Tears of...

A few seconds later Laffitte nodded and therefore accepted all of Fred's conditions without even being able to negotiate them...

"Over there Hawky!"

Stephen, David and Perona inside Hawky went to look for Fred, who was...

Next to a huge cross made of bandages in which Laffitte slept inside?

Lying on a bed made of his own hair while casually eating fruit?

Staring like a museum snob at a small lake that shouldn't exist there?

Picking his nose with his foot little toe? Why his foot!?

"Oh!

Hi guys!

It took you a while" Fred said with a forced English lord accent "Everything's fine here.

Have you been able to accomplish your missions?"

Yes, we have had success as well. That's what they should say, but what they really wanted to do was punch him in the face.

It hadn't taken them long to reach his position! It was evident that Fred had rushed to prepare this scenario to pretend that he had been waiting for them for a long time!

Even so, they overlooked this unnecessary cockiness considering that Fred had had by far the most difficult fight of the day.

"Yes, everything went as planned.

Better than you, I dare say." Stephen answered as he sat on the bed made of his brother's hair… which is surprisingly comfortable "I won't ask you about your monstrous infinite hair, since we have an idea of how it works…

I imagine you'll want me to set up funnels all over the Underworld and in our future house so you can hang around and take care of everything without leaving your future lab, work and training room.

I'm right?"

So far one of Fred's biggest problems when it came to using his Life Life No Mi for non-combat purposes was the same one that every human being has.

The impossibility of being in more than one place at the same time!

To refuel the submarine Fred needed to go to the engine room and more of the same to obtain "cloned materials" and prepare the Mecha-sharks and Mecha-octopuses before and after each battle...

He lost a lot of time and productivity with these trips and in a few days he would lose even more productivity with the new "factory" of products created with his Life Life No Mi. 

Fortunately this problem disappeared with his new Power-up!

Now Fred could perform all of these tasks from a single, well-located and prepared room while doing the rest of the work without losing an ounce of productivity. Fred only needed to lengthen his hair, slide it to other rooms and transmit the power of his Life Life No Mi through them.

The only problems were that Fred would need to train his Multitasking no Jutsu even more to be able to operate efficiently across different rooms and Stephen and Marlon would need to remodel the factory-mansion's original floor plan to accommodate their new abilities by changing the entire layout, adding more cameras and a funnel system from Fred's utility room.

But was worth it!

"You read my mind!

MUA HAHAHAHA!!!

You understand me better than anyone!" Fred responded euphorically after making the titanic effort of getting up to caress his brother's head. "Any more questions?"

"Yes of course

What about this little lake?" Stephen said pointing out the elephant in the room. "I don't remember seeing it on any of the topographic maps we studied"

And he wasn't the only one who asked this same question.

"A saltwater lake?" Asked David after tasting that water of mysterious origin "Here in the middle of the forest? How?"

Yes, this was strange, but everything can be explained in this world 

"Ahhhh!!

I already understand it!" Perona exclaimed while putting on a detective's pose. "Days ago you turned sea water into seeds or something else, then you created a huge hole by transforming the earth into a leaf or something similar and then you turned the seeds back into sea water to create the lake and trap Laffitte

He fell and was defeated!"

Stephen, David, and even Hawky applauded Perona's deduction. It made sense and they had seen Fred do similar things before. The process was a bit complex and complicated, but it was certainly a good trap against Akuma No Mi users.

With some preparation they could defeat even the strongest Akuma No Mi users unless they had countermeasures for this kind of situation like Aokiji or Brook

"Good deduction, little Perona," Said Fred, finally getting up from the bed made of his own hair. "But unfortunately you're wrong…"

The explanation was simpler and at the same time more fascinating.

"It's not sea water, it's a substance that our body, but especially yours, generates, stores and releases.

A very common substance commonly known as... tears!

And since it's something that's found naturally within living beings, just like the snake's poisons, I only needed to transform the earth under Laffitte into tears to render him useless." Fred said as he formed a puddle of tears in front of everyone thanks to the power of his Life Life No Mi "More than 98% of the composition of tears is water and Akuma No Mi users are not only vulnerable to seawater.

Water from rivers, water from swimming pools, baths... and in general all concentrated sources of stagnant water also weaken users and prevent them from using their energy or even moving if they're submerged to a greater or lesser extent.

It's more than evident that tears are also effective for this purpose if many liters are collected."

The explanation seemed simple and even extremely obvious now that they thought about it, but that didn't make it less shocking. This ability considerably expanded the great power of Fred's extremely useful fruit and Fred himself, who had already reached a shocking level within the West Blue.

Any Akuma No Mi user would feel chills after knowing that someone, especially someone like Fred have this power. Not even his own crew members were immune to this great existential terror.

"Wait… wait a minute…

"This…this means… that…" Said David, who was still having a hard time accepting the implications of this Life Life No Mi application. "At any moment you can make a pool of tears appear beneath us and..."

CHAF!

"Yes…" Fred responded after his practical demonstration "I wish I had realized it sooner, especially in my battle against Lerna…

For these things it's necessary to have good fights!

They clear your mind, help you be creative and offer you powerups

MUA HAHAHAHA!!!"

'Luckily I came in my ghost form' Perona thought relieved as she looked at the well of tears that had been created under her ghostly feet. 'I think from now on I'll have to train seriously to be able to fly with my real body'

Perona was now extremely motivated to obtain one of the powers she would obtain after the Timeskip. se had no evidence, but he had no doubt, that Fred would turn this "attack" into a regular "joke". She didn't want to end up like David.

"Impressive, but try not to do this with us, no matter how funny it may seem to you.

And really is...

STEEL-STEEL-STEEL!!" Stephen said as he pulled Mini-David out of the pit of tears. He no longer envied his band's Akuma No Mi users so much "What do you think if we go back to work?

I think I speak for everyone, but...

I would like to finish this once and for all and finally have a well-deserved rest."

"Yes please...

And don't let go of me until we get inside Hawky..." David said, clinging like a koala to Stephen. "Just in case..."

---

The battle was already over, but the work was far from over.

In practically any profession in which there's a minimum of manual work there's a task that's not very loved and often even little valued, but without a doubt essential.

After baking a delicious cake, forging an incredible weapon, processing a drug of dubious legality or even massacring more than a thousand gangsters... you have to clean up

Fortunately this time they didn't have to pick up many bodies as the wolves barely left anything (edible) behind. But they did have to collect their clothes, weapons and other utensils that were scattered inside and outside the mansion

After finishing that unpleasant job Fred unsummoned the normal wolves, He turning them back into garden earth and did the same the mechawolves, which he turned back into metal sculptures and later transformed them into wolf teeth so that they would be easier to transport.

This task was already finished, but it was still early to rest.

Inside Hawky there was still a lot to do before sleeping for the first time in several days, specifically in the room where the four godfathers were kept completely naked, sitting, asleep and tied.

And now they were beginning to wake up from a nightmare...

"Hello ladies and gentlemen.

You're veterans at this, so I won't waste our time.

You know why you're still alive."

And the first thing they saw and heard when they woke up was the origin of their nightmares...

Frederick Freed!

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

And while they were completely still and at his mercy he was training. Training hard waving two enormous masses of iron as if they were swords and corseted in a heavy and restrictive metallic suit that pushed his entire body to the opposite direction to the one he was moving.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

He didn't even look at them, he continued training as if they weren't there even though he had brought them to that place so that they could do whatever he wanted under threat of torture.

A deliberate act in which he pretended not to be interested in them. That nothing they said or did would change the outcome he had predetermined. This was simply a boring procedure in his life and he made better use of it by training.

An extremely insulting cheap trick to mentally manipulate the opponent and make him less active in a [negotiation]. This was totally unnecessary, they knew perfectly well that they were screwed. This wasn't a negotiation, but the signing of a surrender.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

Only Stephen seemed to show some interest in them, the minimal interest that a human being could show for another human being in the same room.

"Sign the documents under your finger and we can go to sleep." Stephen said, as he pointed to the documents and the needle next to the document that was on the little table attached to their chairs. "Don't worry about the ink, you have plenty of it inside your body."

After finishing that sentence it was Hawky's turn.

They were inside him right now and therefor he had practically complete control of the entire inside, including the four chairs in which the godfathers were sitting, tied and somewhat drugged.

Three fairly normal chairs for the godfathers with normal human abilities and a chair inside a basin full of water for the only gangster with an Akuma No Mi.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

As Fred continued training, Hawky used his powers to manipulate the chairs, the floor around him, and even the walls to force the four godfathers' right hands to move at the same time. He pricked one of his fingers with a needle near the document and then placed his hands on top of that document. 

A document that clearly looked like a contract, a contract that Fred wanted them to sign in blood. They understood that this was something they had to do "willingly", otherwise the living castle would have already stamped its bloody finger on the contract.

"Could we read what it says before signing?"

Everyone in this room had heard Laffitte's theory about Fred's "hypnotic" power. Before they only believed that was a fairly well-founded theory, but now they were totally convinced.

They didn't have much negotiating power, maybe none, but there were fates worse than death.

They knew it very well...

They wouldn't sign anything until they were sure it was better than the alternative.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

"Yes, of course" Fred said after deliberately delaying his response. "Hawky, put the contract in front of them and turn the pages."

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

The contract was somewhat lengthy, but it began with a brutal condition.

Follow all of Frederick Freed's orders in this life and the next ones too!

That condition encompassed practically everything. From giving him all their possessions, being his slaves for life or even committing suicide with a simple order. Everything that's now theirs would become the property of their greatest enemy.

An uncertain fate, but potentially worse than death. However they were talking about Fred, they hardly had any doubts that it could be worse and they had even less doubts after reading the following conditions

Don't commit suicide unless is ordered by Frederick Fred or unless it's necessary to protect the interests of Frederick Fred. Do nothing that may harm Frederick Fred or its interests and proactively take care to protect the interests of Frederick Fred in accordance with the requirements set out in section 18 section 32...

And much more...

'Damn demon...'

They had already understood their obligations, absolute obedience. However, what they really wanted to know was what guarantees Fred offered them in exchange for becoming his slaves.

And finally they found them. On the last page in a very small section called [Non-binding warranties in this contract] they found what they were looking for.

'All employees and family members of the signatory will be judged. 

Those guilty of committing crimes against the life, property and freedom of innocent people will be punished accordingly. Those who're found innocent in the trial will receive compensation for the inconvenience caused to them, enough to start a new life away from the organized crime.

No retaliation or harm of any kind will be taken against the family of the signatory unless said family member has committed crimes against the life, property and freedom of innocent people… or... try to undermine the interests of Frederick Freed and his friends

End'

And that was everything!

In front of them there was a contract that imposed all existing obligations on them and in exchange they received absolutely nothing in return.

They didn't know if Fred was forced to comply with the conditions that he signs when using his hypnosis, but if the conditions aren't binding in the contract he certainly wouldn't need to comply with them. And even if he was obligated to fulfill the contract the terms guilty, innocent, sufficient compensation, don't cause harm or don't retaliate were very interpretable.

They could not! They shouldn't sign this poisoned contract!

They should try to negotiate...

Whatever!

Virtually everyone had already come to the conclusion that their lives ended the moment Fred captured them. At most they would only delay their own execution, perhaps at a price they didn't want. The only thing they could do was fight to protect part of their legacy.

They had to ensure that their direct or perhaps indirect family survived in decent conditions, precisely the bone that Fred had thrown them. They should try to make that part of the contract binding and also specify the ambiguous terms

However, they had to choose their words well and not let their emotions get the better of them.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???!!!

DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO SIGN THIS FUCKING SHIT!!!!!????"

But Colombo Andrew reached his limit.

He almost surpassed that limit when he saw his [son] in a terrible state, he almost surpassed it when he realized that this [son] was his worst enemy and again he almost surpassed it after being defeated and waking up completely wounded, immobilized, wet, naked and totally humiliated

The only thing keeping him sane was the hope that his real son might be alive, but after reading the contract all traces of hope disappeared. His son clearly fell into the category of people who should be punished severely, just like him.

Both were already dead!

Upon understanding this, Andrew exceeded his limit, with such extreme virulence due to all the accumulated pressure that he lost his mind

He just exploded...

"You have slaughtered my men...

You killed my son...

MY HEIR!

YOU HAVE DESTROYED OUR FUTURE!

MY FAMILY HAS ALREADY FALLEN!" Colombo Andrew shouted like a banshee, trying to use all his strength to escape from his prison and attack Fred. But it was impossible, he was seriously injured, tied up by Hawky, submerged in water and drugged. "WHATEVER YOU PLAN TO DO WITH THE REMAINS OF MY EMPIRE YOU'LL DO IT WITHOUT MY HELP!

YOU CAN TORTURE ME! YOU CAN KILL ME! YOU CAN THREAT ME TO KILL WHAT'S LEFT OF MY FAMILY, INCLUDING MY WIFE AND MY DAUGHTER AND EVEN KILL THEM IN FRONT OF ME!

BUT I'LL REFUSE TO SIGN THIS! I'LL NEVER BE YOUR PUPPET!

I REFUSE TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE I AM CONTROLLED BY SOMEONE!

MUCH LESS BY YOU!

SON OF..."

Clink!

But that explosion of fury was successfully stopped by one of Fred's paralyzing needles, which was embedded between Andrew's eyebrows.

The poison from the needle stuck in a pressure point not only stopped Andrew's heated mouth, it also left his entire face paralyzed in a perpetual angry scream. Even so, he could hear and see perfectly what was still happening.

"It wasn't necessary to shout so much, I have very good hearing" Replied Fred, who briefly paused his training "I see that you're not satisfied with my extremely generous offer, that brings me back extremely close memories.

As I told your son yesterday, I'll respect your wishes."

Clanck!

Fred shrilly snapped his fingers clad in his heavy metal training gauntlets. This was a command that told Hawky to change the room's settings.

After the snapping the wall behind Fred began to move.

Blang!

As if it were alive, the wall sank into the ground and disappeared, revealing what was on the other side.

"!"

The godfathers saw something really unexpected.

Their children and grandchildren kidnapped hours ago and whom they had already given up for dead were now right in front of them. 

That surprise hit their brains hard, enough to overwhelm that organ and give them the rare opportunity to process a large number of thoughts in a very short time.

'This is...'

The first thing that caught everyone's attention is that their descendants were alive and unlike them they were standing, one of the few joys they could receive in these dark moments. But what really surprised the four godparents was that not only were they alive, but they also seemed to be fine.

Knowing Fred's sadistic personality and that his offspring weren't exactly virtuous human beings, they imagined that they had already been tortured many times. It was surprising that they didn't have a single new wound, bruise or scar. In fact, they looked better than before, as if they had a completely new, unblemished skin from head to toe.

How did they know? Simply because their descendants were as naked as they were right now

They didn't understand why Fred had put their descendants naked in front of them and had also undressed them.

Maybe Fred has some kind of weird fetish? No, they didn't believe that was the case. They were well informed that Fred liked women with big breasts and big butts.

Maybe was to humiliate them? Most likely. Fred enjoyed psychologically torturing his enemies. They experienced it all this week from their "safe" mansions.

Maybe it's a symbolism? Yes, most likely. Fred was trying to convey something to them without even saying it, but...

What was he trying to symbolize?

Maybe he wanted to exemplify that they were literally and figuratively naked before his prodigious mind and mighty power? Yes, they certainly believed so. His arrogance was well deserved.

Maybe he wanted to illustrate that they had absolutely nothing to offer him in this negotiation, not even their clothes? Yes, too. In fact that was exactly their situation.

Maybe he wanted to symbolize? that those who had clothes in that room were the humans and those who lacked them were simple beasts? This was also a good interpretation. In fact, among all the options, this was the most disturbing.

They were chained, resisting their inevitable fate and some of them were even trying to physically escape despite being the one with most restrictions. Like wild beasts yet to be tamed

But...

Why were his children and grandchildren standing without any kind of restriction and also without making any movement?

The answer was as simple as it was horrible. Their descendants had already been domesticated and they probably would soon be too.

It was naive to believe that those boys in front of them hadn't suffered any kind of torture for not having wounds on their pristine skin, especially after having seen Fred's healing ability.

They had probably experienced the hell itself...

Their skin didn't show the suffering they had endured, but their lifeless fear-filled eyes told a completely different story.

They were broken...

Despite having seen their parents and grandparents, they didn't even blinked. They didn't move from their place nor did they do anything, as if they were statues. Probably because they were following their new teacher's instructions to the letter without deviating even a single millimetre for fear of disappointing him.

None of them made the slightest movement, not a single grimace or facial gesture... except the one with the greatest willpower among the four, Colombo Rocco

'Dad...'

After seeing his father fighting against his greatest adversity, standing firm despite Fred's threats, but above all seeing for the first time in a lot of years the love that his father felt towards him, he felt something magical. Part of the spell that Fred had placed on him weakened, and he was able to regain some free will.

'Son... thank... thank goodness'

And almost the same thing happened with his paralyzed father. After seeing his son still alive, his sheer force of will managed to regain some mobility in his paralyzed face. His face, which had been paralyzed with the most violent expression of anger he had ever expressed, was now sketching a faint yet warm smile towards his son.

And not only that...

Tears escaped their eyes and their bodies and minds fought like never before to be able to speak and even walk towards their loved one to give them a hug for the first time in a very long time.

"Da..."

"So..."

However, there was never a last farewell, much less a last hug.

CHAFFFF!!!

Before the astonished eyes of Rocco and the rest of the godfathers a huge snake emerged from nowhere and devoured Andrew in a single bite!

Immediately afterwards the snake crawled towards Fred and transformed into a sword that Fred caught in the air and...

Silence fell

Nobody said anything, not even a single startled cry was heard. No one, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. No one dared or could make the slightest noise.

The only thing that could be heard were the rapid beating of their hearts, cold sweat falling to the ground and the footsteps of Fred, who was walking towards the paralyzed and dazed Rocco.

"Okay, Rocco.

You're now officially the godfather of the Colombo family…" Fred said as he handed Rocco the same documents that he had given to Andrew "Do you want to sign what your late father didn't want to sign?"

That contract had to be signed in blood and Fred was willing to help Rocco with that by offering him the same sword that had eaten his father.

"Yes... yes... sir..." Answered Rocco crying, trembling and about to choke on his own tongue... while he voluntarily cut his finger to sign ""It's… it's all… done...

Sir..."

Fred snapped his fingers, a wall disappeared and moments later he took over one of the mafia families

Blang!

And now, again, a new wall disappeared before the astonished eyes of the three remaining godfathers

"!"

#################

You'll be able to see 7 chapters in advance in my Pa-treon

pa-treon.com/user?u=83938371