ONE PIECE: Celestial Steps

"AAAAARGGHHH!"

A pained scream echoed throughout the stone chamber. A young girl of around twelve years old was writhing restrained on a bench. Candlelight flickered, and Lily let out another desperate scream.

"AAA…GH!" Blood erupted from her vocal chords, and her howls began to become voiceless.

Tears of blood trailed down her cheeks as she continued writhing in agony.

"Now, Now, calm down. This is just the initial phase…" A calm voice was taking notes as it observed Lily's reaction.

"Hmm… The Gu worm doesn't seem to be behaving as predicted. Is something wrong?"

"Unless she learnt some martial art it shouldn't be like this… and we've been monitoring her all this time so she's had no chance to do so so far."

Other such apathetic voices were giving their evaluations as discussions were made on the peculiarity of their test subject, completely ignoring the girl's pained screams.

Lily was abducted by the Demonic Sect when she was eight years old. That day, fuelled by starvation and survival, she was attempting to rob a bao bun from a nearby stall.

She had succeeded in that task and when she was running away from the stall owner, she bumped into a tall man in dark robes and a samurai hat.

After that, she woke up in a dingy, damp stone cell, insects and serpents crawling and slithering in its small crevices.

In the beginning, she cried out, attempted to call for help, shivered in the cold, and tried to distance herself from the unwelcome creatures that invaded her space.

After a long while, hunger started to settle in, and she started crying less. She had realized, over the days, that calling out wouldn't help her, and just like always, she would need to find a way to survive on her own.

This was easier for her to accept than most kids her age, as that was what she had always done.

No one would rescue her. No one would care if she were gone. No one would notice if she died one day.

And, that, to her, was the clearest sign.

Her life meant nothing.

But she would find a way to survive. She would show the world that scorned and ignored her how tenacious she could be.

Initially, though it was dark, her eyes had adjusted, and she began to eat the insects and snakes to survive, suffering some poisoning in the process.

She had explored the small chamber for a while, looking for any way to escape. It was a strange place - there were no doors or windows. It seemed just like a sealed box. She had occasionally felt the odd draft and gust of wind flow from the crevices, but nothing more.

After a few days of inspecting every small detail of the place, she chanced upon a tiny hole on one of the bricks. It stood out amongst the chamber's uneven construction.

The small hole seemed to be a precise and deliberate feature.

She tried probing it to no avail before breaking off a centipede's leg and attempting to poke it through the hole.

It took a while, but she eventually succeeded, and when she did, something changed.

Ancient scripts she could not recognise lit up upon the brick, and began swirling around in an odd pattern.

Then, to Lily's surprise, they floated and entered through her, causing her to faint.

When she woke up, she tried to see if anything was different about her, eventually realizing there was a new piece of knowledge in her memory.

It was a movement technique. A martial art called [Celestial Steps].

According to its description, upon the highest level of mastery of the technique, one would be able to pass through the layers of space.

Meaning, there was a way for her to escape.

So she immediately began digesting the technique and what it entailed. Trying her hardest to practice it.

She was left there in that chamber, alone and cold in the dark.

Days, Weeks, Months.

The chamber suffocated her in the stench of her own urine and feces.

She had only made some progress in the first step of the first level of the technique. 

And eventually she was made into a vile test subject. 

What had been done to her over the years…

"AAaa…" Lily's movements slowed as her energy ran out, now bearing the unimaginable pain without the comfort of screams and struggles.

'Kill… I'll kill you all…' The only thought in her mind was the total annihilation of her tormentors, unwilling to entertain anything else.

Her psyche had long been torn apart, and her thoughts no longer resembled those of a human.

She had become a beast.

Before her consciousness faded, the last vestiges of her will exploded out of her.

"W-what's with this energy signature? She couldn't have practiced martial arts… The Gu should have remained dormant!"

"This is bad! We need to evac -" 

Before those words could be spoken fully, a bright sun-like light erupted from Lily's small figure, blinding everyone in the room.

And then, a devastating explosion obliterated the region, annihilating all of its souls without exception.

Well, there was one exception…

'Kill… Kill… Hunger… Die…' Lily could feel her consciousness return in fragments. Her thoughts were still scattered and bestial.

She felt herself suspended in a thick fluid substance. She remembered an experiment she was subjected to that felt familiar to her current condition, and she began violently thrashing around this place to escape.

She didn't want to bear that pain again.

—

"Ouch!" A beautiful woman with natural rose gold coloured hair and pale green eyes rubbed her belly with a frown and a smile, "Feisty little one aren't you?"

"What's wrong dear?" A handsome black-haired man with dark eyes and well-defined features with a short stubble asked as he began preparing breakfast.

"Seems our little Lily is getting impatient, dear" Rose said with a gentle smile on her face, caressing her womb lovingly.

"Hahaha! Seems like she's gonna be inheriting more of me then!" Micheal laughed as he flipped the omelet from the frying pan onto a plate.

He filled the tray with snacks and drinks, and brought them to his wife who was laying in bed.

"Only a couple months left now," He said as he kissed Rose and smiled at her.

"Hmm" She reciprocated and smiled back.

"I'll be off now. As always, call me at work if you need anything, and don't do anything dangerous," Michael said as he left the small house.

—

It took a long while for Lily to settle after realizing that the expected pain did not arrive. She calmed down and more carefully observed her current condition.

She was floating in a thick substance. She tried to see what was around her, but was left completely in the dark. She felt weak and powerless.

It should have been a horrifying situation, and yet, Lily, for the first time in all her torturous twelve years of life, felt…

Comfortable.

It was an odd feeling. Lily never remembered ever feeling this sensation in her life. There was no pain, no starvation, no abuse…

She had never considered what it would be like when those things were gone. This… comfort was odd to her.

So she slowly relaxed, and entrusted herself to the comfortable darkness.

And for the first time in years, her thoughts began to run smoothly again.

—

One week later.

Lily had finally digested her thoughts and memories of her previous life.

She had calmed down significantly. She could occasionally hear the soft humming of a woman's gentle voice, lulling her into a serene sleep.

Her mind had never felt so… clear.

She had already figured out she was in a woman's womb, and that she was about to be born, but everything else remained a mystery.

She could faintly hear discussions in a language she wasn't familiar with, but still managed to pick up on some words and phrases.

Though she still could not see, there was a palpable sense of peace emanating toward her. She did not understand exactly what it was yet, as it was a foreign feeling, but she accepted it nonetheless.

And so, Lily did the only thing she could do in her stagnant situation. Sleep, clear her mind, and ruminate on [Celestial Steps].

She never wanted to feel trapped ever again.