Chapter 8: Congregation of fate and destiny

Chapter 8: Congregation of fate and destiny

Hearing that the meeting was over, John let out an internal sigh of relief.

But it was short-lived, and as the commander asked Captain White to stay behind, he began to wonder if he would ever get out of here.

As John pressed himself deeper into the cramped confines of the vent, the voices in the adjacent room grew clearer.

"♫♪And what do you want?♪♫" Captain White's voice, devoid of respect, cut through the tension.

"Even if we have our differences, I am still your superior in this mission. You will follow my orders!" The commander's voice boomed with authority, attempting to rein in Captain White's insubordinate behaviour.

♪♫ and what if I don't ♫ ♪ White's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Desertion is punishable by immediate execution."

♫𝅘𝅥 "fine, fine you win I'll play along… for now, so don't worry, we don't want you to pop a blood vessel, do we? 𝅘𝅥𝅮"

Gritting his teeth, the commander swallowed his hatred and gave White his mission.

A Consortium Envoy has just arrived on this island, and it is your job to deal with them.

♪♫ "You mean the one you clearly said had no idea what was going on ? So what am I supposed to do about it?" ♪♫ White asked.

The commander's tone hardened. "This is no time for one of your games, White. The entire plan is at stake!"

"If we cannot turn this around, heads will roll, including ours!"

♪♫ So what is the mission then? I can't do it if I don't know what it is now, can I? ♪♫

"Act swiftly, lay all the blame on the Consortium, link them to the destruction of the kingdom, and eliminate all witnesses."

Captain White pondered for a moment, seemingly weighing the options, before responding with cold indifference. ♫♪ "Sounds like fun; I'll do it "♪♫ he said, accepting the mission with sadistic glee.

As John listened, a chill ran down his spine, and he couldn't shake the feeling that Captain

White's idea of "fun" would come at a steep cost.

The conversation between the two agents seemed to have ended just as John wondered how long he would have to wait until he could safely leave the building. As the chute began to heat up around him, he knew the decision had been made for him.

'Damn, they must have set fire to the place. It looks like it's all downhill from here,' John thought as he started his slow descent into the unknown darkness.

As he descended into the darkness, he failed to notice the red splatters around the walls, warning him of what was coming.

"Finally, the exit!" John thought triumphantly as he leapt past the metal disposal boxes at the bottom.

But his joy was short-lived as he slipped and tumbled to the ground, landing in something cold and viscous that sent a shiver down his spine.

He scrambled to his feet, his heart racing with adrenaline.

The metallic smell in the air grew stronger, assaulting his senses with its foul stench.

Panic surged through him as he realised he was trapped in darkness, while upstairs was a raging fire.

Trying to get his bearings, John stretched out his arms and moved cautiously forward, his hands shaking with each step.

Every sound echoed ominously in the suffocating darkness, adding to his sense of isolation.

Soon, his fingers brushed against a rough surface, sending a jolt through him. Confirming that he was touching a wall, he continued along the edge of the room, his heart pounding in his chest with each step.

As he navigated the darkness, a faint green glow from a corner caught his attention. Curious, he cautiously approached the light, on high alert.

Finding a door at the source of the glow, he hesitated before opening it, the sudden brightness partially blinding him.

Averting his eyes from the intense light pouring through, he turned his gaze to the room, his heart sinking at the grim sight before him. The room was filled with the lifeless bodies of his colleagues, their forms illuminated by the harsh light.

The gruesome sight startled him so much that he stumbled backwards, his breath catching in his throat. In his panic, he bumped into something hanging by the open door.

Horror washed over him as he realised it was Tom's lifeless body, swaying gently in the dim light.

The sight was too much to bear, and John's stomach churned with nausea.

Moments later, he collapsed, gagging as the horror of the situation overwhelmed him.

Only now did John realise that his tardiness had saved his life.

Had he arrived at the appointed time, he would have been one of the dozens of corpses in the cellar.

He turned one last time and said a silent prayer for his deceased companions.

Closing the door behind him, John steeled his resolve and pushed forward.

He decided to head straight for Rei's house, his heart heavy with the weight of what he had just witnessed. He could only hope that he was not too late.

…

Meanwhile, as John struggled to escape the burning building, Marie sensed a disturbance in the air.

"Most peculiar," she muttered to herself. "The fate of the whole island is changing."

Determined to discover the source of this disturbance, Marie knew she couldn't let anything interfere with her plans and set out to unravel the mystery before it was too late.

As Marie muttered to herself behind the bar, an alarm went off outside, interrupting her thoughts.

Pondering momentarily, Marie decided to investigate, sensing that this disturbance could very well be the source of the problem she had sensed earlier.

Once outside, she moved towards the commotion, cane in hand, her demeanour as commanding as ever.

She spotted a random passerby, lifted him with the back of her cane, and asked, "What the hell is going on?"

The man looked around, clearly confused by his sudden elevation. "P-p-p," he stammered, his voice shaking with fear.

Shaking the man, Marie mocked him. "P-p-p, what? Stop stuttering and spit it out. I haven't got all day."

"Pirates?!" The man exclaimed, A great fleet of pirate ships, as far as the eye can see, we are all going to die," the man cried out, clearly in distress, as he tried to wriggle free of Marie's grasp.

With a frustrated sigh, Marie set the man down and began to walk back to the inn, deep in thought. A pirate fleet, hmm. That complicates things, she thought to herself. The boy must not die, not yet, at least not before he is ready.

"It seems I have to intervene," Marie thought as she made her way to the kitchen, her mind already racing with plans to deal with the impending threat.

As she grabbed some old equipment from the shelves, Marie couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu. "I can't believe I'm entering this room for the second time in less than a week."

As she moved a painting aside to reveal a hidden compartment, Marie frowned at the image on the canvas. "Stop smiling,"

She scolded the painted figure. "If this plan goes wrong, you'll be dead forever.

No, don't look at me like that. It was a long shot to begin with, but if it fails, it's all over; there's no second chance this time."

Marie's agitation grew, and her voice tinged with madness. "These damned New Age wannabe pirates, no finesse, just plundering and pillaging like trash; they're ruining everything."

Still lost in her thoughts, Marie retrieved her sword cane from the small room, lingering for a moment as she held its hilt, feeling the weight of it in her hand for the first time in years. With a deep breath, she closed everything back up, steeling herself for the task ahead.

"I should get to a vantage point and find out where they come from and what flag they fly. Let's hope it's someone I know, or things could get ugly... for them," Marie chuckled darkly, her demeanour filled with ominous madness.

Moments later, she was standing on top of the bell tower, her gaze fixed on the bay, where an enormous fleet of ships surrounded the harbour and the coast as far as her eyes could see.

With a low whistle, Marie murmured to herself, "I expected the man to exaggerate, but wow, this is a huge fleet, most likely a coalition of several big names." Her eyes scanned the horizon, noting over a dozen different flags fluttering in the wind.

The sight made her grimace in concern. "This is not a simple raid," she thought, her expression growing darker. "There are far too many pirate factions. Someone is up to something, and I don't like it."

As she surveyed the scene, Marie's attention was drawn past the bay and the ships to the distant horizon, where another fleet was approaching. This time, however, they bore the unmistakable insignia of the Marines.

A tingling sensation ran down her spine as she realised the gravity of the situation. Foul play was undoubtedly afoot, and Marie knew she had to act quickly to uncover the truth.

"The Marines are not known for their quick reactions. Maybe the pirates were discovered a long time ago, and this is just an intervention fleet?" Marie wondered aloud, her scepticism growing with each passing moment.

"But everything feels wrong. If they were planning something of this magnitude, I would have known... Unless it has nothing to do with me and I'm just an unlucky bystander."

Marie chuckled darkly at the thought. "Even I can become an innocent bystander," she mused, the irony not lost on her.

After some more thought, Marie cursed her luck. "Sixty years of nothing, and then a second chance appears out of nowhere, only to be caught in the middle of a pirate and naval conspiracy just days later," she lamented with a sigh. "Such bad luck, well, let's get this over with."

Marie made her way down from the tower, her destination clear.

Rei's house was the only place she could think of where the boy could be under the circumstances, and she was determined to find him there.

Moving steadily towards her destination, Marie's senses heightened as she noticed something odd that made her stop in her tracks. 'Where were all the people?' How could there be no one around this whole time?

Pondering for a moment, Marie's instincts kicked in, and she became more alert by the second. Suddenly, without warning, four assailants attacked her simultaneously.

Feeling no immediate threat to her life, Marie quickly realised that their intention was not to kill her but to capture her.

In a split-second decision, she sacrificed her non-dominant hand, quickly severing it to prevent the attackers from attaching a sea-stone shackle to it.

It was the most significant loss she had personally experienced after eating the Fate Fruit.

"It seems like I'm getting too old," Marie lamented, "for some wannabe special ops to get the drop on me. Quit the disgrace." She joked while narrowly dodging the remaining attacks.

The plan was doomed to fail the moment Marie removed her own hand; thanks to them not expecting it, the sea stone shackle lost all its meaning, which was the basis of the ambush, causing it to fail.

Only momentarily shaken by the outcome, the assailants surrounded Marie on all sides.

"Give up, Farseer; there is no escape; you are surrounded," yelled a white-masked man, making Marie chuckle. "Like a bunch of puppets could ever catch me. Still, I have to commend you for getting the drop on me. Speaking of, how did you do that?"

"Like we would tell that to you, Pirate!" retorted a different masked man, but Marie's scoff cut through his words. "Hmmpf, still labelling everyone you don't like a pirate. Tell me, what have I ever done to be branded a pirate? Your puppet masters are just annoyed that I saw their past and future all those years ago."

"Are they still afraid that I'll tell the world what happened that day?"

"Stop her!" the commander shouted. "We have orders to kill if the ambush fails."

"Understood," said seven voices in unison, all charging forward at once.

The determination made Marie sweat a little. She hadn't expected four more CP members to show up. If they all had the same strength as the first four, she knew she was in big trouble. It might be time for a strategic retreat.

While Marie dodged most of the attacks aimed at vital points, she still had to take some of the lesser hits to avoid the fatal ones that were slowly wearing her down. She realised that if she couldn't break the siege, it would only end in her defeat.

After a moment's thought, Marie came up with the only plan possible under the circumstances.

Covered in blood, Marie ran to a nearby building and tried to escape through an open window.

But her path was blocked by the masked man, who had earlier called her a pirate. "Nowhere to run," he taunted in a sadistic tone.

Seeing the other seven members closing in for the kill, Marie smiled.

"Say hello to Frank for me when you see him," she said, her laughter sending shivers down their spines. Confusion crossed the man's face, making Marie's smile even wider. "If I remember correctly, he died the same way." With expert precision, she used the CP agent as a springboard to propel herself higher, kicking him into the building at the same time. The impact created a spark that set off a massive chain explosion, engulfing the area in a cloud of black smog and allowing Marie to finally make her escape.

Slightly dazed by the explosion, the seven remaining CP agents regrouped.

"Damn that woman and her damned fruit," the commander cursed. "Call Akainu; have the marines burn this damn place to the ground so she has nowhere to hide!"

"The rest of you, spread out and find her; she should be badly injured from the explosion as she used it to blow herself away."

He hesitated for a moment before adding, "If you spot her, use a flare to call for help. Do not engage; no one can defeat the Seer alone."

The six remaining CP members nodded and dispersed in different directions, undeterred by the absence of one.

Meanwhile, faced with a crucial decision, Marie raced across the rooftops, weighing her options: should she retrieve John and attempt to escape the island together, or should she go alone, hoping that John could fend for himself a little longer?

The second option seemed increasingly untenable; John was running out of time and, if left alone, would need more than circumstances would allow if she didn't intervene.

As Marie weighed her options, a second explosion in the distance caught her attention. Damn it, the marines arrived faster than expected. Better get the boy quickly, or this will end in disaster. "I've already stretched my fruit powers to the limit; another ambush like this and I'm as good as dead, or worse..."

"I'm too old for this," Marie grumbled as she set course for John, hoping to find him before it was too late.