Chapter 294: Injection

The doors opened and they saw the vast lab. They could see two distinct rooms and a large open floor. "There is a kitchen over there,"BM remarked. She then pointed to the main room. "That is the control center," BM added.

Emeraude and Rubis walked to the main room and computers neatly arranged on long, sturdy desks. "This must be the main area," Rubis remarked.

"There are alot of computers here," Emeraude added. They could see a line of large towers filled with servers. The faint hum of cooling fans can be heard in the background.

Ivy and Cherry walked over to the second room where they saw several chairs around a table. To the back of the room there were cupboards and a gas stove. "We can help out by cooking here and then we can see if Princess Vivi can let us be with her," Ivy suggested.

"Yes sis," Cherry nodded. She looked around and looked back at Ivy. "They are very nice," she added.

"They are," Ivy replied. She thought back to when she was enslaved by the Simon Pirates however Rubis, Emeraude and Saphir were not involved at all. She had heard rumors about them joking about the fishwoman and they were easy or selling them. It was horrible to hear that. Her little sister saw things which made her stomach upset. However, Cherry smiled through it.

"Cherry, Ivy come see this," Emeraude shouted. They both heard this and ran towards the voice. They went through the corridor to the end and down the stairs.

They saw BM, Emeraude and Ivy all at the bottom of the room. They saw several massive, transparent cylinders tanks. It was filled with a pink liquid with small bubbles which appeared from time to time.

"Wow," Cherry remarked.

"Indeed, it is impressive," Emeraude replied.

"Can we help?" Ivy asked. She looked down for a second.

"We called you over to see BM getting new abilities," Emeraude responded.

"We thought it may be cool for you to see this," Rubis added. They had no worries showing them this. They had a feeling they would be joining them soon anyway.

.

BM walked to the machine that had an open tube slot on the front. The tube was very small. The right side of the machine had another pipe leaving it. The end of the pipe had a syringe. She connected one side of the machine to herself.

Emeraude walked over and inserted an injection filled with red blood into the machine. "This is the blood from the Smoke Smoke fruit user," Emeraude said. BM nodded.

"Devil fruit like the one Simon had?" Ivy asked.

"Yes, similar but instead of paper this turns the user into smoke," Rubis replied.

"Wow," Cherry replied.

Emeraude started the machine. The purple liquid inside the cylinders began to bubble vigorously, reacting as it was drawn through the pipes toward the machine. Once inside, the liquid combined with a blood sample, the two substances mixing thoroughly in a complex process. The resulting compound was then slowly injected into BM.

"It will take a while for the entire night for liquid to go through," Rubis informed.

"BM will stay here," Emeraude said. "It's getting late as well. We can take you back to the Miss Love Geese, and Rubis and I can come back," she suggested.

"No," Cherry and Ivy said simultaneously, glancing at each other.

"We would like to stay here with you," Ivy replied.

"You'll be sleeping on the chairs," Rubis pointed out.

"That's fine," Cherry responded.

"Are you sure?" Emeraude asked. "It can be a bit uncomfortable." she added.

"I've slept on hard floors before, so this will be nice. Plus, my big sis is here," Cherry replied with a smile.

Emeraude nodded, understanding. She also had to sleep on the streets, running away. "We should get some beds," Rubis remarked. "Or get Batan fixed so we can have proper transport," she added. Emeraude nodded in agreement.

They all made their way to the table surrounded by the chairs. Ivy sat down and Cherry sat on a chair next to her. Rubis and Emeraude sat down opposite them,

"These chairs are a bit hard," Rubis remarked.

"I think they are fine," Cherry replied. She smiled at both of them. Ivy thought they were better than the floor.

"Cherry, you can put your head on my lap and your feet up on the chair," Ivy suggested.

"Are you sure?" Cherry asked.

"I am," Ivy replied. Cherry did as she was told and put her head on Ivy`s lap. Within minutes she fell asleep. Ivy stroked her hair slowly.

"She must have been tired," Emeraude noted.

"Where are your parents?" Rubis asked gently.

Ivy looked at Cherry before responding. "They're both dead," Ivy replied, her voice tinged with sadness but no tears came. She had cried enough during her time as a prisoner when the Simon Pirates caught her.

Rubis and Emeraude had suspected as much. "I'm so sorry," Rubis said softly.

"We never knew our dad, but our mom took care of us until she couldn't anymore. We spent years lurking around, sleeping on the streets, until we joined the Simon Pirates. There, we were treated like dirt, always living in fear, even from our own kind," Emeraude shared, her voice filled with empathy.

"I heard about your sister and Princess Vivi. They saved me and Cherry twice. First from Simon Pirates and second from Simon`s Warlords," Ivy said, her voice filled with gratitude. "It feels like we owe you all a debt," Ivy added.

"You don't," Rubis replied firmly. She added, "Vivi can tell you herself, but she sees you as a friend, and a friend of Vivi's is a friend of ours."

Emeraude nodded in agreement. "You're also joining the crew," she added with a warm smile.

"Once Captain Ben agrees," Ivy quickly responded.

"He cannot say no to his Princess," Emeraude jokes.

Ivy thought she may have found her place. She laid back on her chair and thought about Cherry. She wanted her to be happy. As she thought, she slowly fell asleep.