Katie

"Users with abilities... can really be troublesome."

Nicholas found himself somewhat troubled as well. The Devil Fruit abilities in the world of pirates were sometimes too outrageous. Even for the strong ones, if they weren't careful, they could get into quite a mess.

Some abilities were almost invincible. Natural and animal types were relatively easier to deal with, but some superhuman abilities were just unbelievably overpowered.

As Nicholas lay on his throne, pondering whether to seize the opportunity to have Shakky help him gather a Devil Fruit compendium, his 'vision' suddenly caught an interesting scene.

A frail little girl was cautiously weaving through dirty, dilapidated alleys.

It seemed she was aware of the monsters roaming the city and deliberately disguised herself with various garbage and sewer sludge to confuse their senses.

Nicholas followed the girl through complex alleys, across commercial streets, and into a narrow alley. Eventually, he saw the girl stop in front of a wall.

After looking around vigilantly and confirming no one was there, she struggled to move a stone.

With the stone moved, a small hole appeared beneath the wall.

After entering the hole, the girl laboriously replaced the stone.

In Nicholas's 'observation', the girl, familiar with the dark cave, moved downwards as if it were a familiar path she had taken countless times.

"Urban 'cave dwellers,' huh? Quite interesting."

Watching the girl's destination, Nicholas showed a keen interest.

He thought many events in his previous life were unbelievable, but in the pirate world, what he saw surpassed the incredibility of his past world. After all, at least that world had some order. In this world ruled by strength, the life of the lower class was incredibly harsh.

Soon, the girl passed through the long darkness and came across an underground factory emitting continuous black smoke in front of her.

Seemingly completely separated from the world above, the people here were unaware of what was happening on the surface.

The huge factory emitted black smoke, even darkening the ceiling of the underground world, with a man-made black canopy, leaving the entire underground space without any light except for the light from the factory.

The girl cautiously ran towards a rock face where numerous caves were visible, many of them containing life forms with extremely weak life forces, lying inside without even a table or any other furniture, only a dirty bed.

The girl hugged her bundle tightly and looked around vigilantly. She knew that the creatures here were more terrifying than those outside, so when she entered one of the caves:

"Mom, Dad!"

The girl exclaimed hastily.

Inside the cave, a pair of thin men and women lay on tattered bedding, showing signs of not having eaten for a long time, their emaciation evident.

The man weakly reached out and touched the girl's head, saying weakly, "Katie, Mom is asleep, be quiet, don't wake her up."

"I..."

The girl looked at her peacefully sleeping mother and hesitated to speak.

Then, seeming to remember something, she quickly took out the bundle from her arms and, after unfolding it, said to the man lying down, "Dad, food. If you don't eat soon, you'll end up like Uncle Gik next door, taken away for recycling."

Seeing the slightly moldy bread in the bundle, the man's face showed a gentle smile. He touched the girl's head affectionately and said softly, "Katie, eat. And when Dad falls asleep, you must find a way to leave here. Dad knows that with Katie's intelligence, you can definitely do it."

After speaking, the man glanced at his peacefully sleeping wife. Sometimes death was a relief for those like them, refugees on the high seas.

Click~

With a soft sound, the man's hand fell weakly to the ground.

And Katie seemed to realize something. She hurriedly stuffed the slightly moldy bread from the bundle into the man's mouth, but no matter how she stuffed it, the man seemed unable to chew.

Watching her motionless parents, Katie stopped her actions, tears streaming down her face.

With a soft sound, when Katie turned her head, she suddenly found a strange man beside her. His face was not as pale and numb as the others here, and his body was obviously very healthy, and his clothes were clean.

"Sometimes, human life is so fragile. Life itself has no meaning, but in the process of living, you may find interesting things. So, are you willing to board my ship?"

Actually, Nicholas couldn't save the man in front of him. Because his life flame had long been on the verge of extinguishing at any moment, which is to say, his life potential had been drained by long-term overwork.

Hearing the strange man in front of her saying strange words, Katie wiped away her tears and said, "Can you save my parents?"

"I can't do it now, but maybe in the future." 

Nicholas spoke.

"Okay, then I'll join you."

"I'm Albert Nicholas. From today on, I will be your captain."

"I'm Katie Remy-Ness. From today on, I will follow Captain Albert Nicholas and become the most loyal follower of the captain!"

Katie looked at her peacefully sleeping parents, wiped away her tears, and tried to act like a little adult.

Nicholas took out a candy from his pocket, tore open the packaging, and handed it to her, "It's very sweet. Would you like to try it?"

Very fragrant...

Extremely fragrant.

Katie looked at the white candy emitting a strong fragrance in Nicholas's hand, and swallowed her saliva reluctantly.

"Eat it, my future chef."

Nicholas handed Stussy's homemade candy to her lips, and Katie couldn't resist licking it lightly. Just this lick made her feel an unprecedented happiness. Was this the taste of candy?

"Let's go, it's time to calculate. Stussy and the others should have finished by now."

Saying that, Nicholas planned to get up and walk outside.

Katie followed Nicholas blankly. Obviously, in her consciousness now, Nicholas would be the one she followed.

When she saw the guards patrolling in uniform and armor, Katie pulled Nicholas's clothes corner to signal him to hide, because in Katie's consciousness, these armored guards were the masters of this underground world.

With several lightning bolts appearing out of thin air, the entire patrol guard fell to the ground.

"Oh, by the way, how did you get here?" 

"Ah..."

After a moment, Katie reacted and recounted how they arrived.

In Katie's words, they were refugees at sea. As for refugees, they were people who couldn't afford to pay taxes. They were deprived of their identities and could only wander at sea. People like them were often the favorite prey of some slave traders.

Katie's parents saw the recruitment notice from the Taji royal family and came here. They originally intended to find a job and settle down, but they didn't expect that after the Taji royal family gathered them from the dock, they were brought here directly, followed by endless labor.

As for Katie, because she was too young, she escaped a calamity.

Katie also found the secret passage to the world above in her wandering.

"So, this is the legendary human battery. After being used up, it's scrapped, isn't it? It's really the cheapest labor to the extreme."