A Magnificent Surprise

**Date Completed:**
**Previous Role-Play**:
**Users Involved:** User:Airballerjr, User:Chimploo
**Setting:** Secla
**Characters Involved**: Tate Horn, Terra, Tahar Mohammed, Naito D. Houken, Edmund Paperland

## Utter Hell

The footsteps approached loudly as they entered a dark, gloomy hallway rolled with bloodred carpet with swirls underneath. The grey blocks of stone seemed to glow in the dark along with 3 pointed candles that seemed to stain the dark. A young man around 20 approached a door filled with locks. The young man knocked on the door twice with loud taps, “Hey, the investigation finished already,” he said with a reassuring tone.

On the other end of the door, footsteps slapped loudly on the floor as the door opened with a huge slam. Out came a man in his early 50s with a grumpy expression on his face stained with lines that indicates to stress.

"What did you say,” the man asked with a threatening tone.

The young man, seeing his grumpy expression and threatening tone, stuttered, “U-U-Um, th-the report o-on E-Edmund Paperland.”

The name at the end perked the man’s interest as he softened his gaze on his subordinate.

“Give me the full details on it,” he replied with impatience.

The young man sensing the change of atmosphere immediately regained his composure and said, “So from our intel network we found out that Edmund is currently 27 years old, 6’2”, from the West Blue, been in the UnderWorld industry for 2 years and has not done anything regarding any deals in any department,” the man finished off with a grim smile sensing something unpleasant happening.

The older man watched him finish and slammed the young man’s head against the wall causing blood to flow from his head.

“I said to give me fucking info, not background info,” he yelled in rage, “next time it’s gonna be worse than a concussion, “ finishing it off with a slam on the door. The young man pulled his head out of the rubbles caused by the collision and wiped the flow of tears that just would not stop.

“Dammit all, why do I have to work for that bastard, “he wiped angrily at his tears.

He left the hallway with depressing steps while walking to seemingly no direction. He came upon a door at the end of the hallway where he pulled it open and walked out into the rain, it was freezing no surprise here this island is known as the island that does not stop raining due to the sky island above. He was not fazed by the cold at all due to the fact that he grew up in an ice island back in the North Blue. He never thought that he would eventually land in the New Word of all places, the place full of only the elites not mere weaklings like him. He only wished for a normal peaceful life with no worries, just a peaceful life with the girl of his dreams. But no, life had to do him dirty and have him at the mercy of a tyrant. A sigh left his mouth, as he pondered about his life. After a while of just daydreaming, he decided to head back to the castle. He turned the knob around 3 times to guarantee full entry, since he came from the outside. Heading inside, he passed the hallway, he then came across a huge spiral staircase that rises up to floor 10. He smirked, this castle sure is weird, so many complicated passageways as if it is for escape only, the tyrant sure is paranoid after pissing so many rivals in the underworld, he thought evilly at the thought. The thought of the tyrant getting captured cheered him a great deal as he headed for the common room where all the workers for Plague. Inc met up and chatted about their most recent events. He slowly walked up the stairs and saw the huge fancy door that overlooked him as he stepped up towards the upper floor where he turned to knock on the door 3 times. He waited for a while for the door to open or a response from the other side but it never came. Seemingly puzzled, he tried to turn the knob and push it to see if the door opens or not. It turned out the door was unlocked as he pushed his way in, almost tripping himself in the process. He looked around the large room with wide eyes as he realized that scatters of papers were everywhere with little to no trace of human presence at all. He started to feel moisture in his eyes as he realized what could have happened and yelled in frustration, “Dammit, that man really has done it,” and unable to stop the welling of tears, they started dropping one by one towards the carpet leaving droplets of stains in its place.

Suddenly, a balloon popped from inside the closet and he immediately knew that the gang was using the hideout but this time in a closet since they didn't want the boss to find out. He smiled at the thought and went to the closet, opened it and descended the ladder that led to the floor of a cottage. He then saw everyone’s face filled with joy at the sight of him, they were all wearing party hats, boys and girls alike while balloons hung around every corner of the cottage. Banners were hung up sprayed with huge words like “Happy Birthday Tate We Love You!”

Tate took all of this with a huge grin on his face. He couldn’t stop smiling, he never knew he was this loved and the fact that his peers did this all for him moved him a lot.

A tanned boy by the name of Marco came up to him to clap him on the back saying, “ You have really been through the mill, you deserve this celebration,” finishing it off by flashing Tate a genuine smile. Tate smiled back at himi, him and Marco went way back since when they first came to Plague. Inc on a “supposedly” academy trip where young kids throughout the ages 8-10 learn a bunch of scientific related stuff. The 25 of them came and realized that it was a bunch of farce. Instead of learning all kinds of science, the first 5 kids were subjected to a certain cell engineering experiment where they genetically engineer the kid’s cell body system and to make them be like the infamous Germa 66 but it all went to demise as all 5 kids ended up dying. Plague. Inc decided to ditch the whole operation and focused on making viruses instead to help countries at war wipe out their opponents with a simple mutated virus. The plan turned out to be a huge success as Plague. Inc racked up tons of profit by selling their viruses to various of countries at war. This plan though, would not be a huge success if not for the perilous efforts of the 20 remaining kids that were taken in who gave them manual labor for long hours with little to no rest. Instead of sending back the kids to their parents after the failed operation, Plague. Inc’s boss, Tahar Mohammed, decided to use them as slaves to boost up the speed of the production of the viruses. That was when all 20 of them became close friends after spending hours close to each other, hanging on to each other during the dark times. Tate was thinking about all this when a pretty blonde girl around his age came beside him with a gentle smile.

She noticed a red mark on his face then dried blood near the top of his forehead and gasped, the smile melted from her face as it turned to utter horror, “Oh my god, are you okay Tate,” she asked with deep concern.

Tate smiled at her and replied reassuringly, “It was nothing, the boss just got mad at me for bringing useless info on Edmund Paperland and decided to slam my head against the wall in rage.”

She put both of hands in front of her mouth with an Oh No, type of expression and answered with sadness, “I hope you are fine, we have really been under the wings of that man for too long,” she finished with a sorrowful face.

Suddenly, they realized the loudness of what was happening around them with shouts here and there since it was a party after all. Tate realizing all this decided to take her hands and tried to lead her outside the cottage.

“Sorry about this Terra but let's go outside,” he said with a tint of red under his cheeks.

Terra overwhelmed quickly murmured a quick, “sure” before heading out with him. The moonlight shone bright as they headed out of the cottage onto the white sandy beach.

“You know I sometimes wonder if everything on this island is artificial in a sense,” Tate asked suddenly curious.

“Artificial means man made Tate,” Terra said amused with a small smile at the edge of her lips, “Devil fruits aren’t man made so there is your answer.”

Tate pondered for a bit and asked again, “Don’t you sometimes wonder about those big what ifs in life Terra?”

Terra stopped walking and faced a sad Tate, no not a sad Tate a Tate with a nostalgic eyes. Even in the dim silvery moonlight she can feel the nostalgic feel from him.

She thought for a moment before answering, “I have, I have Tate,” she repeated herself and continued staring into his eyes, “but what happened that day happened, we can’t change the past, I wish we can but we can’t so let's not dwell on the past it only does us more harm in the long run.”

Tate stood there for a moment and decided to try to talk some sense into her, “I didn't mean that, I meant something along the lines of escaping this damned hell,” he said, finishing it off with a determined look on his face.

Terra’s eyebrows furrowed together as she replied angrily, “How can you say that Tate, you know what would happen if we try that,” she asked rhetorically, “we would all die and I do not want that happening to any of you.”

Tate smiled at Terra’s response, this was so her.

"Think about this for a second Terra, sure it might be high risk but it is high reward, I for sure would risk my life just t o get out of this hell, and I am sure you do too., I am sure everyone does too, aren’t you being a bit selfish? Those guys all have families that probably have not given up on finding them, how can you be like this Terra,” he exclaimed dramatically.

That was when he knew he screwed up. Terra’s eyes started forming tears around her face as she tried to cover them with her hands. She tried turning away from Tate and they both stopped walking again.

Tate, not sure what to do, tried to reach for her but she batted his hands away, “Don’t, don’t do it, I deserve this you were right I was too selfish,” she said.

“No, no you're not, I am sorry for saying that, I should have never said anything like that,” Tate said, trying to reassure her.

“Don’t say sorry, it should be me but anyways I agree with you lets start an escape plan with the rest of them, “ she said suddenly energized and confident having a brighter look on her face.

Tate stunned at her sudden change stuttered out an unsure “S-sure?”

Terra upon hearing Tate’s confirmation flung her arms around him and said, “You are truly amazing, I thank you for changing my mind.”

Tate looked at her in puzzled amazement and remarked, “Weren’t you just crying,” he asked bewildered. “Well, not anymore. I am happy now,” she said matter of factly, “let me go tell the rest of them to come here and start a bonfire, we have a lot to talk about,” when she finished she immediately ran off  to tell the rest of the guys.

Tate, still confused muttered to himself, “Girls sure are weird,” finishing it off with a huge sigh while he awaits his fate.

After a while, Terra came back to where Tate was standing with the rest of them as they headed towards him. He tried to examine each and every one of their faces but failed to do so since it was rather dark. When they came closer, the expressions painted on their faces were all over the place ranging from sadness to happiness. Tate knew in that instance, he needed to put everyone on the same page if he wanted to succeed in the operation.

When they came near enough to shouting distance everyone started talking at once.

“An escape finally, how daring,” a cheeky faced boy said with glee.

“Knock if ott Enoch, this isn’t some sort of game, we might die for all I know,” a tall girl with serious eyes replied.

Another boy who had a hopeful serene face said, “If Tate has a plan let’s hear it.”

Upon hearing that, everyone turned their heads towards Tate expecting his leadership. He nervously stood there, frantically thinking about what to say. He puffed up his chest to quell the butterflies fluttering around and began,”Guys, it has been 10 years since we came to Plague. Inc and we all know how that came to bem today. I am proposing an escape plan that would eventually lead us out of this hell that we had been stuck in for the past 10 years,” he said hoping that it sounded confident enough to boost their morale. What he saw was nods and smiles as if what he said made perfect sense. He began to hyperventilate, those guys truly think that he can lead them to a safe haven but he does not even know what he was doing. The earlier bravado he felt when talking to Terra was gone, just like that.

He cleared his throat and bega again “The escape plan will begin just like this, Terra will release this dimension from the closet before putting it in the black suitcase that I stole from the boss a week ago. All of you guys will jump into the suitcase and stay at the end of the beach. Since Terra is the one that looks more innocent, she will be the one carrying the suitcase using that she could eventually carry all of us unsuspectedly away,” he paused for a bit, catching his breath before someone interrupted him.

A moon faced boy with a sly grin said, “Are you not coming with us,” he asked with arched eyebrows.

“I’m not, I am going to wait outside after I man the ship that I stole from the company a few days ago,” he replied nervously.

“If things go well, Terra would meet me on the ship and we would set sail towards the Red Line where we could ask G-5 for help to take us back to the North Blue,” he concluded.

After he finished, everyone started talking at once again.

“Theres no way boss would let us just slip away from him that easily,” a boy with a bag said.

“Nor would he not chase us all over the New World,” another said sarcastically.

“Be it or not, I’m glad we are finally leaving this damm place,” a deep voice grumbled.

Terra observed everyone for a moment before heading to the woods. There she came up to a sudden meadow, a perfect circle carved in the middle of the woods. She stood in the middle and stared up into the moonlight, for the first time since 10 years she was finally leaving this place once and for all, this moment does take her back to the day where everything began….

*10 years ago, at a certain island in the North Blue, Oleron*

The market square was filled with loud noises everywhere. Though this was the black market section, all kinds of people milled around be it housewives, kids, teenagers, all kinds of people.

The “black” market wasn’t necessarily a black market due to the fact that it sells all the most recent inventions and conveniences the world has to offer. The reason why these things could not make it into the normal market was because Oleron was a rather secluded country that bans any kind of material that was created from the outside world. Hence, causing trade merchants to illegally smuggle these goods in.

“A tone dial for sale, from a certain Sky Island,” a merchant said as he saw a little girl passed by with a large woman looming behind her.

The little girl stopped walking to face the merchant and asked with intelligent eyes, “May I hold it,” her eyes widening in surprise as she asked.

The merchant held out his hands to the girl for her to hold the tone dial when his hands were batted away by a tall fierce looking woman that was following her.

“Sorry, that will not do she is apart of the royal family who do not have time for scum like you,” she spat while putting her hands on the back of the little girl and leading her away from the merchant.

“How many times do I have to tell you Lurancy Terra, royals do not stay and ogle at black markets,” she exclaimed in annoyance as they walked away, emphasizing the world black market.

“I’m sorry Aunt Betty, it’s just the shell looked so cool that it was hard to resist the temptation to touch it,” Terra replied with shy eyes.

“Well well,” Aunt Betty said rounding up on Terra, “what if those shells contained explosives, there is a reason why we don’t allow those things to enter the country’s borders,” she finished with a heaving sigh and an impatient look on her face.

Terra, who did not understand the whole concept of other rivals sneaking in something dangerous into the country, merely nodded.

The pair fell into silence as they trekked towards the estate that they reside in. Once Aunt Betty opened the gates, Terra rushed upstairs to her room. She went to her closet and flipped upon a small drawer where all her art supplies were at. She put all of them into a bag as she pulled out a black suitcase. She proceeded to open the lid where instead of a black bottom, was the floor of a cottage. Terra flung the bag over her tiny shoulders and jumped down onto the cottage floor. On top of the ceiling, a hole as wide as the suitcase showed the dark silhouette of her closet. She pulled up a ladder hidden in the dark corner and started climbing it till she reached the hole and went up to pull the suitcase shut. After the suitcase was shut, the hole was replaced by the remainder of the ceiling. She clapped her hands to rinse off the dust that gathered on her hands and then climbed down the ladder.

After the ladder was put away, she opened the door of the cottage and decided to head towards the outer rim of the beach where the rest of her art supplies were at. Today the weather on the island was great with blue skies unlike the weather in Oleron which was surrounded by gloomy clouds. She felt a chilly breeze brushed by her as she walked towards the forest where the circle of meadow awaits her, the place where she puts all of her painting supplies at. She put her bag down and took out a few paint brushes plus the rest of her pastel.

“What should I paint today,” she said to herself.

She closed her eyes for a moment before hearing the gentle waves lapping against the shores of the island.

She opened her eyes and stared at the scene in front of her where she can see the dim outline of the ocean covered by trees.

“What is in front of me I guess,” she said to herself.

The work then began, as Terra started drawing the outline of the sea and land. Though grueling as it may be, art has been a thing Terra loved to do since she was very small. It was her lifelong dream to be the greatest artist of all time like a certain idol she idolized, Kuraie from Dressrosa but paired with her aunt and uncle who has a huge dislike for art for some unfathomable reason she had to paint and draw at her secret island to prevent being found. This island was after all the refuge to all her troubles. Nobody knew about this secret ability of hers which she decided to keep a secret in case something bad happens. At the age of 6, she came across a fruit that was being sold at the black market. The merchant was offering to sell it for 500 berries, at the time she thought it was just a rare fruit from the outside world and decided to buy it and eat it in a fit of childish impulsiveness. As time went on she began to realize that she had the ability to create dimensions in places that contain space such as cupboards, desks, etc. Though unknown to her at the time, she eventually came to realize that she got her abilities from the weird fruit she ate a while back. Those thoughts rang through her head as she began drawing the outline.

As the hours went by, the sky began to darken as the sun went behind the horizon. Terra realizing this began to pack up her art supplies except for the paint stool, as she hurried away. She ran to the cottage door, opened it and immediately placed the ladder right under the outline of the hole. She climbed up the ladder and pushed the ceiling until a hole as big as the suitcase opened up for her to push through. Once she landed in her closet, she closed the lid of the suitcase as she scampered out of the closet.

She trudged down the stairs as she saw Aunt Betty and Uncle Mark scowling at the sight of her.

“Sorry for being late to-,” she stopped as she saw Aunt Betty’s smile.

Uncle Mark held up a brochure for Terra to see. As she read it, she realized what was happening.

“You guys are sending me to this place where we learn all kinds of scientific related stuff,” she asked bewildered.

“Yes, by going there you can finally have the chance to be a fine doctor to represent the family after all,” Aunt Betty said calmly.

“Oh, okay,” Terra replied but then something caught her eye, “wait you mean I am gonna live there too on a faraway island, “Terra said with horror.

“Yes, yes you can finally learn some independence and make new friends,” Uncle Mark said sweetly.

“B-but,” Terra stammered out struggling to find the words.

“But what,” Aunt Betty demanded.

“Nothing,” Terra said, realizing that she was about to spill the beans on how she draws everyday on her secret island.

Both, Uncle Mark and Aunt Betty smiled at Terra’s response.

Terra then asked, “so when am I leaving?”

“Tomorrow,” they both said at the same time.

Upon hearing that, Terra’s heart dropped to her stomach as she felt the pains of leaving away the countless hours spent on art in general. The days of painting on chilly, beautiful islands were over for her, she was about to head towards a forgein place where they force kids to learn about all kinds of science. Terra unable to face the both of them decided to go back upstairs into her room to cry her eyes out. Tears flowed through her face as she dreaded the time until her on her home island. She had never once in her life set out into the vast ocean, her world was so small so she feared what awaited her in that vast ocean. Time went by as she continued crying and before she knew it she was fast asleep.

When she woke up, the sky was at breaking dawn. She felt hungry since she did not eat dinner the night before and decided to head downstairs to get food. As she started to step downstairs, she heard Aunt Betty’s voice.

“Ah, yeah I can’t wait till noon, that's when the little girl is getting shipped out to that bastard Tahar Mohammed, I can finally get my money he owed me,” Aunt Betty said with a laugh.

The other end chirped though it was too quiet for Terra to hear anything. After a while, Aunt Betty replied, “Oh yes, I can finally have my own freedom after she leaves, she is quite a lot to handle, I am glad I found a way to get rid of her, if it weren’t for the fact that she was related to me I would have shipped her to the nearest orphanage after the death of her parents,” she finishes it off with a heavy sigh, “now I am just glad she is gone,” she added. Terra’s emotion raged uncontrollably inside her as she heard all of this, it was not like I loved you guys in the first place, she thought angrily.

She was determined to leave as fast as possible after knowing all that and immediately began to pack everything up as fast as possible. She did not want to leave because she missed them; it was because she missed her art. She packed everything including her art materials because she felt like she might need them sometime in the future. She went to the black suitcase, waved her hands over it and whispered, “Levanter”, just like that the secret island was disconnected from the black suitcase. After everything was all set and ready, Terra waited until it was noon to go downstairs to alert that she was ready to depart to head on the ferry that was waiting for her to send her to the island where Plague. Inc was at.

“I am ready Aunt Betty,” she said as she appeared downstairs with everything all packed up and ready.

Aunt Betty flashed her a bright smile at her nephew and replied, “I knew you would be right on time, now let's get going.”

She followed Aunt Betty as they headed out of the gates of their estate. The streets were filled with people bustling around with their everyday business as they weaved through the streets to go to the main harbor where the big ferry who shipped people in and out of the country was at.

She noticed all kinds of people standing around the ferry, preparing to wave goodbyes to their loved one as they leave the country. She started to feel nostalgic, if her parents were still alive they would do that but here she was stuck with a huge hag who does not care about her at all, she just wanted her out.

They landed on the docks where Aunt Betty said, “well now get going Terra, I am sure we will meet again after you have become a great doctor,” she finished off with a wink and left just like that without even seeing her off.

Terra bit her lip and tried not to curse at her with all the bad words she knew from eavesdropping every night to hear Uncle Mark cuss. For the first time in her life, she has never felt so lonely as all kinds of people milled around her and there she was just a little girl amongst the mob of people surrounding her all busy with all kinds of things.

One of the people who was standing on the podium to guarantee entry to the ferry was checking everyone’s tickets to the ferry when he noticed a single little girl waiting by herself with averting eyes. What kind of kid is doing here without any adults with her, he thought with interest.

He waited until it was the little girl’s turn to give her ticket for inspection and asked, “Hey kid where are your parents?”

The little girl stared at him with eyes that seemingly did not belong to that of a child and responded nonchalantly, “they are dead.”

He did not expect that and after a while answered, “so you're an orphan.”

“I guess you can say that so may I enter now,” she asked urgently, not liking the attention she was receiving from everyone else who was starting to take notice of the lone child.

“Oh well, my bad miss, you can go now your ticket is valid,” he said meekly and waved her entry. He watched her pass into the ferry and wondered about where she was going and what her purpose was.

Terra scanned the deck for a place where she can sit in the corner by herself so that no one can see her. She found a place with a dim shade where it was overshadowed by a broken mast. She decided to sit there in the corner and pulled out a sketching pad to start drawing the scenery to pass the time. As all the passengers started to fill the ferry, the deck started feeling crowded and she heavily disliked that since as an artist she liked to be alone in a calm peaceful place so she could concentrate on what she was drawing but she had to make do. When all the passengers boarded, the ferry whistled and an announcement was made by the captain via the transponder snail.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are finally leaving the port, the next destination is the island of Wester where it is known for posting advanced organizations where they pride on science,” the captain said as people started murmuring upon hearing the announcement.

That is where I am going, Terra thought, sounds like a jolly place, she smiled at that thought. Just then, an old man carrying with little to no belongings sat down right next to her and she looked at him with heavy interest.

“Ahh, sorry there is literally no place for me to stay so I can only sit here,” the old man said with a chuckle.

She continued staring at him amazed by his sudden appearance and he stared back with gentle eyes, “you mute or something,” he asked with sudden concern.

Terra snapped out of her daze and answered, “Sorry, and yeah you can stay here I do not mind.”

The old man peeked at what Terra was doing and saw the half finished sketch of the scenery of Oleron, and asked curiously, “you draw?”

"Yeah, it is my life hobby,” Terra replied happily.

The old man seeing the little girl, had a heavy reminder of a certain little girl he knew a long time ago when he was still a teen but the girl was long gone since the day where she was sent to Impel Down for working for a certain Baroque Works. Those days were the good days, the mellow days where he was still a fit young man. He hoped the girl did not possess any kind of qualities that would deem her Impel Down worthy otherwise this girl would be a huge problem to society in the future.

But instead he prodded on, his curiosity taking over him, he asked again, “With a paint brush can you maybe paint emotions?”

Terra, overwhelmed by the sudden question, answered, “Emotions, no I have never heard of someone that can do that.”

The old man realizing the importance of this conversation decided to whisper silently to her, and replied cautiously, “An artist who mastered the forbidden technique of painting would unlock the ability to paint emotions that can make the victim who you paint feel the emotion you want them to feel, it is truly a scary power if used correctly.”

Terra’s eyes widened at the notion that such a thing exists and asked, “How does one achieve that?”

The old man looking all serious now said, “There are only 2 people in this world who could use that power but one is deceased while the other is right next to you.”

If Terra could be more stunned she was now, after a while of silence she responded, “so you can use this painting technique, how powerful,” she looked in awe at the old man, “who exactly are you,” she asked again now with her interest level at peak upon seeing a fellow artist.

“I am a certain somebody that the world has not known for years but for now I just go by as an old man nothing much at all,” he said with a smirk.

They just sat there in silence, Terra still shocked by the reveal of information she received by this old man. Suddenly, the ferry docked at a port of another island filled with factories with one huge building.

“Seems like you have reached your destination, I am sure we will meet one day again,” the old man looked up at the island up ahead.

Terra looked up at him and asked, “what is your name old man?”

The old man patted her on the head and said, “If we meet again sometime in the future, I will tell you everything kiddo.”

Just like that he left and was gone with the mob of people who covered him as they all rushed to get off the ferry.

She never met him again.

After days of travelling along with an animal that carried their carriage, Terra finally came upon a huge fancy building with huge letters at the top saying “Plague. Inc” with blood red letters. She went to the doors and knocked on it a few times. A tall man with a huge slimy smile opened the door and looked down on the little girl that looked raggedy.

“Ayayay is this the last subject to come here,” he said with excitement.

Terra, confused on what he said merely said, “My name is Lurancy Terra, I am eight years old, and I am coming here for the first time.”

The tall man replied, “Ahh Terra it is, well here is your name tag,” he pulled a stick card out of his body and took out a pen and wrote Subject C#2 and stuck it on Terra’s chest.

Terra noticing what he did, almost puked in disgust, and thought what kind of body does this guy have?

“Here, now you have your name tag, let's take you to the children’s room to meet with the rest of your new buddies, hehehe,”he giggled as he said that while skipping around as Terra followed him.

Terra followed him for a while as she inspected what was around her in the building. It was rather dark and gloomy with countless of weird looking objects that she did not recognize. Finally, they came upon a room where quite a few kids were playing soccer in the gigantic room which was painted with all kinds of bright colors that you see in nursery rooms. The old man pushed her into the room and as she looked back he slammed the door shut and she tried to open it to get out of the room but it was locked from the outside.

The other kids hearing the sound, stopped playing soccer to inspect the newcomer that just came into the room. All eyes were on Terra, as she tried to avert her eyes from them feeling very self conscious. She walked slowly to the corner so she could avoid everyone.

Suddenly, a boy shouted, “can you guys just stop looking at her, it is obvious she does not like that just go back and play soccer you fools,” he finished it off and the rest of the children snapped of their daze and went back to laughing and playing as the boy came to the corner where Terra was sitting down with her face hiding behind her legs.

“Hey, sorry about that but my name is Tate nice to meet you,” he held out his hand for her to shake.

Terra lifted her face to look at him with shy eyes and took his hand and stared at him for a moment.

Here her new life began, nothing would ever be the same, but life could be better if she made friends for the first time in her life, she thought with hope.

Or is it….?

## The Underground Revolutionary

The fog was super thick as the ship approached it, the sails were all put out to prevent the ship from sailing into the wrong direction. The log pose was going crazy sputtering in all directions, this was the New World after all.

Edmund who was at the top of the ship with his spyglass pointed ahead at the fog said, “At 5’o o'Clock is the rain island I am certain, the fog always misleads sailors to sailed around the fog which makes it so like no one can go on that island, that bastard Tahar Mohammed sure knows how to choose a hideout,” he laughed at his remark.

On the deck was a freakishly tall man carrying two cannons on each shoulder with seemingly no effort, "Lucho, how are we on cannonballs?" said the tall man, "Our supply will suffice for the attack," Lucho replied crouched over and swiping off the sweat from his forehead. As soon as Lucho got up he started inserting cannonballs into empty cannons to get ready for the raid.

Edmund looking at the cannons being loaded by the men told them, "Hold up for the attacks, we need to save these cannonballs for the destruction of the factory, if something crazy happens we would need backup on it."

He then went up to the tall man by the name of Naito. D Houken his partner and leader of the new revolutionary organization, Tara.(edited)

"Naito, did you check up on the status of Plague. Inc and their boss Tahar Mohammed," he asked Naito all businesslike.

"The security is air-tight," Houken replied quickly "All we know is Tahar is on the island as we speak"

"Hmm that is nice to hear, I heard he is not much of a fighter but we should not underestimate him too much," Edmund replied while staring ahead at the misty island that they are coming upon.

They kept at it while the ship headed towards the interior of the fog, swallowed by the fog Edmund could not see anything but white, blinding his eyes. His men, who also experienced the same thing, shouted and cursed everywhere. He then felt hail coming from all over the places and he immediately knew what was happening, he then ordered his men, “Men proceed to below decks hail from the clouds are coming in hard, hard enough to break a man’s skull, if you want to keep your baby from getting ripped apart, go below deck at once I will do something to prevent the hail from harming the ship.”(edited)

“Captain, what about you, are you not coming down with us,” a man asked in horror.

Edmund waved his hands and said, “Don’t worry about me, I will be fine, this is nothing for me, you guys save yourselves first before worrying about me.”

He then looked at Naito and asked, "Are you going to follow them below decks or do you want to help me battle the hail that is incoming at us?"

Edmund notices that Houken is not on the deck. He looks around for a few seconds before he finally catches him sprinting towards the end of the bowspirit and performs a monstrous leap from it once he reaches the end which tilts the whole ship forward violently. Houken lands feet first on the island and starts walking around the fortress inspecting it.(edited)

Edmund called out to Houken once he found out what he was doing and yelled over the noise of the heavy hail, "Naito what are you doing, you might get crushed to death with all that hail." Houken ignores him. As he walks along the walls of the fortress he drags his hand on the jagged stones trying to feel something peculiar. He stops. He places his ear on the wall listening for dialogue belonging to guards. He hears three. Houken does not waste any time as he winded his arm back and slams his tremendous fist through the wall. The flying rubble knocks out two of the guards. Houken again wastes no time in interrogating the one guard left from the terrifying attack, "Where is Tahar Mohammad!!!" He roared, "Main lab!" shrieked the guard not realizing what he said as an expression of deep, deep regret formed on his face. Houken drops the guard and runs to try to find the main lab.

Edmund called out to Houken once he found out what he was doing and yelled over the noise of the heavy hail, "Naito what are you doing, you might get crushed to death with all that hail."

Edmund look as Houken disappeared behind the misty island onto the shores and eyed the hail coming at him, closed his eyes and he felt the energy vibrating around him in the air. He opened his hands at the incoming hail and felt the air around him creating a vortex to suck all the hail in and crush them with no mercy. The hails all crushed to dust became nothing after the vortex sucked in all the hail, Edmund who knew that more hail was incoming kept the vortex going as he went below deck to join the rest of his men.

That should do, the vortex should keep sucking the hail in and crushing them to dust so that it will not harm the ship, he thought. He went to the end of the ship and climbed down the ladder and there he saw the rest of his men huddled together in blankets. Their eyes all looked up at him in eager as he came down to join the rest of them.

[10:11 AM]

“Captain, how are you fine in that storm of hail,” one of them asked in shock. “Without a scratch on him too, that is our captain for y'all,” another said. Eddie waved it off and replied, “the ship should be fine now I created a vortex of air to suck all the hail in to crush them to dust.” The men all looked in wonder at that statement, and after they processed everything a young man about 18 asked Edmund, “Sir, you control the air or something, you got a devil fruit on you?” Edmund chuckled at the question and answered, “I do not, it is a technique called Wind Melody where you feel the energy of the air around you, and manipulate at will hence creating vortexes and vibrations etc.” The men all oooed and awed at Edmund’s statement, most of these men all came to Edmund’s new revolutionary organization after hearing his recruitment poster. They knew he was strong but not this strong to the point where he can control the air around him like it was nothing.

Edmund adjusted himself for a bit and said, “Men we all know what our main objective is for the first mission of Tara, it is to destroy Plague. Inc and stop the viruses they are manifesting in order to help other countries at war. If the viruses were to spread, people all over the world will get it and it will turn into an inevitable death chain. The Marines have allied with us for just this one instance to take out those underworld villains, they will send reinforcements after we leave the rain island to capture those fools and put them into Impel Down,” he finished with a determined look, this was their first mission after all the Marines have no idea that they were apart of the revolution propaganda after all.

One of the men asked noticing Naito's disappearance, "Where is commander Naito?"

Edmund coughed for a bit before answering and said, "he is currently on the island battling some guards though I am still baffled on what he did," he admitted.

Houken is running through the halls of the fortress to find anything that indicated it was the main lab. He stumbles upon a massive room filled with colorful smokes with teams of scientists moving uniformly to different stations not noticing him even though he was in clear view. Cautiously, Houken walks further into the room getting closer and closer to the scientists who still don't notice him getting as close as five feet away from them. Houken touches one of them... Suddenly they all spring to life and begin pointing at him in uniform, robotic fashion but he seems unfazed. Houken's senses tingle violently as he feels compelled to look up.. So he does. A giant demonic face with its mouth wide open like its going to eat him made of the colorful gases is falling on him at high speed. Houken acts fast as he dodges to his left. The face hits the ground and disperses clouding the whole room. Houken's eyes dart in every direction looking for the physical danger. A slender man in some sort of robotic exoskeleton suit appears in the gas wearing an unhappy face. "Do you want to tell me WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING HERE!!!" shouted the man. His nametag read Dr. T. Mohammad.

 *A few hours later...*

Edmund looked as the factory started falling apart as the blue liquids spilled everywhere. Finally, this place will come apart after evading everyone for the past 10 years, he thought. He looked at the men who just finished loading their cannons at the factory, their faces looked relieved that nothing scary came upon them and that everything went smoothly as according to plan.

Edmund called out to them and yelled in the noise of the rain, “Men, we have came here for what we came here for but I cannot fathom the fact that in a place like this, that the boss of this island would not hide anymore atrocities in that castle of his so we will proceed to that castle of his and if we see anything threatening blow them apart with no mercy, and if the person is too strong I will take care of everything and you guys will go and search that castle. Got it,” he finished it off with an emphasized rhetorical question.

The men all nodded in agreement as they prepared to assault the castle of Plague. Inc. All the men prepared their weapons and they started following Edmund who was slowly leading them to the destination.

“This place is sure gloomy as hell, does it really rain all day,” a teenage boy asked with a smile.

“Yeah, it is the New World I wonder what kind of other weird islands they have in store for this weird sea,” another said.

An older man laughed at their remarks, “Of all places that we start our first mission it is in the New World, who would have thought, the place full of only the elites.”

The boy who asked earlier, replied “Jartin it is not like we are pirates, we do not have to sail the generic route of going into the utter hell of the first half of the grand line and going under the Red Line to Fishman island then appearing in the New World, we had it easy compared to them.”

Jartin looked at him in annoyance, “Pirates bleh they are just bad at those World Government bastards, they deserve the utter hell the Grand Line gives to them,” he commented.

Edmund overheard their conversation and turned back to reply, “Pirates or not, as long as they fight for what is right, they are worthy people lets not stain people by their tags and stereotype them like that Jartin."

Edmund overheard their conversation and turned back to reply, “Pirates or not, as long as they fight for what is right, they are worthy people, let's not stain people by their tags and stereotype them like that Jartin.”

Edmund looked impatiently ahead where the castle of Plague. Inc resides and decided to try to call Naito to see where he is at but no response from him as the Den Den Mushi hung up by itself.

“Damm that reckless man,” Edmund muttered to himself while his subordinates looked at him curiously.

“Who did you call captain,” Lucho asked, intent on finding the answer.

Edmund said, “Naito, that man has ran off to the castle where Tahar and the rest of the people should be at, we should be meeting him soon the factory is destroyed, mission accomplished but I still need to check at the castle to see if anything weird is happening there,” he finished looking seriously up ahead at the castle.

They walked to the castle in the midst of the rain slowly but surely until they reached the main door.

Edmund looked at it and told the men with bazookas to blast it open.

“Yes sir,” Lucho said as he prepared his ammo in the bazooka.

CLICK

BOOM

The door was blown apart into pieces just like that as the men followed Edmund closely into Plague. Inc to see what is up with everything.

They walked carefully as they saw the cold atmosphere surrounding the castle as they saw objects that looked like they belonged in some fantasy dark scientist’s laboratory. They slowly walked forward and saw that the first floor was rather small with nothing left to do and saw the huge spiral staircase that goes to floors that can go up to ten floors. Edmund looked at the huge door at the floor ten and decided he would go by himself.

“You guys go search every floor of this place and if you have any problems call me on my mini Den Den Mushi to alert me of anything, I will go to that top door on floor ten this should be where Tartar and his underlings work at, time to blast this place down,” Eddie commanded with a firm voice.

“Yes sir,” the men saluted their commander in Chief as everyone went to all separate directions to find if anything out of the ordinary was happening in the castle.

Edmund slowly walked up the stairs till he reached the tenth floor with the huge door and with one punch he blasted the wooden doors open without even trying to knock on the door. What he saw inside was the place was all destroyed with papers ripped, closets flipped and knocked down. He immediately something was up, that a major fight or incident happened in this place.

He then heard a voice coming from inside a black suitcase.

“Huh, what is this,” he said to himself as he went closer to the black suitcase to see what was up with it.

“Open the suitcase and come down here stranger,” a small voice said.

Edmund was baffled at the thought of a suitcase talking to him but he knew something was quite not right. It seems as if a voice was trapped in a suitcase as bizarre as that sounds, he knew he would have to open the suitcase to see what was up with it.

He opened the suitcase and what he saw was something he could not quite comprehend even years later. What he saw was a cottage floor as if the suitcase’s opening was like an entrance to an underground floor. But he knew it was not an underground floor, it just does not fit with the structure of the castle.

He jumped down inside the suitcase and landed on the cottage floor with a loud thud. What he saw was a group of around twenty teenagers surrounding him all smiling at his arrival. Some look beat up with blood stained on top of their heads while some have heavy bruises on their body and face.

What is up with them, this is crazy, Edmund thought with horror.

“Hello, you must be from the Marines right,” a pretty blonde girl around his brother's age said to him.

Eddie looked baffled and at a loss of words but finally replied, “Marines oh no I am from a revolutionary organization I founded, I am here to destroy Plague. Inc to prevent their virus from spreading into the rest of the world if you guys are his prisoners I will free you guys and take you guys to anywhere you want,” he finished confidently now regaining his composure and seeing the situation at hand.

The pretty girl who said something earlier looked at him confusedly, “Revolutionary, I thought that thing was a thing of the past,” she stated.

Edmund coughed and began, “It might be but I just began one to start a new revolution to destroy the corruption the World Government, dethrone the Celestrial Dragons, and stop something like the Underworld from happening.”

She eyed him warily and asked a red haired boy with a headband, “Tate, should we follow this guy and escape with him?”

The boy named Tate looked at Edmund in awe and said, “Why not he seems strong and a good guy lets follow him out of this hell together.”

The rest of the people looked at Tate then at each other and nodded at his proposal and they all nodded at Tate’s proposal. This was it for Edmund it was the sign of approval that he needed to help these kids and hand Tartar to the World Government and to stop his bullshit.

“Follow me,” Edmund yelled in order for the rest of the kids to follow him. With them at the heels they came out of floor ten and he looked down at the rest of his men who were still scurrying through everything to see if anything weird was in the castle.

“Men, I have found the prisoners of Plague. Inc lets find Naito and Tartar and get out of here,” he yelled to them from the top of the stairs.

The men all stunned at the sight of the twenty people merely nodded at Edmund’s order.

One of them said, “We have spotted Naito in the side building of the castle apparently battling Tartar in an all out battle while all of his subordinates working there has been knocked out by Naito apparently we decided not to intrude because we did not want to get you mad at us for not following orders.”

Edmund’s eyes opened wide and he said with concern, “are you serious, how is the fight going tell me where it is happening I am going to stop it.”

“Apparently they locked the doors or went up to the top of the building to fight, I cannot spot them or get close but we will have to see,” the man said soberly.

*A few hours before*

Tartar saw Naito came in with fierce energy blasting through the doors as he looked at Naito with fierce eyes. He opened his palm and from his body, a gas gun came out and he spewed Naito with it as the gas started surrounding him.

"Haha, look at what I have done to you, the chemical gas will start eroding your leg," Tahar laughed manically at Naito who was gasping for breath.

Houken runs towards Tahar with a faint limp as he attempts to punch him in the stomach but pathetically misses as his vision goes blurry and collapses.

Tartar looked at Houken amusingly as he saw him fall on the floor and said, "Witness the power of a true scientist you mongrel," he said taunting Houken as he was on the floor gasping for air as the gas eroded his senses.

Houken's eyes open. Tahar's heart sinks. He springs up in breakneck speed leaving a small crater on the floor. Houken lands and stands in place for a few moments which felt like years for Tahar. A huge translucent block forms above Tahar and falls crushing him.

Tahar escaped just in time to avoid the falling block that would have crushed him to death as he sprung in a circle motion placing his hands in his pocket trying to fish for a small tool. The tool turned into a huge gun as he fired it at Houken.

As the bullet sped through the air, Houken had no time to waste. He created five walls in a row and as the bullet broke through the first wall slowing it down, it broke the second, then third, the forth, slowing it down more and more then, finally, it was stopped by the fifth wall. Houken formed a small tile to stand on and started hovering around Tahar shooting projectiles at him.

Tahar let those projectiles hit him as those projectiles are too weak to break through his steel armour for his exo suit. He then started turning his machine guns around and started blasting all of them at Houken.

"You will not survive this you little runt, no walls can break those deadly bullets however strong your devil fruit ability is," Tahar laughed as he started blasting at Houken.

Houken creates a cylinder slide and shoots down just fast enough to outrun the aim Tahar's bullets. As he shoots out of the slide into the air he creates a ball around him thick enough to take a barrage of bullets. As he lands he starts rolling towards Tahar as the ball is still intact but still chipping away about to break. Tahar succeeds at breaking the ball before it could hit him but Houken pulled his right arm back with a barrier around his fist and plunged it into Tahar's chest winding him

Tahar spat out blood at the sudden impact of Houken's fist. What is with this man's fist, it broke through my steel exo suit and winded me up like I was some kid or something, Tahar thought with rage at the man's sudden strength which was unlike any he has seen before.

Houken forms a sword with a huge blade and grips the handle tight and raises it above his head. He swings it at lightning speed towards his shoulder but stops half an inch from his skin. The swing blows the nearby dust away.

"Either release every captive here or I torture you until your life is hanging on a thread," he says remembering doctors from earlier who were behaving strangely "And don't even try to tell me those doctors are here on their free will."

"Fuck you, for taking over all my business and capital I could build with this," Tartar smirked at Houken and replied, "those captives are long dead do not even think about going for them because you will die yourself since I placed something there, a trap."

"Then why don't you help me disarm them?" Houken replied, "You seem like a smart guy I'm sure you know how to do it," he said mockingly.

"I told you they are gone, do not even go close to the prisons you will die youg man," Tartar continued smiling at Houken with a sickening expression on his face.

Houken hears multiple, loud foot steps coming from the hallways as he realizes its Edmund and the captives. He sees the crowd as Edmund looks at him relieved that he is still alive.

Houken hears multiple, loud foot steps coming from the hallways as he realizes its Edmund and the captives. He sees the crowd as Edmund looks at him relieved that he is still alive.

Edmund saw Houken alive and well and realized what happened, "did you kill Tartar, I thought we were supposed to hand him over to the Marines," Eddie asked annoyed at the fact that Tartar would be dead.

He didn't want Houken to be a murderer after all, they were revolutionaries it would look bad on their resume.

"Tahar is fine," saying as he threw his motionless body to Edmund, "Fine being far more than he deserves."

It was no mistake that Houken would want nothing more than to rip Tahar to shreds.

Terra peeked from behind Edmund and instead of screaming in fear she looked curiously at Houken and asked, "are you the man who avenged for us?"

The other captives behind Edmund began muttering about what happened and how things are going to be from now on now that they are under the care of Edmund. Tate who was cautious with everything asked Edmund, "are we joining hands with you guys now as revolutionaries?"

Edmund looked at Tate and said, "If you want, we could use more people but if you do not that is fine we can take you guys back to the North Blue and locate your home towns and get you guys there safe and sound."

"The more the merrier," Houken suggested forcefully.

Tate looked carefully at the two men and he said ,"I will join you guys, I have no life back in the North Blue anyways, travelling with revolutionaries seems fun," he then turned back to the rest of the guys and called back to them ,"What about you guys are you joining them," he asked wanting them to join the revolutionaries too.

They all looked at each and other and nodded in approval except for one moon faced boy who piped up

"Joining the revolutionaries how can we trust them, that Houken man does seem tenacious by killing Tartar what makes you think he is a hero to us he is just as bit as bloodlustful as Tartar how can we trust them," he said to the rest of the kids as he glared at Edmund and Houken.

"Well, it is your choice if you do not want to join the rest of the kids we can just leave you here," Terra said annoyed at the moon faced boy.

Houken looked mildly frustrated at the moon faced boy. He picked up Tahar by the head from Edmund's shoulders, crouched down and held it an inch away from the moon faced boy's face, "does he look dead to you, genius?" Tahar's face was brutally damaged but still visibly breathing. The boy was frightened and turned away. Houken sighed and said "Look kid, I have to do what I have to do to get these sons of bitches off this earth and the crew took too long so I took things into my own hands like you're going to have to do someday."

The moon faced boy straightened his posture and stared hard at Houken and said, "If I trust you, will you allow me to do something in return," he asked while glaring at Houken and Edmund.

"Like what?" Houken replied sternly.

"Allow me to show you," the boy said as he took out two small hearts from his palm and took out two human sized dolls from Terra's suitcase. They looked lifeless without any life in it just two dolls that are gigantic. He also took a gun and a knife from the suitcase as he took out more hearts from his bag.

He then pressed two hearts into the huge dolls as it sunk in the two dolls started coming to life staring weirdly at the boy as he said , "From now on you will be under my orders and you will be my personal bodyguards," the dolls saluted as the boy smirked at Houken and said, "If you ever try to kill me silently these guys will always be awake to protect me you see they have the heart of an ancient mammoth they have immense strength and power you will not be able to stop them now for the knife and gun," he said while slamming the other hearts into them as the knife came to life same for the gun.

"These two objects have life now they can open fire and cut anyone at ease under my commands they will also be my bodyguards," the moon faced boy continued while slipping the other hearts into his bag.

Houken chuckled lightly, "How about learning to defend yourself on your own too?" He said sharply, "Then you can return the favor to me." The boy's smile disappeared as he looked down. "We should get going," Houken said, "We need to turn in Tahar as fast as we can we've wasted too much time".

Houken created a tile and rode it back to to ship where he took the helm and began to lead to the fortress port to pick everyone up.

The men saw Houken come back and the kids following him as well as Edmund behind all of them and all cheered happily at the sight of them.

"Lets go commander you guys saved the captives and took care of the Tahar bastard now lets get out of here safely and return Tahar to the marines," Jartin said with happiness.

As everybody was set up on Edmund and Houken's ship people cheered and the ship was rather crowded and filled with excitement.

Tahar was locked in a prison cell on the ship with seastone chains all around him to prevent him from doing anything.

The ship set sailed into the oblivion as the pink sky above them reflected the feelings of everyone on board except two certain individuals, Tahar and the moon faced boy whose name was not revealed.

Terra came to him as he sat down glumly, "you sure did scared everyone when you pulled the stunt earlier," she said with a smile.

The moon faced boy looked at her dryly and responded, "I had to since that day I became super paranoid with strangers especially like that one guy," he was commenting on Houken whose scary appearance has caused concerns and distrust in him, "I cannot just trust people like that too easily that was my sister's mistake and she paid for it," he spat the last word out with anger.

"Serpentine, its fine it is a new start for us joining the revolutionaries seems fun plus I thought you hate the World Government for what they did to you in the past," Terra said thoughtfully.

"Yeah yeah whatever, I am going to sleep leave me alone," he said annoyed as Terra made a disgusted expression and left him to dwell on whatever thoughts he had.