"I am tormented by an irrepressible desire for what is far away. I like to sail on forbidden seas and go down to primitive shores, there where no one would ever set foot"
(Pounce D. Leon)
One year later, Canton Cay, West Blue...
«Runway! Make way!»
A scanty group of kids ran at high speed through the streets of the town, there where as every same day of the week was the market, where merchants from the West Sea went there to exchange all sorts of goods and memorabilia from the Blue Sea.
To the eye they appeared to be no more than eight to nine years old, adorned in dirty and shabby rags. They were probably orphans who had grown up on the streets and were reduced to petty mischief for fun or even just to steal a simple piece of bread. And indeed, at their heels was old Jian, the town's baker, a tall, burly man always dressed in vintage-looking tank tops marked by the blackish ash from the chimney and flour.
«Stop those little thugs!» screeched the man, raising his arm and pointing to those brats who were jumping from stall to stall to avoid obstacles. In his hand he clutched tightly the rolling pin used to roll out the dough, and there would be no doubt that if he caught them, he would slam it down on each of their tiny heads.
Someone tried in vain to halt their advance, but the young boys had proved far too cunning to fall into such a trap.
In the course of their escape, one of them had even bumped into a woman carrying a couple of envelopes, almost causing her to fall to the ground. The poor woman stood there motionless, addressing them unkind epithets as she watched them squeeze into a narrow, cramped alley convinced that they had lost Jian and anyone who had tried to give him help.
The youngest of them, Gavin, turned his head to the right, noticing a little boy not much taller than them and probably a few years older leaning against the wall. His slender, longish body was wrapped in a suit even more threadbare and grimy than his own. Thick cobalt hair alternating with teal locks was tied back in a pigtail that let some medium-length wisps flow down to below his neck, while others unraveled in other directions, contouring his almost angelic face.
His head was down and his eyes closed, as if he were in the throes of a long meditation or perhaps he had simply dozed off, although in a standing position it was still rather strange.
Nevertheless, the young man lifted him up sharply, and Gavin could swear that in meeting his feline gaze, he had felt something dark and inexplicable. It was as if in his irises the color of sunset, he had seen the flames of hell or something vaguely similar. He was not the type to believe in such silly superstitions, this he had learned well from childhood.
«They went that way, quick!»
The scream of Chen, the baker's assistant, abruptly brought him back to reality. Other voices accompanied it, coming closer and closer and overpowering any other sound that had been audible up to that moment.
YOU ARE READING
One Piece: The Natural Enemies Of The Gods
Adventure"We did not understand what we were attracted to until it was before our eyes." Beyond the Grand Line, one of the world's greatest explorers unearthed something that should never have been found and could have thrown the world into chaos if it had f...
