Across the Realms (A One Piece Fanfic: Trafalgar Law)

{ CHAPTER 71 }

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An hour before..

Sora slowly opened her eyes. For a while, her sight was a blur as she tried to make out the ceiling above her. Her senses were still processing her location, and Sora tried to recall what happened before she ended up in this dark room. When her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, she lifted her body to sit up. Sora frowned.

...What..?

Sora turned to her hands and tried to move them when she felt a restriction. She tried her legs but they were in the same condition. Leather bounds?

With a sigh, Sora reclined back in her lying position. The person who thought they could keep a person who can use haki in leather bounds was stupid. With that in thought, Sora tried using her armament haki and focused it on her right arm.

However, nothing happened.

Sora focused harder, and even though she couldn't exactly see her arm because of the lack of light, she didn't stop.

Still, nothing.

A strange but familiar feeling started to creep inside her.

"I don't think you understand how important you are to me."

A familiar chuckle resounded inside Sora's memory, and something in the back of her mind kept on telling her that, some time in the past, she had heard that voice.

A cold shiver ran down Sora's spine, as if someone had blown on her back to tease her. With revived effort, she grunted as she tried moving her limbs to escape her bounds. With each shove, Sora's breathing became more and more ragged, and the longer she spent time trying to escape, the more short clips of images and scenes flashed in her mind.

A man grinning. A syringe.

Sora could practically feel her heart beating loudly already, like it was telling her to hurry up and leave this place.

A surgical table. A dark room.

Balling her fists, Sora bit her lips to stop them from trembling.

Where are these memories coming from? Sora couldn't recall ever seeing these things, but she couldn't exactly say with certainty that it never happened.

Confused. Sora was so confused. It was like she was looking at a puzzle piece, but she wasn't sure if it was the right one that was previously missing for the whole picture.

Not being able to remember only added Sora's confusion and curiosity. Why, all of a sudden, does she feel scared?

Just then, something creaked.

A few seconds later, the room was given a dim-light, provided by the lone lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

Another image flashed in Sora's mind.

A lightbulb. The sound of footsteps.

Sora could hear the click-clacking of the shoes of the person who entered the previously-dark room.

"It's been a long time, Sora-chan."

There it was. The same voice in Sora's memories. It had an air of familiarity that heightened her questioning fear.