.
Izo answered anyway, "because you're his favorite."
Marco rolled his eyes but didn't refute it, after all, thatch had said so on multiple occasions, though that's probably because he thinks flattery will get him out of the punishments for his pranks.
Thatch came back to the table, holding a piece of paper. "hey Marco, you said you wanted to do paperwork, so I got Pops to make this." He gave the sheet to Marco.
Taking a sip of his water, Marco read over the paper. "…seriously?" he raised an eyebrow at the childish commander, "a treasure hunt, yoi?"
Izo took the paper off him and read it himself, laughing at the list of twenty things Marco has to find, "where the hell is he going to find a Local and a tree?! The island is underwater most of the time and is completely deserted according to the townsfolk when they last visited."
Thatch wiggled his eyebrow, "I don't know, I guess he will have to go inland with us." He said subjectively, "oh, and you have to do it since I got Pops to sign it."
Marco checked it over again, and sure enough, he found a signature he recognized as Pops at the bottom of the page with a message good luck son, now go have some fun. Marco sighed, there was no way he was going to get out of this, is there? Especially with how pushy Thatch gets when he doesn't get what he wants.
"fine, I'll go, yoi." He said before standing up and making his way to the raised area in the Galley for important notifications to the entire crew during mealtimes. There was a notice board to the left of the area for anyone who wasn't there at the time, like the people on watch or the people who have other duties at the time.
"everyone, the Moby will reach the island within the next hour, so prepare to leave. If you leave the ship, make sure you stay on the Den-den lines and with a Commander. Be back before sun set as this island sinks half an hour afterwards and we want to be nowhere near the island by that point. we are here to help the locals of the nearby island under our protection collect the rare shells, so I want at least half of you helping with that. Everyone else is free to do what they like but going inland is prohibited to everyone except the commanders. Is that understood?" he informed the crowd, taking their cheer as agreement. "as you should know, the island only comes up once every 10 years, so don't waste your time there. Other than that, have fun guys."
Marco jumped off the raised area and headed to his room to pack what little things he will need for the trip inland. He packed a pen and his treasure hunt list, just so he can annoy Thatch with it later, a spare purple jacket, just in case, a vivre card of Pops in case Thatch gets them horribly lost, a first aid kit, fully stocked, his personal camera Mushi to take photos with and his mapping kit so he can map out the entire island from above. Nodding to himself, Marco closed his bag and swung the only strap over his shoulder.
Before finding thatch and Namur, Marco went to the communications room and grabbed his group's designated Mushi, he knew thatch would have forgotten it and Namur would have assumed thatch had it, as he was the one who organism this trip. So, he grabbed it to solve the entire problem, see? Whoever said planning was hard, is an idiot.
Finding thatch wasn't that heard, all he had to do was follow the noise of cheering and laugher onto the main deck and there he is. Namur was standing against the railing nearby, fiddling with a piece of paper.
Coming over to the fishman, Marco asked, "what that?"
Namur gave him the paper, "Thatch gave me one and said we all needed one. I don't know why I need it, but I got it." he said. On the paper was a treasure hunt, completely different from his own. Marco took out his treasure hunt from his bag, "so, do you know why we have them?"
Marco raised an eyebrow at some of the stuff on there, why would they need to find a piece of string and a pipe? "Thatch wanted me to come so he gave this to me with a signature from Pops. Apparently it should be considered as paperwork and is very important, or so I've been told."
"ah, that explains a bit." Namur looked over to where thatch was talking with a group of chefs from his division, "how should we get back at him?"
Marco put a finger on his cheek as he though, "I have a few ideas, but nothing certain yet. I'll tell you when I come up with something spectacular."
The fishman nodded with a grin, there were so getting back for this later.
Thatch came over not too long later and looked the side of the ship in the direction they were heading, "I can see the island, it's got a mountain."
Marco nodded, "the towns people said that, you need to pay more attention to details. So, Mr.-drag-us-all-alone-for-a-treasure-hunt, where are we going first? The mountain, the beaches, a secret lake we've never heard of before or that mysterious deserted Marine base we're heard rumors about?"
Thatch hummed, "I was thinking the Marine base as it should have most of the things on our treasure hunts, and because I want to know why it's here."
Namur tilted his head slightly, "what do you mean?"
Thatch looked out to sea, "well, if there was one island in the New world that's completely inhospitable, it would be one that sinks and only surfaces once every ten years. There would be no food other then what's stocked beforehand, there would be no water or other natural materials, except maybe minerals, but even if the island did have a rich amount of gems and metals, even the World Government wouldn't be dumb enough to make a base on the island. And the marines wouldn't be dumb enough to tell them in the first place so there isn't any chance the World Government could even get ideas about it. I did some research, and I found that the marine base was made when it sinks, so the entire thing was made in a day, or it just took a very, very long time. I did some more digging, and I found some design plans, and a building sketch, a list that closely resembles a supplies or a shopping list and a bunch of other things. But there was never a written reason for it to be built. It confuses me." Thatch ended.
Marco blinks, "wow, so you do know what you're doing, for a change."
Thatch glares at him, "hey, I know exactly what I'm doing all the time!"
"your actions speak differently, yoi." The first division commander grins. Namur nods his head along with blond, a solemn expression on his face.
Thatch splutters as he tries to make a response to the two's antics, "you're supposed to be on my side, Namur. How could you leave me like that?" He accuses.
"sorry, but I'm with Marco on this." The blue fishman grins at the utterly devastated look the chef was giving them.
thatch grabs the closest person to them, it turned out to be Jozu, "Jozu, they're ganging up on me, help."
Jozu glanced between the two of them and thatch, before stating in the calmest and serious voice he could manage, "I'm with them." before he walked off, trying to hide his giggled under his breath without giving himself away.
Thatch fell to the ground, "why? What did I do?"
Marco saw a chance, "see, this is what we mean, you don't know what you're doing. You just proved our point." Namur laughed as Thatch's mouth gaped at them.
"no! I didn't mean it like that! I meant-" he was cut off by Marco.
"don't worry, we know, we're just playing with you." he waited for Thatch to stand up completely before stating, "even if it was all true." And thatch was on the floor again.
Namur smiled at them, before asking thatch and getting back on topic, "you said you got a map of the place, correct?"
Thatch nodded, "yeah."
"can we see it? it will probably give us a hint about why it was build."
The chef blinked before taking a piece of paper out of his own bag, his was mostly filled with food for lunch and snacks. "yeah sure, I couldn't make heads or tails of it."
They unfolded the paper and looked at it. the entrance and most of the surrounding layout was completely normal and what you would expect for a marine base, a cafeteria, a kitchen, a mess hall, barracks, a training area, offices and a massive storage area. That was where the similarities stopped. There was a place on the map labeled garden, a good addition if they wanted fresh food, and a few other areas which made sense and finally, the two rooms that made no sense whatsoever.
They were both cylindrical, reinforced and shaded. the smaller, darker circle was in the center of the slightly lighter one. There was a square in the smaller circle, this colored completely in black, both areas were labeled 'flood zone'. The inner circle and the square were labeled 'restricted', and the lighter circle was called observation and experimentation deck. To get into the outer circle, people had to go thought two sets of doors which looked suspiciously like decontamination chambers in labs.
"what the hell is this thing?" Namur asked as he pointed to the circles and the square, colored blacks and dark grays with red lines striped though it. it was obvious that no one is supposed to go there.
Thatch shrugged, "no clue, if you have a guess, I'm welcome to suggestions. Anyway, it's the main reason I want to explore the Marine base, to find what there hiding from us and all that."
"ah, so a riotousness path." Marco concluded; Thatch knew better then answer.
Namur nodded, a hand on his chin, "I can see why, I'm rather curious now as well. And I can guess why you wanted to bring me along now." he gestured to the 'flood zone' label on the square and inner circle, "if that's any clue, I would say you don't want to risk anything with a label like that, am I right?"
Thatch sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, "yeah kinda, sorry I didn't tell you before, I wanted to make it a surprise."
Marco nodded, "that nice and all, yoi, but you should have told us. Walking into something like this might not have been your best idea."
"yeah, I realize that now, Captain Obvious." Thatch sighed.
"dropping anchor!" a voice called out from the back of the ship. Not long after, a loud splash was heard, and the ship slowed to a halt.
Marco took command, "prepare the longboats! Go to your designated boat and head out!" he commanded, heading to their group's small boat, they were sharing it with another group as the boats can hold up to twenty people each. they only had three people in their group, they didn't need a whole boat to themselves.
As soon as the boat was filled, two people on either ends of the boat pulled on the ropes, lowering the smaller ship off the side of the Moby Dick. It dropped the last half-meter into the ocean when the ropes were released at the same time by each man. The ropes where pulled up by remaining crewmen above.
As the two took their seat, everyone grabbed an oar from under the seats and started rowing in time, called by the designated timekeeper at the back, to the shore. It wasn't five minute later when they hit the sand, instantly action took over the boat, pirates were jumping out of the side out the boat, everyone pitching in to push the ship higher up the beach, so the waves don't take their ride away.
When that was done, everyone broke off to do what they came here for, mostly helping the townsfolk collect shells from this beach.
"well, I can see why the shells fetch a small fortune each." thatch joked as he walked over to Marco, he was on the other end of the ship from him.
Namur nodded his agreement, "they look pretty."
It was true, the shells were legendary in certain circles, mostly the ones interested in jewelry, but can easily be sold to the celestial dragons for a good fortune, and if they were careful, they will never find the source and their business will be protected for a few more years at least. It was the main source of income for the closest island, the one they were helping.
Marco hummed in agreement, "remind me to save some for Izo, I'm sure he would love them."
Thatch gaped, "that's a good idea! Why didn't I think of that?"
The trio started walking in the direction of the mountain, they would get the exact direction of the Marine Base when they get a little further inland.
"because you're an idiot, yoi."
Thatch rolled his eyes but smiled at the teasing. As they walked up the very large beach, Thatch stopped to pick up certain shells that caught his eyes, the shiny and rainbow ones mostly, but some with a darker and polish like gleam. After grabbing about twenty of these, he put them in his bag and jogged to catch up with the Phoenix and Fishman, who had happily left him behind as they compared their treasure hunting lists.
Marco had already marked off two things, beach and white dirt, turns out some of the soil got bleached by the ocean and has turned completely white, whereas Namur has marked off three things, red shell, blue shell and Pops, they could see his from the island. They couldn't mark off the things before as it didn't count until they got on the island. Even if they knew it would be there.
"I'm going to get a few pictures from above, see you later." Marco said, putting his treasure hunt in his pocket along with the pen he was using before changing into his blue majestic Phoenix form, taking to the skies within a few wing beats.
"… does this count as finding a 'big bird'?" Namur asked as he looked at the second last thing on his treasure hunt.
Thatch wrapped an arm over his shoulder, "yep! That's what it's there for." He announced cheerfully.
"ah…" Namur understood. "than what's this one for?" he pointed to the words 'skeletons'.
Thatch grinned, "well, were going to an abandoned Marine base, so I was thinking, that there might be – just maybe – some skeletons laying around."
Namur sighed, shaking his head at the fourth division commander, "oh course you want it to be haunted."
"no!" Thatch yelled, "I hate haunted stuff, they give me the creeps." A shiver ran down his spine at the thought, "I just thought there might be skeletons laying around, not that I want it to be haunted or anything." The chef glanced over his shoulder as if just saying something is haunted might make it true.
Namur gave a deep laugh, it was always funny how Thatch reacted to horror stuff, it become the usual pay back for some of his larger pranks, watching a horror movie without letting thatch run away, and he was very good at running away. Well, either that or a giant prank war with everyone unsuccessfully trying to look innocent when Marco gets involved.
Marco is scary when he gets involved. He's completely unbeatable when it comes to revenge pranks.
"whatever you say, anyway, what do you think is there?"
Thatch shrugged, "my best guess would be a huge secret that they don't want the world to know, or maybe a secret lab of some sort hiding some important documents or something, like a cure all and they don't want to give it to the general public, or maybe some research for the grand line. I really wouldn't know; the curiosity is killing he." He ended dramatically.
Namur smirked, "well, at least your having fun."
"you can't say you're not." He smirked back.
"no, I can't. And I won't argue it. this is sort of fun." Namur said back, "anyway, I think they're defiantly hiding something. hopefully not anything dangerous, I don't really feel like a fight today."
"hahaha." Thatch laughed, "yeah, I feel more like an adventure too, but I wouldn't mind a fight, it's fun that way." Namur rolled his eyes.
"so, how far away is the marine base?" the fishman asked.
Thatch shrugged, "not sure, only got a map of the base, not the island. It's annoying, I know, but there was nothing on it. we'll just have to wait until Marco gets back to us."
Flying through the sky was one of Marco's most favorite pass times. The wind in his ears and on his face calmed him, taking away his pent-up stress and allowed him to relax in the best way possible. He flew whenever he could when he was on the Moby Dick, every morning without fail, he would fly, most evenings when he wasn't busy, he would fly, and every now and again, the middle of the day or the middle of the night, depending on everything going on at the time, he would fly.
Flying was his type of freedom, and he wouldn't give it up for the world. Besides, it's not like he could, unless he wore a seastone bracelet for the rest of his life, preventing him from turning into his Phoenix form. But there was no way he would willingly do that, not without a very, very good reason.
Having said that, Marco flew up, as high as he could, before turning back into his human form and taking out his personal camera Den-Den Mushi. He lay himself flat in the air, the wind blowing the hair out of his face so he could get some amazing photos from the sky.
He didn't really mind free falling; besides, he can't take photos with wings, no, he needs hands for that. And just changing his arms would make him fall anyway, he tested it, so he might as well change everything just to make it easier.
After about 20 photos, or something around that many, he put the Den-Den away and transformed back into his Phoenix form, stopping his descent.
He then flew back to his brothers.
Landing in front of them, Marco changed back and folded his arms in front of him. "I found the marine base, it's about a thirty-minute walk from here. As for direction," he pointed slightly to the right of the direction they were already going, "it would be that way."
"cool, thanks Marco." Thatch said as he changed directions slightly and continued walking towards the deserted Marine base. "so, are you going to walk with us or fly around like a birdy." He teased.
Marco expertly ignored the comment, "I'm going to fly around for a bit and try and find some of the other things on this ridiculous treasure hunt of yours."
Namur nodded, "if you see any of my things, tell me. I can't fly like you can."
Marco grinned, "sure."
Thatch gaped, "hey! That's cheating, you have to find it yourselves."
Marco and Namur shared a glance before grinning like mad men at Thatch, "sadly, you never told us the rules, so we're going to ignore you now."
The blue phoenix than took off and disappeared, making it impossible for thatch to get in the last word.
"stupid birdy." He grumbled.
"you are aware he can't hear you, right?"
Thatch grit his teeth before yelling out to the grand expanse of rocks and dirt, "STUPID BIRDY!"
Namur blinked, "much better." He encouraged.
Thatch nodded his head, humming in agreement, "so, what were we talking about again?"
"who your next target for your next prank was going to be."
Thatch nodded, "ah, that right. We decided on the second division, with the brick pillows plan, correct?"
Namur nodded before jumping into the conversation. If there was one way he knew to be kept out of thatch's pranks, it was to join him. then, he would earn immunity and be targeted less.
Thirty minutes later, Marco joined up with them again, and they walked the last 100 meters together.
The entrance of the marine base looked busted and broken, one of the doors was missing and the other was swinging on its last remaining hinge, it had five by the looks of it. the doors were completely made of waterproof metal with the intention of keeping the water out, it appears that it didn't work as well as they intended it too, a lot of years of disrepair will do that to things. The deserted marine base was built into the side of the mountain, so much so that it looked like they dug a hole, added a lot of food, and expanded from there when the island sunk. It would have been a long and tedious task with a very small crew of people, with the only supplies coming once every ten years.
They did not want to live here.
Walking into the dark corridor, Marco lit his hand on fire and held it out in front of him, providing a small blue light for them to navigate with. They didn't want to get lost in here, that seemed like a terrible way to die. The first thing they noticed was that the entire place was dripping wet, a few dropped on them but not enough for the pirates to get even remotely soaked, but just enough that the cold water was annoying.
"damn, I guess the water means no secrets documents, they would have all been ruined." Thatch complained.
"just what exactly where you hoping to find here, yoi?"
The chef shrugged, "something cool."
The phoenix furrowed his brow but didn't comment.
Namur grabbed a metal pipe he had found attached to the wall, in one quick motion, the pipe was ripped off its places and held out to thatch, "look what I found, another thing on my treasure hunt!" he cheered annoyingly for the single purpose of annoying thatch. Sadly, it didn't work, and the fourth division commander just held out his hand for a childish high five, not wanting to disappoint his friend, Namur returned the gesture.
"children." Marco rolled his eyes.
Both commander very childishly stuck their tongues out at the phoenix.
The trio passed a few doors, each with a label, most going to offices or storage rooms. No one felt particularly interested in exploring those remains, so they happily left them be. They were following the map of the place to the sealed off and restricted areas, taking the long route to explore the place, they might as well after coming all this way.
"hey look, this door isn't broken." Thatch pointed out as he ran ahead to inspect the door mentioned. Like all the others it had a label at eye level and a handle the length of their forearms. "it says garden. Does anyone else want to go inside?" he asked with barely contained excitement.
Namur grinned but quickly came to stand next to him, "I sure do. I wonder if anything survived."
Marco shook his head as he approached the door thatch was now trying to open, "probably not, by the looks of things, no one has been in here for a very long time. I wouldn't be very surprised if the room was filled with water."
Thatch rolled his eyes, "still opening it thou-" he was cut off when the door suddenly burst open when he lifted the door handle all the way up. Water at the level of their knees spewed out, soaking their legs and stealing Marco of his devil fruit power for a few moments, also robbing them of light. When the water dispersed enough, Marco lit his arm on fire again and held it in front of him to get a look at the room.
"well, I can cross 'tree' off my list. There is a dead one over there." He pointed to the center of the room which had the remains of a single tree with a lot of other weird and old plant stuff in one of the far corners, the currents must have pushed it there.
"and I can cross off 'Skeleton'," Namur mumbled as he inspected the pile from the entrance, none of it pleasant. "or at least the skull."
Thatch shivered before leaving the entrance of the room, if there were skeletons, he wasn't going anywhere near them. Namur and Marco however, had no qualms to go forth and look at the only tree still standing, even if it was completely dead and falling apart.
"it's a fruit tree." Marco noted, "can't tell what it was supposed to be though."
"maybe apples, you can cook them in everything." Thatch added from the doorway.
"who knows. anyway, it's dead now." Namur put in, the other two nodded in agreement.
They left the garden, closing the door behind them, it was obvious the water had already gotten in and ruined everything in there, so while the door stood fast and held up against the currents in the closed off hallways, the other walls of the room didn't. but it was interesting that the entire room wasn't flooded, that either means the water never got that high or whatever was in there drained out leaving the knee-deep water behind.
It was sad that people had died in there. It wouldn't surprise Marco if they had run to the garden when the first water breach was reported, to survive off fruits and veg that were growing there but then realize that they had all died from saltwater contamination. The people in there either drowned or died of starvation, there was no way to tell. Going to the garden was a good plan, probably much better then hiding out in storage, but their flaw had been the walls.
The people who lived in this base probably checked routinely for any faults in the walls, corridors, grooves and corners. But they probably missed a key point or skipped it when they needed It most.
Of course, there are plenty other ways how this place fell into ruin and abandoned, but who could know for sure? It happened a very long time ago and has been forgotten into history.
Marco looked down at the map, he had been given it after thatch ran ahead the fourth time, the restricted areas should just be around that corner, he pointed to the corner on their right about five meters in front of them.
As expected, thatch ran ahead, ready to jump down the corridor as fast as humanly possible to solve this mystery that has been taunting him since he discovered it. but suddenly, he stopped, looking down the corridor with a worried expression.
"ah, guys. The roof's collapsed in on itself. We might be able to find a way though, but is there any other way to get to the restricted circles?"
Marco checked the map, "nope, this is the only hallway to it. everything else around it is four meters of solid rock, according to this anyway."
Thatch nodded, "can you make the light brighter, maybe we can get through here."
Marco made his entire arm transform into a wing, lighting the entire pathway. Beams had fallen down and cords were strung every which way, a part of the wall had a huge hole in it and dirt and rocks covered the floor. But luckily, the top right corner had what looked like a gap. Seeing as Marco was a light source, he went first, handing his bag to thatch before squeezing his way through the opening.
He did have to turn his single wing back to an arm so he could get though a certain bit, but once he wiggled his way by the debris, he was out. It wasn't a tight fit or anything, just awkward.
"I'm through, can you pass my bag over, yoi?" he called to thatch who was already holding the bag though the gap. Marco reached in and grabbed it, if he tried he could just reach thatch's forearm, the gap wasn't too wide either.
Putting his bag back on, Marco intensified the blue flames on his arm, making it bright enough to see where he was while he waited for his brothers to come through. It wasn't long after when Namur joined him with thatch squeezing his was thought.
"looks like someone needs to eat less." Namur teased as thatch came loose with a 'pop'.
"no fair! I'm just as thick as you, how come you didn't have any problems getting though there?" thatch pouted.
"I'm slippery." The fishman replied.
"oh."
Marco looked around while they argued, there wasn't any more collapses, luckily, but there was a lot of water ahead of them with cords, wires, dirt and metal beams everywhere. "looks like Namur's going first for this bit."
The fishman hummed in agreement before wading into the shallow water, he ducked his head under to look around, Marco's fire not helping much to see though the dark, stale water. Because he is a fishman, he has almost superb night vision, but only when in the water, it doesn't work any other time, no matter how annoying it is. As expected, there was a lot of stuff in the water, but there were a few holes in the ground every now and again. they would have to avoid those.
As he was doing this, Marco jumped up onto Thatch's shoulders. "you get to carry me now. if it's that deep then I won't be able to keep this light up, and you don't want to be left in the dark, do you?" to add to his agreement as Thatch blinked and spluttered incoherently beneath him, Marco turned his arm back to normal, leaving them in the pitch black before he brought it back.
Thatch grabbed Marco's legs to keep him up there, "fine, but only this once." He huffed, though secretly he was coming up with a few jokes to through back at Marco when they got out of here.
Namur popped his head up, "there are a few holes, so I'll guide you through this mess. The doors about twenty meters ahead, its closed but there isn't anything in front of it."
Macro nodded, while thatch smiled and called out, "cool, now we will finally figure out why this place is so secret."
Marco rolled his eyes but spread his fire further out so they could see. Thatch slowly wadded though the water while Namur guided them though what looked like the hardest way though and the longest way possible, but they didn't complain, after all it's not like they could see what was below their feet. The water reflected the blue light and neither of them could make out a single thing, but in the closed off and semi submerged hallway, they were happy to have Namur with them to help. They would probably end up killing themselves in this mess if they came alone.
"here we go." Namur spoke as he stood up in the water, "this should be the door, it's the only one here."
Marco nodded as he looked at the map, he had placed it on thatch's head so he could see it properly, "yep, do you want to do the honors?"
Namur smiled and happily jumped towards the door, grabbing the handle and jerking it upwards before pulling it open. There was a squelching sound as the water jammed in the doorframe moved with the rubber insulation. Namur grunted at the effort but slowly the door opened. Thatch moved so he was standing directly in front of the slowly opening door.
As soon as the door got free of its frame, the thing popped free, sending Namur reeling into the water by the unexpected movement of the door. Thatch burst out laughing as the fishman slowly climbed to his feet again. inside was a lot less water, the water in the hallway swam in through the opened doorway, running past their feet.
As expected, this was the remains of a decontamination chamber, like what was draw on the map. Thatch and Namur walked in with Marco opting to stay on thatch's shoulders, the water was still reaching their knees. The door at the other side of the decontamination chamber was slightly agar.
Thunk!
"shit, what the Fuck was that." Thatch jumped, almost throwing Marco off him.
Marco, just as startled by the noise, yelled, "gah! Don't move thatch! I'll fall off!"
A shiver ran up Namur's back, "fuck this creepy shit! What the hell made that noise!"
Marco pointed ahead, "don't know but it came from over there."
Namur moved ahead, moving to open the second door.
Thunk!
The fishman jumped, but expected it this time, so didn't yell and scream. He pushed on the door and same as before, the squelching sound came from the door before it opened.
Looking inside before the other two, Namur gasped. When the other two came up to get a look inside, they did as well.
The room was wide and cylindrical with lots of computers, screens, medical equipment, tools of various jobs, and other weapons scattered around, attached to walls. Water had ruined the entire place, destroying everything. In the center of the large room was a vertical tunnel about 30 meters in diameter with a thick glass, still wet on the inside, between them. the glass had a huge hole in it, cracking from the area directly in front of them to the roof and a quarter way round the circle. Sharp edges smoothed down by time and water.
Hanging in the center of the tunnel was a seastone cage, the door was hanging open and some of the bars were battered. The cage was suspended by four thick sea stone chains holding it in just the right place, but unfortunately, one of the chains had broken, putting the cage on a precarious angle. Inside the cage was almost completely empty, except for two chains which hung down and attached to someone's wrists, pulling them above the persons head painfully, putting the man in a position where he couldn't sit comfortably on the ground but standing up was impossible.
Then he moved
Thunk!
The three people stared at the man. He had moved. He had pulled at the chain, trying to get free.
There was a human, a person alive in this place, where everyone else was dead. moving and surviving in this abandoned desolate place. But he was alive.
Here.
The three moved in the room slowly in awe. As soon as Thatch walked through the door, a pressure hit Marco, making his head spin. He reached a hand up to his head, hoping to relieve the feeling, his vision swam, spinning in circles.
"hey, Marco, you okay?" Thatch asked as he felt Marco lean forward.
He didn't answer. then everything when dark as Marco's devil fruit stopped working.
Before anyone knew it, the phoenix fell, completely unconscious and breathing hard.
Tada! A new series on One Piece! Hope you liked it and sorry for leaving you on such a cliff hanger.
Now, can any of you guess who is in the cage? It's pretty obvious if you read the blurb, but I want to see what you think.
Anyway, tell me what you think or what I should improve on, I find it very helpful.
Favorite, Follow, Review. Do whatever.
See you next chapter.