Chaptre 3: Mary Geoise

Arthur looked to his side and found a wooden tray on which he put a glass of water and a piece of black bread as well as a plate with some soup, the soup was lukewarm and gray in color, Arthur did not know what its ingredients were, but because of his thirst and extreme hunger, he drank water and began to eat soup, it tasted terrible, there was no salt in it.

as soon as Arthur put the first sip of it in his mouth he wanted to vomit right away, but he put up with it and continued to eat, every now and then he would take a bite of hard black bread that tasted like soil.

After Arthur finished his meal and raised his head, he found that all the slaves in his room were looking at him with disdain, Arthur, not paying attention to their glances, cut off a small piece of a dress from his bed, sprinkled it with some water and began to wipe the wounds on his back and the scars on his face.

His first day at the quarry was so disastrous that he could only work for a few hours before fainting.

"Are you new here" a ten-year-old little boy came and stood in front of Arthur, who was busy cleaning his wounds.

Arthur stopped what he was doing and said: "yes, I am, tell me what this place is" all Arthur was concerned about was where he was, so as soon as he found an opportunity he asked about it.

"Hahahaha" a strong laugh came from one of the sides in the room, made everyone look in the direction of its owner.

An old man sat in one corner laughing maniacally, his skin was pale and full of wrinkles while gray hair filled his head, one of his eyes was covered with a black cloth while the other had a small scar underneath.

"Hahahaha, Cough! Cough!"

He kept laughing until the coughing stopped him, then he looked at Arthur with his only eye and said:

"Never in my life have I seen someone come here and he doesn't know where this place is, Do you want to know where we are, we are above the highest place in the world, in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, the land of the actual rulers of the world, do you know what this place represents to us? It's Hell, boy, bear in mind that you will die here, forgotten, tormented, no one knows who you are." 

The old man continued to talk and there was a crazy smile on his face, whenever Arthur looked at her he felt scared.

'Mary Geoise ' this was the word that kept echoing inside Arthur's head, a familiar word he had heard more than once.

'No, it can't be this' no matter how Arthur thought about it, he couldn't believe what was in his mind, he spent about two years of his life secluded in his small apartment and all he does is follow anime and series and One Piece was one of the best anime he watched.

Therefore, he had a wide knowledge of his world, and the word Mary Geoise is one of the places he used to hear the name in anime.

"Don't bother with him, he's just a crazy guy who always annoys New Slaves, he was a tyrannical pirate in the outside world and now he's just a slave who's about to die, life is treacherous, you may one day be king, and then you lose everything, and become nothing"

The little boy spoke wise words in front of Arthur.

Arthur looked at him and asked, not ready to receive the answer: "tell me is this place above the Red Line?"

Arthur's gaze was shifting from anticipation to concern this strange contrast in his expressions made the other boy feel suspicious, but he answered anyway.

"Yes, that's right, don't you see the Red Earth below us and also the clouds nearby?"

"It can't be," Arthur's mind began to think about all the possible things, if what he expected was true, he fell into the worst place in the world he could think of.

Celestial Dragons are ruthless people, their vanity and childishness make them do crazy things, but most importantly, they possess great strength and power.

Therefore, this place is full of guards in addition to being above the highest point in the world, so escaping from it is almost impossible.

'Wait a minute, there's something that can get me out' after reviewing his memory of the anime, he remembered a certain point that may be his only way to survive,

He raised his head, looked at the boy in front of him with anticipation and said, "Tell me how many years have passed since Roger's execution"

"It means pirate king Roger" the boy was surprised by Arthur's question, this is not something a slave would ask about.

"Yeah" Arthur replied, waiting for an answer that would please him, because if he was not lucky, his only chance of survival would be lost and he would have to think of another way to escape.

"It's been 9 years since the Pirate King was executed," the little boy answered, he was waiting for another question, but Arthur fell silent and plunged into deep thought.

'9 years things are good here, it's still two years before Fisher Tiger comes and frees the slaves in this place, but this is a big problem because I have to endure two years of torture and pain in this hellish place, I have to survive by any means possible and I have to raise my strength a little because I will die if I don't ' 

Arthur raised his head and looked towards the ceiling, his eyes were full of determination, he decided that he would do anything to keep his life.

He still feels fear and horror at the thought of being a slave to Celestial Dragons, he has a long road of pain and torture ahead of him, but nevertheless he will survive.

When the little boy saw Arthur's strange actions, the only thought that came to his mind was that they had brought another slave with something wrong.

"Thank you, boy, tell me what your name is" after Arthur returned to reality and put all thoughts away from him, he wanted to get to know this boy in front of him more.

Although he knows the world of One Piece and the events that are happening, he does not know about the details of the world, everything he has seen is mostly related to Luffy and the islands he has visited.

"I'm Rick, nice to meet you" Rick was an ordinary-looking boy with brown eyes and black hair, his skin color was pale due to lack of food, his expressions were gentle showing that he was not a bad person.

"I'm Arthur, it's a pleasure to meet you." Arthur reached out and shook Rick's hand. he wanted to pull him towards him so that he could get information about this place.

He can learn these things with time but knowing them from the beginning will make him avoid anything that might be punished if he did.

....

[A week later ]

Slash !

The usual sound of a whip hits the ground hard, the sounds of digging and axes sound from everywhere.

In the midst of all this, Arthur is standing with an axe in his hand, the handle of which is filled with blood, his hands are sore from too much work, and he cannot move from the intensity of the pain.

Slash !

"Go back to work" although Arthur was beaten with a whip, he could no longer hold the axe.

'How ridiculous am I, How can I survive for two years in this place?' he raised his head and looked up at the sky as a small tear fell, lamenting about himself.

He was delusional that he could survive, but it's harder than he expected.

"Well, you don't want to work, the pit likes the likes of you." the guard grabbed Arthur and pulled him hard.

The pit was the place where Arthur was initially confined, anyone who does something that is not allowed or does not want to work will go there and be tied with iron chains, while being whipped in brutal ways.

It was very painful, the punishment for evading work was 10 lashes while the punishment for trying to escape was 100 lashes, and there are several other punishments, the place was like a torture prison for people.

As Arthur is being dragged towards the hole, he sees something unusual, several guards dressed in iron clothes gather and in the middle of them there is a Celestial Dragon.

The Celestial Dragon sat on the back of a large-sized man and in his hand was a wooden stick with some nails at the end, every now and then the Celestial dragon would beat the slave under him.

When Arthur was looking in their direction, the Celestial Dragon also looked in the same direction, causing their eyes to meet. At that time Arthur saw an evil smile appear on that man's face.

An evil smile made him realize that he was in some kind of trouble, in this place working in the quarry is not the only thing that slaves do, and Arthur is about to find out one of the worst things that slaves go through in this place.