Chapter 1: Found then Sold... Part 1

[Third Person's Point of View]

[AN: WARNING THERE ARE MATURE SUBJECTS IN THIS CHAPTER, I WILL TRY TO MAKE IT AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE AND KEEP IT A BIT VAGUE BUT STILL YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. THIS WORK WON'T BE GOING AROUND THE DARK SIDE OF THE ONE PIECE WORLD TOO MUCH!]

In South Blue lies a country on Whale Island named Britania, it is an impoverished country whose monarch desperately gathers all the wealth needed to pay for the Heavenly Tribute. A tax imposed by the World Government for all allied countries that wish to be under the protection of the Marine.

In fact to even be considered an ally country, one must pay said tax. It is by no means an easy sum to gather. This causes the people of Britania to fall into poverty and die of starvation though that applies to the common people, the nobility still enjoy a luxurious lifestyle.

To ensure that remains the case while still retaining the protection of the Marine, the nobility committed atrocious acts such as forcing the common people to pay the tax if they did not want to be sold as slaves.

If one did not pay the ever so increasing taxes, they would have everything, of what little remains in their possession, taken from them before they along with their family members were sold as slaves to the black market where most would suffer a fate worse than death, eventually living as a lifeless husk.

One particular night, a soldier of the kingdom found an abandoned baby, this had not been the first one that he had seen as many families had abandoned their children due to not having enough money to provide with the extra mouth to feed.

Normally, one seeing this scene would expect the soldier to either ignore the baby then a few scenarios could play out, the baby could die of starvation, could be eaten by an animal or it could miraculously be raised by an animal or the soldier could take the baby with him.

He chose the latter but not for the reasons one might think. The soldier was not going to raise the baby on his own. Like it had been stated before, this had not been the first abandoned baby he had seen and the nobility had done atrocious acts for the sake of their comfort.

There are plenty of people who would buy babies on the black market, to be raised as slaves, trained as loyal dogs, or several other possible reasons. The nobility of Britania was not going to miss on such an "easy money" as they would say.

The Soldier knew for a fact that the baby in his hands would fetch a higher price because he was unique and as he had guessed, the nobility was able to sell the baby boy for thirty million Beli. What the nobility of Britania did not know was that the baby would be re-sold at an even higher price.

The reason for that was that he possessed a peculiar set of ocular vision. His eyes could be described to be incredibly rare and beautiful, as, in color, they appeared to be made up of an array of rainbow pastel tones that fade into one another as they circle his irises.

[AN: The appearance said like not exactly the appearance of Chika Shihōin so I gave him Doma's eyes.]

Seeing such beautiful eyes on top of having traits of a peculiar race, the slave auctioneers knew that he had the potential to be sold at a hefty sum but that depended on the right buyers. The buyers they had in mind would not buy the baby as he was, thus they decided to groom the baby and raise him until he was old enough to be an appealing slave to all the Celestial Dragons who would lay their eyes on him.

This twisted reason earned the child six months of what could be described as peace compared to what would come later on. At the age of nine months old, he was sold as a slave not to a Celestial Dragon but to an influential family in the South Blue underworld, the Zoldyck family.

The slave auctioneers had planned to sell the baby boy with beautiful eyes to Celestial dragons as they were famous for buying slaves at a high price especially unique races among other morally questionable things but the Zoldyck family was a renowned family of slaver trainers with a lot of connect, the auctioneers did not want to lose their lives or connection to the trove of trained slave that came from them over a baby that the Zoldyck were willing to buy.

The baby was resold for one hundred million Beli to the Zoldyck family who brought it before bringing the infant to a remote Island where he along with other infants would be taught the Zoldyck art of combat.

[AN: Changed the price because I had forgotten that I had put it too high since he is not a human but looking back they should initially think that he is a half-Lunarian at best when they view him.]

A total of three thousand infants were gathered and put through rigorous training which had the goal to separate those who would be useful from those who would be classified as canon fodder. Those who survived the hellish training gained skills that would classify them as professional assassins or fighters.

Those skills were preternatural perception, enhanced strength, immense speed and reflexes, immense agility, enhanced stamina, advanced durability, enhanced endurance, especially via torture methods, and various resistance such as poisons, and electricity.

Those that survive would also gain a healing factor, as well as be master hand-to-hand combatants, master weapon specialists, and masters of stealth. Those who made the cut were given further intense training depending on what they had specialized in during the initial hellish training.

The elites of the infant batch were taught the six Powers before being sold to the World Government as Agents. The true elites of the infant batch would secretly be accepted into the family while the rest were put to use one way or another.

The Six Powers are a special, superhuman martial arts style mostly used by the agents of the World Government, high-ranking Marines, and notorious criminals. The batch was separated into many categories but what distinguished one from another was their performance. On top of that, Some were taught swordsmanship, others were taught the art of poison or torture.

That said, there were always a few troublemakers in every batch and the Zoldyck Family knew exactly how to put them to use so that they could benefit the family one way or another. They were sent to Heaven's Arena, a tower-like colosseum in Eisleymos.

It is a... well-known Island to some and avoided by most Marines of South Blue who are clean. In that place, one would be sold in the auction and bought by their new master who would have control over their life or they would be placed in the Heaven's Arena where they could regain their freedom by fighting for it.

Naturally, for a place as unlawful as Eisleymos, gambling was as comment as a tree in a forest. Each time a slave won a match, the one that put them there would receive their reward while if the slave lost or died, they would gain nothing. 

To the Zoldyck Family, this was a great way to get rid of some pests while earning some pocket change. Still, due to the possibility of raising the sword that would one day kill them, the Zoldyck Family dispatched some members to be stationed there, and leading them was a man named Menthos Zoldyck.

[Menthos' Point of View]

I am Menthos and I aspire to be the head of the Zoldyck Family. To do that, I decided to use this blessing in disguise. I know they shipped me here because they thought I was useless but here I can break the troublemakers with talent and amass my own force of super genius.

I pride myself on breaking them. I always do though lately it is starting to sound more like I used to. All of this because of that white-haired brat! I noticed that he was... for lack of a better term, a golden diamond in the rough when it came to his talent. He could copy and master any technique he saw in a mere week.

So, I wanted him even more, once his spirit was broken he would become the perfect tool for me and I could finally achieve my dream! The problem is that he is as stubborn as a mule but I have patience since this is not the first time this kind of thing happened and last time it did, I got myself a diamond.

The last stubborn kid before that cheeky White-haired brat was a Fish-men which I valued because he should have ten times the strength of humans his age. I took my time and slowly but surely tore everything that made him who he was until the day came for his spirit to be crushed.

The result would have decided which training he would have since I did not want to strengthen someone who planned on killing me. The most common case was that by the next day, he would have either temporarily regained his spirit which means I would have had to break it once more for good measure, or his spirit would have remained broken and I could start the real training.

The next day, I found out that it was the second case. His spirit was broken to the point that he did not talk anymore. His face was now completely apathetic and devoid of any emotion, I was not surprised as I had seen something like this before.

Even with the brutal training of the Zoldyck, they are still kids after all. It made them easier to train to suit my taste as they no longer cared about anything, I just needed to instill discipline into their bones and they would be obedient for life instead of remaining troublemakers.

*Whop-eesh*

"You have to be better than that!"

---

I would sometimes be forced to remind him to do better for my benefit.

*Whop-eesh*

"You took too long to win!"

---

He would sometimes show mercy or hesitate to finish a dying Battle Slave, which I got at a low discount. That Fish-boy was still in the training phase of learning Haki so I needed to make sure the fight was winnable. It irked me since that meant that I wasted money on a defective product. 

*Whop-eesh*

"You hesitated finishing off your opponent! The other Battle Slaves won't have the same hesitation regarding ending your life! You won't have any food for a month!"

---

He dared to take three whole seconds to come to me. I mean if he crawled he better be fast at it. Starving or not, it is not an excuse to waste my time. I swear, sometimes I feel like I wasted my money on him.

*Whop-eesh*

"You took too long to answer my call, BOY! When I call you, you better be there by yesterday!"

---

He still has those eyes filled with apathy and devoid of any emotion. It seems to have an effect on his opponents which is good but every time I see them, I get a sudden chill but I can not let him see me as weak so I order him to never look me in the eyes.

*Whop-eesh*

"What did I say about looking at me in the eyes BOY!"

---

I still feel this chill every time I beat him, I guess I need to make sure that he understands where his place is.

*Whop-eesh*

"You ain't nothing but a fish, YOU HEAR ME, BOY! YOU ARE LOWER THAN A FISH AND I MEAN IT! DON'T YOU HEAR ME!?"

[AN: Got this idea of dialog from SLN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyUNOtRTVuc]

*Whop-eesh*

*Whop-eesh*

*Whop-eesh*

*Whop-eesh*

I spent half a day whipping him till he no longer had any skin on his torso or back. It made me feel better. I left him in the hands of some of my men to bring him to his cell and give him just enough food to survive.

You have to give a carrot after a stick to keep your slave obedient, I will give him some meat if he manages to beat his next training partner. I just need to find a good-

"Don't let her get away!"

I stop in my tracks as I witness a barely clothed little girl running away with her without a slave collar. From the marks on her body and torn clothes, I am sure that her master must have taken off her slave collar before he or she- no definitely a 'he' what is dripping between her legs planned- still considering to use her.

She must have seized her moment to get away. Thinking about which day today is and the direction where she is heading, brought a smile to my face. I started walking towards the slave girl. I arrived just in time to see her pleading to the Marines that had docked on this Island.

"PLEASE! You have to help me- help us! They- *SNIFF* They *SNIFF* killed and *SNIFF* and enslaved my whole village *SNIFF*. Please, you have to free us."

With snot and tears running down her face, she cried her heart out as one of the Marines put his hand on her right shoulder.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright."

They reassured her as I walked up to them.

"T-Thank you!"

She had a tearful but grateful facial expression as she thanked them that however changed when I spoke to the Marines.

"Don't kill her, I will be buying her soon."

She turned to face me with a horrified expression. Before she could even say anything, her delusion was shattered by the words of the Marine, who still had his hand on her right shoulder.

"You sure are one hell of a mean bastard Menthos."

She turned to the Marine and saw his devilish grin. This shattered whatever hope she had as she mumbled something with a weak voice as she tried to prevent more snot from drooling down her face.

"N-No... B-b-but y-y-you are the Marines... *SNIFF* you're supposed to be the good guys. *SNIFF* You're supposed *SNIFF* t-t-t-t-to *SNIFF* protect *SNIFF* us."

"Haha! I am a mean bastard? I am not the one that parades themselves as the warriors of Justice."

I retorted ignoring her desperate words that came at the realization of her fate.

"I was planning to lure her back to the ship and kill her painlessly. You know, let her last thoughts be that everything was going to be A-okay."

The Marine said as he stood up, the little girl did not even try to escape this time, she had resigned herself to her fate, and that's a good slave is made. We smiled at each other as the other marine left the ship followed by plenty of chained people, both me and the little girl knew who they were.

They were slaves, new slaves for Eisleymos. I proceeded to bring the slave girl to her owner and I negotiated her price. It was not hard because the owner wanted to kill her and as the one who brought her to him, I told him that my Battle Slave would kill her for him and he agreed.

To my pleasure, my battle slave obeyed my orders and showed no mercy. He even earned his Battle Slave name thanks to the now-dead slave girl's owner. Some of my men commented that my Battle slave was hollowed of any emotion, this was a good name.

From that day forth and till now three years later, this now eleven-year-old Fish boy has a name that became known throughout Eisleymos. I made him THE Battle Slave of Eisleymos, and everyone now knows of his name, "The Hollow".

Now I have to deal with this seven-year-old stubborn boy, who looks like a Lunarian but frankly is not and has a greater talent than the Hollow. I will make sure to use him so that he can bring me the most benefits. I already vowed that I would break him... not knowing that my fate had already been sealed.

[AN: The manga took a three-week hiatus so I figured I would at least post one chapter since this much of the beginning is already set in stone for this fiction.

Should I keep this level of dark or make it more PG13?

Want more? Like Thanos, I want those STONES!!!]