Part 6.5 - Dolmuchi The Butcher

Dolchi did nothing but watch as his old home became hell. Actual Hell. With all the suffering, demons, and fire that came with it. Diz-Harmony used to be called Hell by the lower class like himself who lived here, and now doing so was finally appropriate. About time.

Dolchi had helped turned the place into Hell.

He had told his new Captain all about his homeland and for reasons beyond his understanding Tennoh had decided he hated it. What Tennoh hated he destroyed without fail. Memories of the few men and women who had tried to overthrow him at the beginning of their journey to Diz-Harmony came unbidden to the forefront of his mind.

Tennoh hated riots. Riots made rioters, which he hated even more. A small mutiny had spontaneously created itself early on the journey and it consisted of thirty people. When Tennoh discovered them he had immediately killed twenty of them with his bare hands. He literally tore them apart and threw their bodies into the ocean. Amongst the ten survivors he had grabbed a woman's head and twisted until it popped off. He killed four more prisoners with her skull by beating them to death in full view of everyone.

At this point Tennoh had decided to show the five survivors 'mercy'. He retrieved some knives from somewhere and tossed them to the mutineers. Tennoh then told them he'd give them the opportunity to end their own lives instead of facing whatever the rest of the crew did to them, and he'd let the remaining crew did whatever they pleased with the mutineers. Not a single one of them failed to slit their wrists and jump overboard. They feared the mercilessness of the former prisoners of Impel Down.

The same mercilessness was now being shown to the inhabitants of Diz-Harmony. Dolchi would know that, considering that he was among them causing Hell. He had lost all of his mercy on his third day in Impel Down. On that day he had choked a man to death and stolen his glop.

It was his lack of mercy that let Dolchi feel nothing as his former home burned to ashes around him. Mercilessness was definitely what allowed Dolchi to cut and burn his way through whatever stood in his path. Buildings, market stalls, and people all counted as obstacles. He and all of the ex-prisoners took anything they pleased from the homes and businesses around them before they wrecked them completely.

Tennoh had split the crew into three parts as they attacked the city. One group was to handle the city guard or any armed resistance. Another group was formed to hunt down and capture all the nobles, who apparently earned Tennoh's ire due to Dolchi's story. Then there was the third group. The group that Dolchi was in.

Tennoh's instructions for the third group was terrifying and simple. Terrifyingly simple. The Man Of Impel Down had gestured into the city and stated, "Do whatever comes naturally to you. Whatever that is."

Some unseen force compelled the former prisoners of Impel Down. They and experienced true cruelty, and now they all desired nothing more than inflicting that same cruelty on everything and everyone around them. They wanted the world to know what they were and how they did things. Dolchi himself had cut down neighbors he barely remembered in front of their families with his two butcher cleavers just because he could.

As he was walking to his destination a sudden explosion rocked the entire city. This caused Dolchi to duck his head and run for cover under an abandoned wagon. This was a smart move considering that a brief rain of stone fell from the sky. Only when it was over did he stand up again and dust himself off. He was certain that Tennoh was responsible for that explosion somehow. It seemed like the kind of thing that the Captain would be the cause of.

After another six straight minutes of walking Dolchi reached his destination. A plot of land near the outskirts of the city proper but still close enough that it wouldn't be considered 'out if the way'. He knew the place well. It was his former home after all. He had a lot of memories attached to that land. In fact, all of his decent memories were attached to that land. His house, his old butchery, and his gardens hat always failed to take seed in the acidic soil was all housed on that plot of land.

Or it used to be. Now it was gone.

In it's place was a small strip mall with all of it's windows busted out. Apparently someone from the crew had already come by and looted whatever they felt like. To be fair the strip mall was probably a priority target. It had a hobby shop and earlier Dolchi had overheard Krieg had assembled a small mob for the express purpose of looting those. Krieg was apparently a tinkerer of some sorts and he was desperate to prove to Tennoh that he was 'useful' for some reason.

Someone else had come along and spray painted the crew's unofficial Jolly Roger. A skull with the symbol of Impel Down in it's for head and partially on it's eyes all behind a set of bars made from bones. It was all supposed to be symbolic of something but Dolchi didn't quite understand it. Even when the lady who came up with the original image tried to explain it to him it was still confusing. Art stuff was quite a bit behind Dolchi.

Dolchi sighed. He had come this way just to see his old home and now it was gone. "Now I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"You can die."

Dolchi spun around to the source of the voice and grew pale at what he saw. When he lived in Diz-Harmony there was an all time low of crime. That was all thanks to the new Captain of the Guard.

Former Rear Admiral of the Marines, Reeze Dolme.

Reeze was a large older man and he was wearing his purple cape which was part of his guard uniform. His saber was resting lightly on his shoulder and his weathered face was fixed in a furious expression.

"I remember Dolmuchi the Butcher. I remember you, and I remember all the innocent people you killed."

Dolchi turned to run but found that he couldn't. Why couldn't he run? He looked down and immediately found out why. It's impossible to run without legs.

He fell to he ground in a bloody heap and before he could scream in pain his air was cut off and he was choking. Reeze had his boot on Dolchi's neck and his saber was pointed down over his chest. Straight over his heart.

"If you remember me, you'd also remember what I told you when they dragged you away. If I remember, I said something about remembering to dismember and kill you if I ever saw you again."

Reeze leaned in close and whispered, "Remember that?"

The last thing Dolchi saw was the crew's, his crew's, unofficial flag spray painted on the side of the stone wall of the strip mall. Then there was a flash of Stella and Dolchi never saw anything else ever again.