Strange Geezer
The guards used a carriage as a way of transportation
The night road was shaking a lot, but for Vlad, this experience was a silent one since he was unconscious along the entire way to the mine. Yet the carriage that moved at a decent speed, while pulled by horses, reached around a mountain range.
On the road, there was a large signboard that was written on it. "Kalarne Mountain Mine" - "Loftso Mining Company."
They stopped for a bit at a crossroads that had a split placard that had written on it. "Sagletius" - "Valent"
Yet, they moved on a dirt road that was leading toward the mines of Kalerna Moutain.
As they approached more and more, the outlook of a camp could be seen, with large walls and a towering gate entrance.
Getting inside, they had the two boys follow some guards before they walked around the alleys of this camp that had wooden shacks all over the place. Walking about 5 minutes from where they were, they knocked on the door of a shack.
"The fuck do you want from me, you dumbasses?" responded an old voice to the knocking of Vem and Gif.
"Teacher is us."
"Ohh, is you two, Vem, Gif. Come in. I thought that some of those dumb idiots wanted something from me again."
Entering inside, they could see an old man seated on a swinging chair while he was smoking a cigar.
"So what do you want from old me? Any problems with the recruitment of young boys? Ohh, you got one right in your hands. Tsk, he is also bruised a lot."
Raising on his feet while smoking his cigar, he picked Vlad as if he was a feather and placed him on his bed.
"Sigh, you stupid idiots. Why beat such a malnourished boy in such a state? Do you think I'm Mother Maranda to heal all wounds? Piss off, I have to patch this boy up. We'll talk another time."
When the two adults heard the old man talk in such a tone with them, they could only nod their heads like good boys and get out of the shack leaving only an old man murmuring something angrily as he was smoking.
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The two walked to a tall stone building that could house many guards, but in fact, it was the administrative house of the company.
Gif and Vem entered relaxed inside the building. There were some guards to patrol the zone, especially the stone building. The guards noticed Gif and Vem and greeted them respectfully.
"At ease, boys, you can take a break. With us here now, I want to see who would dare barge in the mining complex or see any of those prisoners trying another revolt", said Gif to the guards looking at him.
With that said, the guards started to retreat and take a break, but as most of them fled, a young guard was remaining that still faced Gif and Vem.
When Vem noticed him not retreating, and asked this guard while looking calmly at him.
"Enjio, did something go wrong while we went away with Mayer? You don't have to be afraid."
"Go on, we are all ears on what's the problem. It's not like when you first come here, a little skinny young man, who couldn't even hold a sword."
The young guard, who had blonde hair and was tall for his age, thanked Vem for the kind words, but still with a worried expression, said back.
"Sir Vem, Gif, to be honest with you, the mine ceiling seems to start to crumble slowly at the middle levels of the mine. It all started today when some miners came to alert head guard Belpel concerning this problem while you were gone on the business trip.
He ignored all of those warnings. In the end, head guard Belpel just brushed this problem. But I picked up this information and came to inform you. Lest some disaster happens, and the earth swallows all the slaves and miners."
When Vem and Gif heard what Enjio's news was, it made their faces turn serious. While Vem was thinking of the next step, Gif looked at Enjio straight in the eye and asked.
"Is that stupid Belpel drunk again to not take heed to what the miner said, nor had he sent some guards to check the problem?"
"No idea, sir." Enjio could only shake his head
"Thanks, young Enjio, you doing your job and reporting this problem will surely not go unrewarded," said Gif while gritting his teeth.
"Is all good now, thanks for telling us this information, young guard, but excuse us for we have more important problems to deal with. Come Gif, let's go check on administrator Pholbor." added Vem in a calmer manner.
As Gif and Vem walked further away. Vem still said something to the young guard who was in the same spot.
"You did well Enjio, who knows, maybe later you will get the chance to advance further in rank."
"Yes sir, I will do my best." this was all the young guard mind could bring at that moment.
Turning towards the administrative building, Vem thought
'What's wrong with that arrogant idiot Belpel? I heard he came from Grand Line, but he's nothing special. This person will get more troublesome for our safety. I have to think of a way to distract him while I get to train the royal guards.'
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The two guards walked to the building's upper floor and stopped in front of a door close to the stairs.
They looked for a bit at the door with a name sign written on it, Pholbor Novio. The silence before the door shattered, with Gif being the one to open the door, not even bothering to knock on it.
The door opened, and they could see a middle-aged guy of average stature sitting on a desk, covered in documents.
The man had a pair of glasses. His head hair was black cut very low, and one could even see some baldness coming from him. His eyes focused on the papers, but one could notice his black eyes from the lowering of his glasses while his clothes were casual.
When the guards got closer to his desk and took a seat on the chairs assigned in front of the desk, they looked at the man reading some documents and chose not to disturb his work for now.
After some minutes, the man sitting at the desk looked for once at the two guards and asked, annoyed.
"For what have you come yet again to my office? There are others to bother and still choose to come here? Don't you feel sorry over how much I have to work compared to you lowly guards who can drink yourselves to sleep every day?"
"Sir Pholbor, you're the only administrator remaining working for the Loftso Mining Company. The rest of the administrators walked away when the boss started to demand more impossible expansion possibilities for his mines and also cut their salaries, making them move to other jobs." said Vem without feeling disrespected by those comments, while Gif looked a bit angry.
"Want some interesting information?"
"What type of information?"
"The one that would keep your job intact."
"Sure, I will listen while I write these damned reports."
"Heh, that's more like it. At the auction, something happened to Mayer. It seems he will be in a bad mood for a while because he embarrassed himself at the auction. Sigh, that fatty even released his anger on some kids that did nothing wrong. Yet there was this boy that managed to brush off the beating he received, which made a good impression on us." laughed Vem hard when remembering the pathetic way Mayer fainted.
When Pholbor heard what Vem just told him, he looked shocked.
"That retard did it again? He spends his money like there is no tomorrow, yet he still finds joy in beating them." Pausing a little bit and thinking, he started to ask about the child. "What about the kids? Did he get killed, or is he still breathing?"
"He's breathing. While he indeed got on Mayer's bad books, there's no reason to kill him. Take it slowly with him, don't put him on the hard jobs when it comes to mining, probably he will not be able to walk for a while."
"Are you idiots? Why beat a child? Are you some sadists to see kids suffer? Or were your childhood really that bad that you want to see others suffer?"
"Both." replied Vem and Gif with an indifferent tone.
Pholbor facepalmed himself but still said to the two guards.
"Don't worry. I'm not dumb enough to find a reason to dig in dirt. If the kid messes things up, I'm only justified to act upon it. In this regard, I will treat him like the other slaves and miners."
"But, this is in case Mayer forgets about the kid and doesn't get into my business. He is technically the boss. Even if he is a narrow-minded idiot, he still has the authority to, let's say, ask that Belpel guy make the life of the kid hard inside the mine."
Gif and Vem listening to Pholbor's opinion regarding Vlad's possible future in the mine, they frowned their eyebrows a bit but didn't linger too much on this subject with Pholbor.
After talking a bit about Vlad, Vem switched the subject and said to the administrator.
"There is news from the mine that some parts of the ceiling have started to fail. You should look into it and find a solution, otherwise, all this operation will be for nought."
"Guys, you don't have to worry too much. Probably is some minor thing that can be solved quickly. At least it's good that the mines didn't get flooded again. I will put some of my men to look into it. You can take a break or whatever you want." added Pholbor before continuing in a humble tone.
"Thanks for the notification about Mayer and the mines. You helped me a lot with that, knowing how the retarded pig got himself done by a kid. If I asked him what happened with his hand knowing that idiot, probably he would cut some of my pay."
They left Pholbor office in a casual manner. Before climbing down the upper floor, they looked at a door that was remote to the other entries. It was in the opposite direction of the stairs opening. There was a nameplate on the door, but they didn't get in that direction to see it clearly, opting instead to walk downstairs.
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"Should we check on that little kid to see if he will be alright, or it would be better if we treat him like the others on the mines?" asked Vem while they were walking out the stone building,
"He will be fine. I also don't like being scolded by that annoying geezer. He knows what to do anyway." replied Gif to Vem worry. Still, he was also thinking about the kid's distant future.
"Right, Gif, are we going to help the kid with the food? Or we let him receive the same treatment as the ordinary workers? Going along with the point system?"
"Yea, we should let him alone. It's not the kid will die of starvation while being with the old man. We should just observe from a distance and if he's into any dangers, try to pull some strings and get him another chance, and later recruit him as a soldier."
"Heh, finally, this boring job will have something to look after. I'm kind of tired of being that retarded pig, guard. If I weren't sought by the marines, bounty hunters, and the noble guards, I wouldn't cover my tracks and stay as a guard to a criminal, especially not for that dumb pig."
"Fuck don't remind it. We got bounties of 30.000.000 𝔅 and never even did an act of killing innocent people." replied Gif, a bit annoyed before Vem intervened, adding to the conversation.
"Sigh, all this mess happened because they thought it was us who betrayed the royal family and assassinated the crown prince. This is clearly those traitor's schemes to put all the blame on us, so the citizens get deceived by their false narration. Without much support, now we can only slowly build our forces."
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Taking some of Vem furry, Gif also added in the same tone as his suffering brother.
"Underworld assassins. They call themselves Dark Union. Brother, I swore on Lucius's name that I will see their end and snap the head of the guy who ordered that entire thing. Revenge is what most of our dead comrades are whispering in my ears.
All I can do is pray for his Majesty to stay strong and not give up since he still has the power to wave around the noble factions." said Gif while looking at the exit room.
While out and feeling the night wind, Gif looked at the night sky, noticing the Moon that watched over them and the different types of stars could only say to Vem.
"Brother Vem, I still think sometimes of the laughing crown prince. About his stupid rants on how he got himself a girlfriend and even bedded her while his Majesty was out in the dark, knowing absolutely nothing. That silly smile on his face, I miss it a lot." said Gif as he was tightening his fists hard and while his tears began appearing on his battle-hardened face.
"How much I would love to go back in time and spend one more day with Lucius. Yet those traitors had to scheme and do what they have done, all in front of our eyes." teared up Gif as if that haunting memory was so hard to keep that it pained him even now.
Vem grabbed Gif's shoulder hard and said with a shaking tone as if suppressing his sadness and tears.
"Stop it, brother Gif. There's no longer if's. It's been 10 years since that incident. We have to live on and take revenge on his Royal Highness Lucius along with our dead comrades. Only us 4, me, you, Ramoth, and Teacher Nius, are still alive to keep their memory alive."
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Gif, while tearing up, looked at Vem, and with a shaking tone, he said to him.
"That kid from the auction house who seemed to try to fight off, he reminds me of Lucius when we were young. Vem, have you ever wondered what if Lucius sired a child with that girl he was talking. Vem, we have to check it. Only after I spend that time with him I could see the similarities between him and Lucius."
"Sigh. Calm down, brother Gif. We will have a conversation with teacher about this. If he also is suspicious, we will protect him from the shadows until we confirm his real identity."
Barely now, Vem managed to have Gif calm down and resume their walk toward a bigger shack that was their home.
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Back on the shack of the old man, Gif and Vem visited when arriving at the camp, an old man looked at a kid sleeping in a bed.
The kid was full of bandages around him, and the smell of fish ointment filled the room. But the boy still couldn't react to the stimulus around him. The kid was skinny, similar to a malnourished person that was gently walking on the road of death.
The old man looked at a dark mark on the boy's chest with a serious manner while his arm was covered in a dark luster.
"What is this? It reacts to my Haki. Who's this kid to have a thing that reacts to my Haki?"
Suddenly as he said that, the dark mark on the boy's chest shrank even more, turning into a small dot of a needle as if it contained intelligence.
"This. Could it be that the kid has eaten some devil fruit, and those are his powers? By how malnourished, he doesn't seem like one. Let's test it again. Maybe it reacts again to my Haki."
Having his dark-coated hand move around the boy's chest, he no longer could see that mark on his chest react. Using his finger to point at it, it still remained quiet."
"Hmph, I swear that wasn't my impression or my senile self. I clearly felt it react to my haki. Heh, what if there's someone hiding inside the boy's body and doesn't want to be found. Hehe, I will keep that in mind. Don't worry, whatever hides there, I don't give a shit about you."
"My only desire is to exterminate the Dark Union and kill a certain person called Joker."
When the old man ended saying that, he walked back to his swinging chair and lit a cigar for himself using the fireplace.
Meanwhile, the needle size black mark on the boy's chest slowly turned back to its normal size of a pea size ball.
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Taking some puffs to burn the cigar better, he started slowly to enjoy himself. The night was in full force. One could hear from the other houses men talking from all the possible subjects, there were some creepy laughs out there, but no one bothered to tell them to shut up.
At that moment, inside the old man's shack, only one sound prevailed over the others. The rocking chair's annoying sound and the thick smoke of his cigar started to cover the entire room.
Still, the old man looked from time to time at the kid to see if there were adverse changes from his ointment. When he noticed no changes, he could only nod his head and continue to rock his chair.
Rocking his chair, the old man could only lament what happened to the little kid while swearing at the culprit who did this.
"That idiot Gif, why bother even bringing this kid to me when you messed him so badly? Do you think I have too much free time to give me a kid to look after?
Who do you take me, Nius, a caretaker, or something? Damn you and your mother. I'm sick of seeing them treat this old veteran poorly. I've been working here for nine years, I tell you nine years, from a high and mighty royal guard lowered to a fucking miner. Ahh, who would even bother believing the rambling of this old man."
Finishing saying that there was something to take old man Nius by surprise. A kid's voice was heard not long after Nius, in the room, saying sarcastically. "I believe you, old man, but what about me? What would that make me? Ahem, jokes aside. Where am I? Who are you? And in what the actual fuck I'm covered that smells so terribly?
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A/N: Hoh, old man. Who are you old man? You even have Haki. I think your targets are quite big for yourself. The Dark Union is so big that it spans on the entire world, having branches on all the seas and especially holding their ground inside the New World.
Can you do it old man? I wish you good luck and hope you snap that Joker guy head along with the leaders of the Dark Union.
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Some foreshadow there for you my readers. We have new information from those new characters about who they are and a bit about what happened. But this will be revealed even more as we go.
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Could it be that Vlad is the son of that dead prince? Hmmm, if that's so it makes things interesting. No pirates or marines, but kings and wars?
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This marks the start of the Character Powering Arc - aka (Mining Camp Ark)
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If you liked the story make sure to give it a follow and some encouraging reviews or pointing out my mistakes with comments so I can fix them and grow as a writer.
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