Prologue 2

A few days have passed since I first met Fisher Tiger or Tiger for short.

I'd lie if I told you that those days haven't been some of the happiest since I have been here.

I didn't realize how much I was starving for some human contact.

this doesn't mean that they have been easy but surely easier, I don't understand why but Tiger has taken it upon himself to help me, going as far as giving me some of his food.

as I was lost in my thoughts I stumbled on a rock and dropped all the cement that I was tasked to bring to the new construction site.

my blood froze in my veins, as I hastily tried to put it back in the hemp sack I felt a sharp pain across my back.

"get back to work you sick fuck!" One of the goons in charge of watching over us yelled as he branded his whip with a disgusted face.

'fuck this shit, I'm sick and tired of being ordered around by those monsters' I thought as I started walking again, never once daring to look back.

---------------[7 months later]------------

" I can't take it anymore, we should try to escape!" I yelled in frustration to Tiger

"I know, why do you think that I have been working on a plan to get the fuck out of here for the past 2 years huh?"

He said in a slightly irritated voice

"yeah but you still haven't told me how we will escape and how or when!" I said to him in frustration.

our relationship progressed a lot in the meanwhile, at the start he was a friend but as time went by I started seeing him as a father.

"I didn't want to tell you this but I think it's time that you know," he said in a serious tone.

It irked my attention in a matter of moments, he was never serious unless the situation was very important.

he was more of a grumpy and mirthful dude.

"it's impossible to escape together, the only chance of escaping will be in a few days and it will be impossible with more than one person," he said in a dreadful voice.

I felt my world crashing on me as the weight of his words set in.

"So you are leaving me here to rot away," I said with more than enough anger, I couldn't believe that he was leaving me.

"I will come back for you, do you think that I will leave you here, after everything we have been through together!"

I had never seen him angry, well, just that one time.

--------[flashback]--------

I was working as per usual, it was a hot summer day and the sun was scorching my skin.

it was all going relatively well, or so I thought.

a group of seven slaves circled me with shovels and other rudimental instruments and started coming closer.

"what do you want from me?" I asked as I tried to back away slowly.

"shut up you stupid monster, your fish friend stole our food so we are gonna send him a message" his smile was sickening but it was at that moment that I finally understood why he always brought so much food for us to eat. when I say us I mostly refer to me, he always said that he was full or didn't want more.

that was one of the reasons for my slight weight gain and overall heftier look.

"I don't know what you are talking about" I said trying to feign ignorance.

"don't worry we will make your friend understand what it means to steal from us" said one of the slaves.

I had never been more humiliated in my life, they left me a broken mess on the floor once they finished with me, blood was oozing out of me and all my clothes were stolen, if you could call them that.

------[Fisher Tiger POV]------

it had been an uneventful day but I was starting to get worried, usually, the kid and I met around this hour to eat and talk about our days but he was nowhere to be seen.

"where the hell did he go?" I asked myself worriedly.

I started searching for him around the compound at first but then expanded my search to the working grounds.

'Maybe he is still working there, fucking celestial dragons'

my thoughts got cut short as I ran into an alley, my blood froze in my veins as I saw the state in which Kaeru was.

"who did this to you?!" I said full of anger

"Some guys told me you stole their food" He said in a quivering.

As soon as he said that I started running in the direction of the barracks.

I know perfectly well who did this and I'm not going to let it slide.

as I came near the place I almost instantly saw them, they were smirking while looking at me.

you could almost see the satisfaction in their eyes.

without a moment of hesitation, I ran directly into them ramming my fist into one of their faces.

only one thing was going through my head

'I will make them regreat ever laying a finger on him'

-----[Kaeru POV]-----

I had never seen him this angry before, his gentle face was contorted into a grimace and his fists were tightly clenched.

"Some guys told me you stole their food" I said in a quivering voice

I saw a look of realization across his face and then everything turned black.

------[end flashback]-------

I don't really know what happened next, he never wanted to talk about it again.

One sure thing is that I have never seen them ever again from that day.

it was like they never existed.

"so, what am I supposed to do?!" I asked him

"I will come back for you, once I will be armed enough I will detour and free you from this disgusting place, but you have to survive for me" he said looking me straight into the eyes.

"how much time will it take for you to come back?" I asked with tearful eyes.

"just one month, all I ask of you is to be patient for one last month and I will bring us out of here." He said with conviction.

I was never one to trust blindly other people but I believed in him with every finer in my body.

in those past seven months, I have eaten more than ever before and Fisher Tiger started training me to make me stronger and more durable.

I don't claim to be strong but surely I'm on the well-toned side of the spectrum.

without all that many proteins it was almost impossible to build muscles but the forced labor did something to my previously tiny physique.

the first thing that he taught me was some hand-to-hand combat but then he asked me to do something strange.

He took a piece of clothing and put it over my eyes.

at first, I couldn't understand why but then he told me that with time I would be able to develop something called Kenbunshoku Haki, a wondrous power that would let me see everything around me even with my eyes closed, or at least that's how he explained it to me but I guess it's more complicated and mysterious.

Even as of today, after a lot of training I don't claim to be able to use it but I sometimes can feel things moving even if I'm not looking at them, which I guess is some form of progress.