Rebel Waters

The Gates of Blood

The further we go into the town, the more omnious it seems. Shivers run down my spine as eerie whispers come from the shadows between buildings. The sounds of demons and ghosts. Percy shudders beside me.

"Oh, now I hear it. Creepy."

"Is it just my nerves, or can we actually make out what they're saying?!" Ussop says.

Holy fucking shit. He's right. And a ton of them are saying my name.

"Ummm, Chase? Did I just hear your name?!" Nami adds, scared.

"Yeah, I heard that too. Any chance they're stopping for a quick hello?" I say, trying not to panic.

Ember starts shaking, and judging from the fact that the points of my trident are trembling, I don't think I'm much better. These aren't normal ghosts, they're the spirts of people I've killed. Whoever controls these ghosts and demons is really gunning for me. But why? Any demons I piss off, I kill. No demon who's faced me has survived.

I feel someone grab my shoulder from behind, and their touch is cold as ice. I don't think it's human, this island is to damn hot for anyone to have this cold of hands. If they do, for some reason, I need to learn how.

"Chase? D-don't look behind you, just run!" Percy says, confirming my suspisions.

"Wh-" I get cut off by nails digging into my shoulder and freeze.

I have just enough time to utter a curse before breaking free. Instead of running, I draw my trident and light the tips with dark magic, the shadows deepening as the light of the purple and black fire wavers in the wind. The demon, an ugly thing with bones jutting from all angles, and sunken, coal black eyes, charges at me. I jump, kick off the side of a ruined building, and flip through the air, kicking the demon's head. It looks up in rage, mouth open to bite me. I cram my trident into it's throat, burning it from the inside. It gives a dying screech and disinagrates into black and gray ash that blows away on the next gust of wind.

"Well, that was fun." I say, brushing a few specks of ash off my shirt. 

Demon remains. Yuck. 

"Guys! We found something!" Luffy calls.

Percy and I hurry to catch up, Percy swatting at his clothes, trying to get every speck of ash off him.

"Ew,ew,ew!" he says, swatting harder. 

I burst out laughing as he takes off his shirt and shakes it out.

"Relax, there's none on you. Is there any on me?"

"No, you're good." he replies, pulling his shirt back on.

"Good. Now, keep your damn shirt on. This isn't really the place to have your shirt off." 

He nods. "Yeah, last thing I need is to be clawed from neck to butt by a demon."

I notice he's sweating again, and I can only pray that it's the island heat, not a fever. As we approach, I see gates in the distance, made of twisted black iron with crimson blood dripping down them, adding to ruby red puddles on the ground. 

Percy gags beside me. "Ewwww, what the hell Luffy? Why did you bring us here?"

I fight the urge to throw up. It's just blood. I've seen blood before, spilt blood, been covered head to toe in it. I will not puke. Percy runs towards the woods and a split second later, I hear him throwing up, only making it worse for me. 

"Seriously, why are we here?" I ask, curious.

"Well, these look like evil gates, so the guy responsible for all this might be behind them." Luffy says.

A wave of blood comes down and splashes all over us. And that's what does it for me. I run to the woods, dripping blood, and it's my turn to puke. I get back and we're still covered in blood.

"I was hoping never to be covered in blood again, but here we are." Percy grumbles.

"Percy, shut up before I end up throwing up." Usopp says, glaring at him.

I supress a rising wave of nausea. "Yeah Percy. Shut the fuck up." 

"So how do we open these?" Luffy asks.

"You want to go in there?!" Nami and Usopp say, terrified.

"I really don't know where all that blood comes from." Percy agrees.

I have a suspicion, but I don't really want to say it. Especially in front of Ember, who's pale as a ghost and trembling. But the blood... it might be the blood of the people from her village. For all we know, we just got a bucket of her parent's blood dumped on us. Not a pleasant thought. Really gross actually, now that I think about it. Normally, these kind of things don't bother me much, after all I used to be bounty hunter and had absive parents, so I'm used to having blood on me. But blood from villagers... Nope. I think about this anymore, and I'm going to puke. Again. Judging from Percy's face, he's come to the same conclusion as I have. What does he do? Run to the woods and pukes. Again. 

"We could open them by force." Zoro suggests.

I shrug. "Worth a try."

But after over ten minutes of pulling, shoving, kicking, trying to pry them open with weapons, they're still very much shut.

"Fuck. What now?" I ask through pants as I gasp for air.

"No idea." Zoro says, also breathing heavily.

Percy's on the ground, heaving as he tries to catch his breath. 

I get up to try and open them again, but I know it won't work.

"Wait. There's a hole, for a key I think." Sanji says, pointing.

I look where he's pointing, and I see the hole. Three to be exact. Hold on, the way they're spaced... I walk over, unsheathing my trident.

"Chase, what the hell are you doing? We already know prying them open won't work, dumbass." Zoro snaps.

He and Sanji start fighting and I ignore them as I turn my trident and line it up with the holes. Sure enough, it looks like it'll be a perfect fit. I put it carefully into the key slots and turn it. There's a thunk and the doors slowly creak open. I step back as blood casacdes down, but stll get caught in the back splash. No matter, I'm covered in blood already anyway.

I turn to Zoro. "So, still think I'm stupid?" 

He meets my gaze before turning away. I look back at the open gates and into the distance. There's a castle of sorts, blood red with black spiked roofs. Very demon-like. 

"So, I guess this is where we'll find our evil mastermind." Percy mumurs.

I nod. "I guess so."

I go pale as a chilling scream comes from the castle, sending a shiver through my body. 

"Wh-What was that?" Usopp says, trembling.

"I think you mean who was that." I reply, still in shock.

The sound of the scream echoes in my head as if on loop. "Well, no choice. We opened the gates, we might as well go in."

"Don't worry ladies, I'll protect you." Sanji says.

"*cough* Simp. *cough* Oh, sorry, I think something's caught in my throat." Percy says, shooting a glare at Sanji, who returns it.

I stifle a laugh and head inside the gates.