This chapter changes from being a flashback to the present before the flashback even finishes, just saying. I can already see the anger comments I'm going to get after posting this chapter. I wrote it by myself which is probably surprising because it's over three thousand words long. Yesterday was very hard for me, got in an argument with my father, was very busy but it's his birthday today so I think he's no longer angry. I thank the two reviews I got in the last chapter. Please read and review.
Flashback:
Badrat is a peaceful island. That's not to say it's an island without its problems. One of which was the dogs. The dogs were diseased because there were more dogs than people and not everyone wanted to keep a dog so they had to let them be strays. On this island there were only two teachers and one school building. It was after school hours so every child was outside playing. Liana was also outside walking around because walking and running helped her from aging. Today was a good day. Liana had a good breakfast, got to sleep for hours without anyone waking her up; it was one of the beauties of being old. Then she spotted two little boys sitting by a house who weren't having fun.
" Why are you kids sad? Today is a beautiful day." Liana asked. The boy's looked at her with sad puppy dog eyes.
" We lost our ball." They said in unison and then put their heads down in their hands.
" That's okay. I can give you a new one." Liana turned around so the boys couldn't see what she was doing. Using her hands she sprinkled pink dust. In her hand she was holding a large red ball. She turned around; the boys smiled and stood straight up. " See. Now why don't you play with it?"
Liana threw the red ball to the boy on the left. He caught the ball. What's strange was how he didn't even see the ball being tossed to him…it just appeared in his hands. And like that they stood away from each other and passed the ball. Liana covered her mouth and she smiled, she didn't want them to know there was no ball and instead they were just tossing imaginary balls.
' No one in this village knows I ate the Illusion Illusion Fruit. I can make people believe what their seeing is real.' Liana thought as she watched those two boys have fun. She didn't think they cared that there was no ball. They were just happy to have something fun to play with.
Liana ate the Illusion Illusion fruit before she even started her pirate adventure. It had so much usefulness against people who didn't eat Devil Fruit's, but against other people with Devil Fruit powers it was one of the weakest fruits. Liana liked this island because it made her feel important. She could stop thieves, corrupt marines, and bring joy to the villagers. Liana planned to live the rest of her life here happily. Suddenly, she could hear a villager shouting and she saw him pointing to the ocean.
" Look at that! A giant ship is sailing towards our island!"
Liana stopped paying attention to the little boys and looked at the ocean. Because she wasn't paying attention to the two boys the imaginary ball they were playing with disappeared. The boys were shocked and started crying. Right now Liana had more to worry about than two crying children. A giant red ship with a basilisk mast was sailing towards them. The sails were black, black trimming around the red ship, and the loud maniacal evil laughter of a man standing in the front. He was fat with a white shirt and gold cape. He had loose blue pants with the right side cut off and an X scar on his ankle. He had no hair and twinkled with blue eyes.
" Your right. Do you think it's someone with lots of power like a mayor?" A villager asked.
" Whoever he is we better greet him," another villager said.
Like that every villager walked towards the port where the boat was sailing to. The two boys were picked up by a man and a woman who were their parents. These villagers had no idea that captain could be a pirate. Liana knew and wanted to warn them, but no one in this village knew she was a pirate and telling them might release information she was a pirate. Liana couldn't fight this man if he was a pirate. The thing she wouldn't do is let the villages, her friends, lose everything from pirates. She walked after them.
Liana saw the boat on the beach. From experience Liana would see flags of bones like skulls or crossbones on the flags indicating their pirates but all she saw was a picture of a red hand in a fist. She saw the man on the boat. There were one hundred men in gold armor with gold cloaks behind him. They looked like gladiators, but there was no way they could be. Gladiators belong in stadiums not on a boat. Beside the bald man was a boy. He was younger than the gladiator sand the bald man, wearing a green shirt with short sleeves and brown shorts. He looked like a swordsman. He had sandals, short but spiky dark hair, and brown eyes. His sword was in a green sword bag on his back.
Liana didn't trust them. The one with no fair reminded her of a pirate she once faced, a pirate with a red nose. He smiled as if he owned this village and raised his hands in the air.
" Hello small village. I am Lord Gold Finger..."
Flashback Interrupted:
Liana's story was interrupted by the loud grumbling sounds and facial expression of Christopher Darts. He looked like he swallowed something poisonous. Liana recognized immediately what was wrong with him.
" What's wrong, Christopher?" Fletcher asked looking at Christopher.
" I'm just...so hungry." Christopher muttered. It hurt his stomach. It was certain he hasn't been eating very well before he met Fletcher.
" When was the last time you ate something?" Liana asked the sixteen year old.
" It was two days ago," he said truthfully. When Christopher stopped making those painful noises he looked sad. " I was alone for two days surrounded by water…unable to move. I had no oar and no way of going in the water without sinking to my death." Christopher looked at Fletcher who had a vacant look on his face. Christopher hit the floor, crying out his tears. "You came along and helped me find this island, Fletcher. In a way you were lucky to me."
Christopher wiped his tears away. This crying mostly started because he was so damn hungry. Christopher looked up and saw…no one. Fletcher wasn't there. He was in the kitchen looking for food.
" He wasn't even LISTENING to ME!"
Christopher wanted to punch Fletcher for his arrogance. There was however one person who stopped him. Liana rubbed Christopher's hair and then she walked into the kitchen. Christopher could smell the oven being turned on, heat and then he heard a pot placed on the kettle. She was cooking for him.
Christopher closed his eyes because this accursed hunger was making him dizzy. He wasn't sleeping and he could smell different types of spices. Some kind of hot spice that made his nose feel like a dragons' nostril, a spice that was sweet like what they slather on lamb, and another spice. This time it was smelled cold (if that was even possible for a spice) and reminded him of something his father cooked for him. Christopher was awakened by a quick thrust to his forehead.
He saw Liana's smiling face. He smelled something very tasty coming from Liana's hands. What smelled so good was what she was holding. It was meat on top of slices of bread. The meat was green-bluish from the spices. If Christopher lost his taste of smell he might of found the meat to be unappealing but the smell of the meat was warm and he was drooling from the spices.
" Here you are, meatballs. It has meat put in bread to help with the taste. Have them."
Christopher could feel his stomach in so much pain like a swarm of wasps were trying to escape his body. He raised his hand for a piece of those meatballs. At that moment Fletcher jumped up, grabbed the tray of food and ran away with it.
" Fletcher!" Christopher yelled. Christopher was mad at how Fletcher could act so selfish and being hungry wasn't helping his attitude. Fletcher stuffed meatballs in his mouth looking at Christopher and then he swallowed them.
" She said have them." Fletcher said nonchalantly.
" She was talking to ME!" Fletcher didn't apologize or look surprise. He just rubbed his finger against his chin. Christopher sighed forgiving Fletcher just because he was an idiot. " I'm the one who's very hungry."
" It's okay, Christopher," Liana said. Christopher looked at her. It was to his surprise she was holding a tray of meatballs. " I made more."
She didn't fool Christopher. After hearing the story of how she made two boys believe they were throwing a ball he knew she had some kind of illusion powers. When Christopher reached for a meatball he heard chewing sounds. That sound, as Christopher looked, was Fletcher eating his own hand.
" Why's Fletcher biting his own hands?"
" He's not biting his hands, silly." Liana said smiling. " He's biting imaginary meat-balls."
" How do you know that's what he's pretending to eat?"
" Because I planted those images in his mind." Christopher knew it. He had a hunch but this time she proved it.
" You ate some kind of illusion fruit didn't you?" Liana put her finger on her nose as if to say "yes". Christopher grabbed one of her meatballs, smiling. "You're one sly old lady." Christopher took a bit of the meatball. It was warm like it smelled and a little spicy. Christopher's tongue felt like he was eating hot peppers. Christopher wanted to know what she did to make these meatballs so good.
" Thank you." Liana smiled from Christopher calling her sly. " But my mind isn't what it used to be I used to make hundreds of people, even robots and animals, fall for my illusions. Over the years I've only had enough power to control five people."
" I didn't know Devil Fruits could get weaker."
Christopher finished one meatball and reached for another. Christopher was thinking about what Liana said about being weaker than her own self. Her Devil Fruit didn't have anything to do with her body. Even if she was short and didn't have many bones left her Devil Fruit should still work just as well. Devil Fruit's always work until the day their user dies.
" It's not the Devil Fruit that's gotten weaker…it's my willpower. Ever since that bastard Gold Finger came to this island I have lost my spirit."
Flashback (continued):
" Hello small village. I am Lord Gold Finger and this island now belongs to me."
The villagers were mad. The ones who had weapons, katana's and knives, raised their weapons out and prepared to fight. Lord Gold Finger's men unsheathed and pulled out their swords. The villagers trembled. If they engaged in combat Lord Gold Finger's men would kill them, so they sheathed.
The boy with the spiky hair tapped on Lord Gold Finger's shoulder. Lord Gold Finger looked at him. " Michael, are you sure this is the island you want?" The boy asked.
" Don't call me that?! My name is not Michael Stringer, it's Gold Finger!" He almost hit the boy but stopped when his fist almost touched his forehead. Gold Finger growled but then chuckled turning to the villagers. " Or as these brainless, dirty people will call me…Lord Gold Finger."
" You heard him," the boy said pulling the strings off his sword bag. He acted like Lord Gold Finger's advisor and had a very scary face. He wasn't incompetent like Gold Finger when giving commands. " Lord Gold Finger will now act as the mayor of this island. The mayor you have will be kicked out and forced to work as his step stool. You will follow every command and order Lord Gold Finger gives you must be followed 'less you want to spend fifteen years in prison. Pirates will be allowed to work as guards for Lord Gold Finger."
The advisor finished speaking. The villagers didn't like it and just kept growling at Lord Gold Finger angering the self-proclaimed lord. To Gold Finger's confusing the villagers were moving out of the way for someone walking to the front. That person was Liana and she was confronting Gold Finger.
" My name is Liana and Badrat has no mayor on the account that this town belongs to its citizens and no one else." Gold Finger replied with a bored yawn. He wasn't a very smart lord, in fact no one thought he was a lord at all. Liana continued talking. " If you're going to be one of our citizens you have to learn to get along with all of us."
At first Gold Finger just stood there looking at Liana, and then he broke out into mocking laughter. " Why should I get along with any of you?" Gold Finger continued laughing at Liana's face. Liana was trying to make him a citizen, but now she was going to force him to leave Badrat. Gold Finger finally stopped laughing. " You ingrain woman. You're all going to be working for me. Act nice and do as I say and I might feed you some of my rations. Disobey me and I will either make your life torture or kill you."
" You'll have to go through me…" Liana raised her arms waving pink sprinkles everywhere. The sprinkles were really anesthetics that made her illusions seem more realistic and they didn't affect her because her Devil Fruit also stopped all illusions to her. " And the one hundred thousand knights behind me."
Her powers also worked as the pink anesthetics. Right now the anesthetics were working on everyone's brains making them feel more relaxed and letting their minds believe anything around them. Then, black illusion knights wearing the same armor as the gold cloaks, dark instead of gold, appeared.
" WHEN DID THEY GET THERE?!" Lord Gold Finger shouted.
Liana smiled. The men in the golden cloaks pulled out their swords. They feared the knights; good for Liana. Without his men Gold Finger would be defenceless and vulnerable.
Suddenly, Liana lost her muscle control. Fully awake she fell on the sand. She couldn't get up. It was like two giant rocks were holding her down. Standing over her was Gold Finger's advisor.
" You can't move your muscles?" He said emotionlessly twisting his leg on her back. She cried but didn't move. It was like her skin was shedding away from her muscles. " As you can see Lord Gold Finger those one hundred thousand men were merely an illusion created by her Devil Fruit."
Gold Finger smiled as he rubbed his hands together. He then walked up to Liana and pulled her head up by her hair, whispering, " I don't blame you for trying to stop me even though you're all just so hopelessly outmatched."
And that's all he said. No threats or a "but". It was just a compliment that chilled her bones. What was he going to do next? Gold Finger walked to his ship and raised his arms in the air to make a great speech.
" If I am to be your mayor I must show you what powers make me the most powerful mayor you will have. And trust me, it's nothing like my favorite fairy tale turning people into gold. With a single twitch of my nose I can do…" Gold Finger twitched his nose like he had to sneeze. Everyone could feel an earthquake. " THIS!"
The ground vibrated below Liana's body. She couldn't move and her bones felt broken. The ground shot out with a large spike coming out of the ground and pushed Liana into the air. Liana would have died from the fall except the boy and advisor of Gold Finger jumped in the air and grabbed Liana. Below, Gold Finger was laughing.
" She these earthquake? This was created by me. By moving my arms I can create more earthquakes and tear this island apart. You don't believe me. Then let me show you again."
The advisor landed safely on the ground with Liana in his hands. The next thing he did was drop Liana on the ground without and kicked her. The ground started shaking again. This time the ground sank into craters. Five craters were created in the ground. Gold Finger laughed. " If you want to save this island…KNEEL to me and swear your loyalty to me."
It was over. Now that the villagers knew Liana ate a Devil Fruit, something that would make her an outcast of the villagers, she would be forced to leave the town. But first they kneeled down as Gold Finger ordered. His laughter echoed through the beach.
" Whose the disgrace of the family now, father? Nobody will ever tell me I can't do something again. I will turn this small island into my own kingdom."
Flashback End:
" This Gold Finger may sound like a spoiled adult but if he can open the ground with just a twitch of his nose…he's bad news."