A single line of sunlight squeezed through an untended hole in the spacious hull, drawing a nonsensical image on the covered with hay boards. This amount of light had been enough to expose the grim truth of this pirate ship: it indulged in slavery.
To the left and right stood two rows of metal cages, all empty save for a single one, hidden by the shadows in the forsaken stern. There, a person dressed in rags was left forgotten, waiting for thirst and hunger to put them out of their misery. Suddenly, their head turned left. They squinted, staring into the darkness. They opened their mouth, about to say something, yet no sound manage to come out. They cleared their dry throat and attempted to move the parched lips once more.
"Name... What is your name, girl...?" asked the feminine voice.
Something moved in the shadows.
"Please... Your name..." begged the woman, her desperate face covered in numerous burn scars.
No response.
The woman sighed. She closed her large scarlet eyes, thinking. The long crimson hair wrapped her skinny, scarred body.
"Is that..." she turned her head to the girl once more, "A book...?"
The girl moved further away.
"Was it... 'Adventures of the Tall Rider?' I've read it before..."
Silence. A moment of deliberation. Suddenly, the girl got up. She took several apprehensive steps towards the cage, stopping in front of it, a book in her hands.
"Robin," she said.
"Oh..." the woman let out with disappointment, "Just a name..." she whispered, before clearing her throat, "Nice to meet you, Robin," she smiled, "You can call me Sun."
Robin opened the book, showing the ruined insides.
"What a pity..."
"Chapter seven," she said, "What happens in chapter seven? Tell me. Please," she added.
"Chapter seven...?" pondered Sun, looking up, "That's when he fights in a tourname–"
"No," interrupted her Robin, "I want word by word."
"That's... I don't think I can–" she cleared her throat, "Don't think I can–" she coughed.
The girl returned to her hiding spot and fetched a waterskin. She passed it to Sun.
"Here."
The woman urgently accepted the gift and took a long, greedy sip, fighting the urge to leave not a drop behind. She wiped away her lips and placed a hand on her chin.
"Hmm... Something like... 'The sun seemed particularly persistent that day...'" she attempted to recall the story, "'He walked towards...' no, 'he rode towards...'"
Robin sat down with her legs crossed, her face drowning in fantasy. She would switch from not moving a muscle to rocking back and forth with her hands hugging her knees to breathing heavily with sweat beads forming on her forehead. As time passed, Sun got more articulate and expressive, drawing a chuckle or two from Robin. At one point, she saw her eyes turn watery. She watched life fill up her body.
Periodically, pirates would come down to the hull, ignorant to the little shadow hiding in the darkness and the valueless slave forgotten inside the cage. At night, Robin would sneak out to the deck and return with heaps of food in her arms.
"Why did you board this ship, Robin?" asked Sun, chewing on a bun.
Robin shrugged her shoulders in response, peeling a banana.
"What do you mean? Do you even know where it's going?"
She shook her head, munching.
"What about family? Do you have one?"
Silence.
Sun stared in disbelief, but soon her eyes fell down, losing focus in them.
"I guess I'm no different... It's been how long? A whole month now, I think... And not even a trace of her..."
"Of who?"
"My daughter. She was tricked into joining a group of pirates some time ago, and I've been looking for her ever since," she sighed, "Look where it led me to..."
"She's probably dead," said Robin, peeling an orange.
Sun threw her a displeased glance.
"You're quite a bad-mouthed girl, you know that, Robin?"
Robin took a sip of water.
"And very brave—or ignorant—to help someone like me. Have you never heard of Scarlet Demons?"
"What's that?"
"A cursed bloodline... People born with Devil Fruit powe–"
Screams from above interrupted her.
Robin and Sun looked up, confused.
An ear-splitting, monstrous roar rang out and the ship jerked, sending Robin flying towards the stairs. She timely brought her hands together and a bunch of arms caught her before the moment of impact. Sun hit her head against the metal bars. The line of sunlight disappeared. The smell of rot entered the hull.
The ship moved again. This time, somewhere down. Robin was thrown up, hitting the ceiling, a single whimper escaping her mouth.
"Hold on to something!" yelled Sun.
In about a minute of incessant shaking, peace returned to the vessel. Neither stomping nor yelling above was heard. Only deafening silence and blinding darkness remained.
Robin stayed still for some time, listening for further developments, yet nothing happened, so she carefully climbed the stairs up.
"Wait, Robin!" called out Sun, "There must be a key somewhere–"
Robin turned around and brought her palms together.
"Wha–?"
In a moment, the metal bars were bent wide enough for Sun to squeeze through.
"H-how did you do that?" she asked, crawling out and feeling her way towards Robin.
Outside, the now familiar gloominess awaited them.
"Where even are we...?" asked Sun, her voice splitting into echoes, "Do you see anything, Robin? Robin...? Where are you–"
Robin used her Devil Fruit in an attempt to figure out what kind of place there were in. She was reminded of a large cave with flooded bottom and only one tight path leading somewhere out.
"Climbs this."
"Are these...? No way..."
They climbed down a bridge made of arms and hit the ground. The rocks felt cold and slippery.
"You seem awfully composed, Robin," mentioned quivering Sun, following Robin along a winding path.
Robin said nothing back, her heart trembling with excitement. A trilling smile danced on her lips.
"I hate dark places like this... Can't even use my Dev–"
A weird noise reached their ears.
"Is that... Buzzing?"
Robin stopped. The smile disappeared.
"Buzzing...?" she asked, "What do you mean...?"
"I don't know..." whispered Sun, "Sounds like... flies? Bees? Mosquitos, maybe?"
Robin swallowed a lump and continued walking.
Soon, steady blinking of light in the distance caught their attention. The buzzing turned overwhelming.
"What is..."
As they reached the end of the cave and appeared on a high cliff, something unbelievable unfolded before their eyes. A different reality. A different world. A whole underground civilization. A kingdom of horrors, filled with anything but human beings.
At the bottom, lit up by thousands of burning torches, a gigantic Pyramid stood, surrounded by vast, dreadful marsh. Tiny silhouettes of what resembled lizards, frogs and worms roamed hundreds of wooden bridges, appearing and disappearing in the muddy waters and going in and out of the main castle.
Far above, from the dark ceiling, exposed by huge fireflies, an enormous cocoon hanged, housing all kinds of overgrown, monstrous insects. Accompanied by maddening buzzing, the creatures darted back and forth at blinding speed, entering myriad of holes in the stone walls.
Suddenly, a dragonfly stopped above the cliff where Robin and Sun stood, staring at them with its large eyes.
Robin refused to waste a single moment and brought her palms togethe–
Something swooshed behind her. As she turned around, Sun was already gone. Next moment, she was also picked up by the dragonfly and carried towards the nest.
Sharp pain spread in her shoulders. Robin panicked, unsure of what the best course of action would be, and eventually chose to spread her arms wide. Angelic wings grew from her scapulas, startling the insect and making it release its grasp.
Robin's wings flapped. Her body flew after a butterfly that carried Sun, catching up in just a couple of seconds. The wings flapped once more, hitting the insect. Sun was falling.
Yet before Robin could catch her, all air left her lungs. Her back ached. A fly bumped into her.
She restrained a whimper by clenching her teeth and dived down, catching squealing Sun.
"Behind!" she yelled, "A wasp!"
Robin cursed under her breath and hugged Sun tight, wrapping the wings around them and turning into a beige ball. She saw a sting pierce the arms mere pinky away from her ear.
"A-are we falling!?"
Before that could happen, the ball opened up and two people safely landed on a moldy bridge; far, far away from the Pyramid.
Sun hid behind Robin's back, "Are you sure it's safer he–"
Before she could finish, something appeared from the swamp. It was long, slimy and black, with a round mouth full of tiny teeth. The huge leech leaped towards them.
Robin brought her palms together. A giant arm grew from the planks, catching the creature and squeezing the life out of it.
Yet it managed to escape the grip, disappearing in the muddy waters below.
"What even are you, Robin...?" whispered Sun.
Robin said nothing.
"Then tell me, what are those?" the woman pointed to their left.
As Robin turned, she saw a group of armored lizard-men approach in the distance, spears in their arms.
"You're not going to fight them, are you, Robin?" Sun placed a hand on Robin's shoulder, making her shudder with pain, "Sorry," she jerked her arm back, "I think we should run, seriously."
"Where to?" she took a step forward.
"Stop, Robin!" Sun grabbed her hand, "There's no point in killing them!"
"I need a weapon."
Sun began chewing on her thumb, "What am I even supposed to do with you," she turned around, searching fervently, "At least this..." she grabbed a standing nearby torch.
The four lizard-men closed the distance and stopped, flicking their tongues. One of them moved left and the other – right, disappearing in the bog. The other two continued advancing.
Robin brought her palms together. Two giant arms rose from the waters. They immediately connected, squashing the liz–
Yet the lizard-men simply overpowered the limbs with their tall bodies, standing firmly on the bridge. Robin just now noticed the huge muscles and seemingly impenetrable, scaly skin in their possession.
As her attack failed, one enemy dashed towards her, closing the distance in an instant. The long spear's tip appeared between Robin's eyes.
She moved her head left. The weapon pierced air near her ear. She took a step forward, appearing in front of the creature. Two arms grew from her shoulders, going for its eye–
Both of them were pierced by a spear of the other lizard-men, who attacked from behind. Suddenly, the first enemy's long tail moved.
"Ah...!"
"Robin!"
Robin was sent flying off the bridge. As she was about to fall in the bog, a lizard appeared from the waters, sending his weapon to impale her stoma–
She spread her arms wide. Her body promptly moved up, leaving the reach of the spear. The wings flapped and brought her back on the wooden boards.
As she stood there, clutching her throbbing right side with a scowl, a splash of water resounded to her left. The fourth lizard-man came out, aiming for her legs.
Robin took a step righ–
A spear came from the front. She stepped bac–
A spear from the right.
Another step back, then one more.
Next, she was faced with all three at once.
Sun's thumb began bleeding, "Robi–!"
Suddenly, a weird screech rang out, and the lizard-men stopped.
The one who stood behind the whole time stepped forward, taking a spear from his companion. He tossed Robin the weapon. He began advancing, while the other three watched, flicking their tongues.
Robin took a deep breath and faced the creature, feeling the large spear in her tiny hands. Suddenly, she dropped it to the floor. Six arms caught it, preparing to throw. As the spear launched, so did Robin, bringing her palms together on the run.
The lizard-men took a defensive stance, bending his knees and clutching the weapon tight. His slit pupils watched the spear fly far above his head.
As Robin got close enough, he attacked. Only to find her barely out of reach. Before he could take a step forward and shoot once more, a shadow engulfed his body. Behind, a giant arm appeared, holding the spear. The arm began falling down.
Confidence thrived in his movements and posture as he stood there, wide open, holding the enormous limb's weight. He saw Robin ran up, her left hand forming a fist. His long jaw seemed to form a smirk. The lizard-men bore no fear towards the skinny limb.
Yet his opinion began to change as more and more arms joined it, forming a limb several times thicker than his. In a moment, the destructive arm connected with his stomach. He coughed up blood, losing strength on his arms. The other three lizards charged, but were too late. He was crushe–
Instead, the giant limb behind him disappeared, tossing the spear to Robin. The girl turned around and walked away. The three lizard-men stopped, too, realizing their friend was spared, their wrath dissipating in the air.
"Did you find a place to rest at?" Robin asked.
"Huh?" was the only thing Sun managed to reply, "Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking," she followed Robin, "Maybe... How about in one of those holes up there? I haven't seen anything enter them."
Robin nodded and spread her arms wide. The two humans rose up in the air, entering a hole in the wall that seemed to be made too high for bog creatures and too low for the bugs. They were watched intently by the lizard-folk, who soon turned around and rushed towards the Pyramid, something unreadable brewing in their skulls.