DREAMS

I was being pressed onto the ground by several men around me. Anger and despair coursed through my veins at the sight before me. A beautiful blond angel with blue eyes that held kindness as deep as the sky, she wore a soft light blue dress that hugged her body nicely . She was smiling at me with gentle demeanor as she was being dragged away against her will by a devil with a glass bubble to cover his head.

"let her go!!", I growled over and over as I felt my vocal chords tearing up. I struggled under the grip of several arms as even my full force didn't budge them.

She smiled at me with a drop of tear trailing down her left cheek. I could see that the edges of her lips were trembling but she continued to smile before saying some of the last words that I would ever hear from her.

"Thank you, I appreciate your feelings at least, I was happy"

No!! It can't end this way!!

"~I was happy from the bottom of my heart~"

Her figure got further and further away from my sight as darkness slowly enveloped my body.

"STELLA!!"

I jolted out of my bed, gasping for air while gripping my head. My eyes were burning as my skull felt like it was caving in.

"tch…. Another nightmare", I muttered through gritted teeth.

Sweat was soaking my bed where I slept while the morning sun beamed through the window. Stretching my body I got out of the bed, ' I have been having these intense vivid dreams lately'.

I went to the bathroom to freshen up. Feeling the cold water against my skin helped calmed my mind. After taking a bath and brushing my teeth I looked at my image in the mirror to find a young man around the age of 19 with long messy green hair and blue eyes staring back. My body was rather lean with slight muscles due to me working at the construction sight.

 My chest laid bare to show some scars that had accumulated due to my past association with unlawful and rugged people .

Staring into my deep blue eyes I sighed before slapping my cheeks with my wet hands,

"Come on, today's not the day to be so down. You don't want to put her mood down as well right?", I didn't expect the reflection to answer my questions as I grabbed a towel to wipe my wet body. Walking towards the wardrobe I put on one of the two pairs of clothing I had, a blue blazer over a green shirt and dark blue pants.

Making my way towards the kitchen I grabbed myself a glass of water to satiate my parched throat, ' My recent dreams always involve either Stella or a mysterious guy in a pink suit, although they are just dreams they are so detailed, like I'm watching a show or performance….yet they feel so real'.

I stared at the loaf of bread that was to be my breakfast as these thoughts ran through my head. But just then a sound from outside broke me out of my trance.

*knock* *knock*

"Oi! Tesoro are you awake yet ?" a deep masculine voice could be heard outside my door.

"Tch!", no one would visit me at this hour of the day except one person.

' I'm late on rent, it must be the landlord ', I peaked out the window to see a man with rugged looking beard and long brown hair tied into braids, wearing circular glasses with a darker skin tone.

'Shit!, it is the landlord', I cursed my luck as I thought I had some more days until the rent was due.

In a panic I grabbed the loaf of bread and jumped out the window. I just had to escape paying the rent for today because after today I would have no amount of money with me. I hoped that he'll be kind enough to not demand rent from a person who has nothing.

*thud*

"Huh?", the landlord was dumbfounded when I landed on his right with the loaf of bread in my mouth.

'Shit! , wrong window', I cursed myself in my head.

We stared at each other for a moment as the silence stretched on. I was on my knees with the load of bread filling my mouth while the landlord was still contemplating what had just happened before frowning.

"Oi! Oi! Tesoro you aren't trying to run away without paying the rent again are you??" the landlord asked with a grimace as he crossed his arms before his chest.

His body towered over mine as I felt the shadow death coming over me. I felt a chill run down my spine as I stood up from the ground .

"ifv wasfcf leafing", I answered with my mouth full of bread.

"EAT FIRST YOU IDIOT!!", the landlord shouted as his expression became more demonic.

I broke off the rest of the loaf as I hurriedly swallowed the pieces in my mouth. I had to take a while to chew and swallow as the bread was rather dry. The landlord giving me the death stare was making me more nervous as I had to be careful to not bit my tongue accidentally.

"A-Ah, nice to meet you too Nathan. My d-door was locked and I lost my key so I had to use the window, I wasn't trying to escape or anything", I chuckled slightly as I rubbed the back of my head and made excuses.

Nathan just stared at me with scrutiny before closing his eyes and sighing in frustration.

 "I don't have time for your shenanigans. Just give me what I'm here for. ", he said as he stretched his palm out infront of me

'What? Does he expect me to just barf out the rent right now' I thought as I saw his palm

I had no cash at hand right now, well at least no cash for the rent. So I thought of only thing I could offer at the moment.

I took the half eaten piece of bread and placed it in his palm as I smiled gently at him.

"I hope my friend will be able to find that there is nothing more valuable than food in life", I hoped that he would find my joke funny and maybe give me a bit more time before asking for rent again.

Nathan's face became more grim as he shouted, "TESOROO!!".

As he was shouting a strong wind blew by at an instant as I shaded my eyes with my arm to prevent any dust from going in . When the wind blew away I put my arms down but had to squint my eyes. A bright light was being directed straight towards my eyes making it difficult for me to see properly.

'Where's the light coming from??', I thought in my head as I look straight ahead at a shocking sight before me.

There in front of me lay Nathan with a bald head shining like a pearl in daylight. My jaws were wide open as I could see a brown hairy mess on the ground besides him. I came to know that his luscious long hair was a wig.

My mouth was wide open as Nathan hurriedly picked up his wig and put it back on before staring at me and stating, " I think I can increase the deadline for your rent if you keep whatever you just saw just between us".

Still recovering from this revelation I nodded my head slowly.

"Good", He exclaimed before turning and leaving with the bread still in his palm.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting start to this day", I muttered to myself before heading towards the construction site.

Making my way towards the construction site I encountered the usual stare from people that I would get on a daily basis. I knew that they meant no I'll will towards me and just used me as one of their conversation topics to spice up their friendly gossips.

"Hey look it's Tesoro, I heard he has finally saved up enough money"

"What? Damn, so he has finally achieved it after three years, damn I never would have thought that a previous crook could make money earnestly"

"Ah~what love does to people~I wish I was young again!"

"Oi! Old lady you are creeping me out"

"Who are you calling old!!"

 The people around constantly gossiped. I didn't pay them any attention and finally reached the construction site.

The construct site was filled with several people carrying things around. A large building could be seen complete as the people were cleaning up and putting finishing touches. This building was one of the many that had been constructed by me and my companions over the last three years.

Walking over to a man who was ordering the people around and making sure that no one makes any mistake I announced my presence by coughing into my fist.

"huh? Oh Tesoro, I thought I already told you that your portion of the work was complete. Are you here to get your final paycheck? " a Huge bearded man wearing a miner's helmet with pickaxe on his shoulder giving off a hunky masculine man aura smirked and asked me. He worked a brown jacket over a white tank top, dark brown pants and his toes were bare to see through a pair of flip-flops.

"Yes, boss I've been waiting for this moment for a while now" I chuckled as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Well you have put in a lot of effort day in and out. I've got to say If I didn't know the reason behind why you were putting yourself through this hardship I would assume you to be a masochist, SASASASA" he did his weird laughter while patting my shoulder.

 I flinched a bit as his little gesture of joy almost dislocated my shoulder.

"well here you go. I hope this should be enough. ", Boss reached into a pocket of his jacket as he handed me an envelope.

 I took it with a huge smile, "Thanks again boss letting me work with you for the past three years" I said genuinely and bowed to show my gratitude .

Since I had led a life of crime since the age of twelve no one who knew my past would have ever trusted me enough to offer me a job. I did not want to start my new life on a lie so I did not hide my criminal past from any employer looking for a hire. Boss was the only one who didn't judge me when he heard me mentioning my past.

"Ah it's nothing, everyone deserves second chances. Besides you remind me of my marine brother. SASASASA he also used to get into trouble a lot when he was a little critter but now he's joined the navy and is making a name for himself in the Grandline" he says as he mockingly shed a tear.

I chuckled at his comment, I knew he had a bad opinion about his younger brother because he left Boss to follow his dreams rather than to help out the family business.

 'Boss has a rather loose mouth when he gets drunk', I thought back to all the times he would complain about his personal life in bars after a hard days work. Even though I exclaimed that I had no money to join him and the boys he would always claim that he would be treating me and that I didn't have to worry about paying.

 " Now now don't you have somewhere to be" he smirked and said as he shoo-ed me off. He started to instruct one of the boys to place the things in order as he checked his clipboard.

"yeah yeah, see you later Boss" I said as I waved and started to walk away.

"You love birds should treat me to dinner once you are done with all of this mess" Boss's voice rang loudly behind me. The boys around him chuckled as they halted their work for a moment before giving me a bit of cheer.

My cheeks reddened at their antics , ' Tch, Boss can never be subtle can he'. I was too embarrassed to turn back as I walked straight ahead.

On my way to meet Stella I stopped to buy her some flowers. I bargained with the owner for a bouquet of tulips which were Stella's favorites. Well I still have some money saved up after skipping a few dinners so it should be fine to get her a gift since today marks a new start for us.

On reaching the place I saw many people leaving in a hurry, I managed to over hear something about a world noble. 'Well that has nothing to do with me' I thought as I entered the chamber where Stella lay.

As I entered the room my eyes laid upon her, there she was on a couch ( that I previously got her from one of my neighbors in a bargain) , she sat and read some books that I bought so she wouldn't get bored. Her beautiful blue eyes were trailing down the book as she made small mouth movements while reading. The sun shone upon her golden blond hair while her usual light blue dress looked more beautiful. She look up from her book and met my eyes while smiling.

"Tesoro what a nice weather we have today don't we ?" she asked with her soft and kind voice as she got up from the couch and closed her book.

I grinned as I said " It is indeed a beautiful day because it's finally time", her eyes shone when I finished speaking.

I went up closer to her and handed her the flowers, "I hope you like it although it's not much but in the future I'll get you a whole cart full of flowers I promise" I said as I stretched out my arms to illustrate the quantity of flowers .

She giggled and accepted the flowers " Thanks for the flowers, but you don't have to get me so many flowers it'll be too much of a hassle to find a proper vase for them. Although I guess giving such kind of gifts are a norm for the future star of the world".

I suppressed a cough and ignored the scratchy throat when she mentioned the word 'star'. "You know I had almost given up on that dream until I met you", I said as I stretched my hand to meet hers.

She smiled as we interlocked our fingers, "A beautiful dream such as that shouldn't be given up on. I hope you will pursue it even the harshest moments as dreams are everything that makes up a person", Stella muttered softly before jolting as she remembered something.

" Oh! I just remembered I finished my latest painting, wait right here", she said with excitement evident in her voice as she went back to get a canvas from a pile in the corner.

"Huh?" I muttered as I spaced out for a moment.

"Behold!! My masterpiece" she said excitedly as she presented her painting.

'What is that??' I thought as I took in the sight before me. The painting depicted a dancing flaming monkey on a stage as the audience were dying of laughter. The monkey seemed to not be harmed by the flames and was even smiling widely.

"I was inspired to draw this piece after listening to one of your songs" Stella huffed as she protruded her chest forward seemingly very proud of her work.

"It's….. very unique..", I said as I tried to recall which song made her draw this weird piece of art.

"Hehe, one day my art pieces will bought all across the world and will be hung in royal palaces. From the money I'll make I'll support your career as well. I'll make sure that I can treat you as much as you have done for me the past few years and then we'll go all around the world and fill it with art of music and paintings. ", she started to trail off as she hummed to herself while dreaming about the future.

I stared at her loving figure as she smiled happily and dreamt. 'I'll support you through out your journey', I thought and smiled.

I then reached over to hug her body to bring it closer to mine but the cage between us made it a bit difficult. Yes, a cage as this place was a human shop and Stella was a slave meant to be sold.

XXXXXX

[Three years ago]

I made a bad decision while gambling and lost a lot of money. My friends or people who used to be my friends left me to my fate and deserted me.

I was almost made a human slave by the casino owners but I managed to leave the island by fighting my way out when some pirates attacked the casino. I ended up here infront of another human slave shop (kinda ironic).

I limped my way over to an empty place and sat down. It was snowing and I was shivering from the cold but I had no energy to move and find shelter, so to distract myself from this cold I started to sing a song to myself. The song was a pretty familiar one that I used to sing regularly as a kid to distract myself from all the beatings my mother would give me.

I started to reach the end of the last verse when I heard an angelic voice call out to me.

"Mister you have a very nice voice hehe~", I turned towards the giggling voice to come face to face with a beautiful woman no, an angel.

 She was behind a window pane but her beautiful smile radiated a heat that made my body warmer as my cheek reddened.

 "H-how long have you been listening?", I stammered through exasperated breathing .

"Long enough to yearn for more~" she answered as she smiled.

My heart started beating faster as my palms became sweaty and my knees shook becoming weak. I had not sang in front of anyone for years since I was a child. My mother would always beat me up whenever she heard me singing and tell me keep quiet whenever she came back from the bar as a drunken mess.

I coughed into my fist as I blushed " it's rude to listen in on someone you know", then I added with a smirk "But since you asked so nicely I'll sing you another song that I know ".

She smiled with appreciation as I started to sing for her. The songs that I had sung for her were written by me in the past. I performed them as a kid in dark alleys as I pretended to be star. My audiences were street dogs and cats, sometimes a poor kid from nearby would pass and stay to listen to me sing.

Our little moment of fun where I reminisced about my past and sang songs for this beautiful lady was interrupted when the owner of the place came and shooed me off. He claimed that if I wasn't interested in any of the goods then I should just scram. I frowned at the old man's interruption of my performance but I smiled at the lady as I promised to return.

The next day I came back and sang for her whatever song she wanted me to after which we started talking a bit.

"Wait I still haven't introduced myself, my name is Tesoro, Gild Tesoro. Remember this name because I'm gonna become a world famous star one day", I bowed before her like a performer.

She giggled before answering "My name is Stella and I wish to become a painter".

" Stella?? Hmm it means 'star' haha I guess we were fated to meet" I smiled.

 Several days passed this way as I sang to her and performed some dance moves while she showed me some of her….. Interesting art works… one of the art works being a bulldog sitting on a throne while surrounded by a war zone.

 I came to know that she was made into a slave when her father with unpaid debt died from an unknown sickness and she was forced into this life to repay the debt . When she found out that I had a criminal past she was a bit startled, seeing her frowning face I assured her that such kind of life was behind me. She had been rather pleased to know that I was now making an honest living.

Then one day I confessed to her or what was my version of a confession, "You know what, I'll buy you…. That sounded wrong I-I mean I'll free you and that doesn't mean you'll have to be with me i-I mean you can if you want to but I won't forc-", I kept on stuttering as she giggled at my anxious self.

I huffed and exclaimed with full conviction, "I'll win your heart so please wait for me".

Stella's cheeks blushed with bright red rose colour as she nodded and smiled brighter than I had ever seen her before .

XXXXXX

[Present time]

"I'll be right back" I told her and left her embrace.

"You'll finally be free" I grinned and started walking away .

"I'll be waiting" She said joyfully as I left the room that she was in.

I made my way to towards the owners room and on my way I saw several other slaves in cages living with minimal necessities. I had paid the owner extra money so that Stella would be treated differently.

 The slaves had the look of despair on their faces, waiting for a wretched fate to befall them. ' I can't save everyone, I'm sorry', I thought in my mind as I knocked on the door of the owner

"Come in" said a voice from the inside the room.

On entering the room I could see a distressed looking old man with several papers in front of him with weird red stamps. When I entered the room he glared angrily at me before exclaiming in a cold voice,

"Oh It's just you Tesoro. I don't have time to deal with you right now so we should talk later" he said while waving me off.

"Old man I'm here for the final payment . You should hold on to your side of the deal now and free Stella! ", I exclaimed in anger.

 But before he could refute back the door behind me opened and then came in some men in black suits. They barged in pushed me off and then handed the owner some papers and suitcase.

"What the fuc-" before I could swear at them, one of them kicked me in the gut which made all the wind from my lungs escape as I collapsed into the floor in pain.

"Keep quiet commoner", they ordered as they spit on the ground before me.

The owner was sweating while dealing with them " I-I hope you just ignore that man, he has some impulse c-controls, I hope the prince had a safe trip over here" he stammered while fidgeting his hands.

'prince? Is it that world noble thing that the people were talking about', I thought while I heard a familiar voice shouting from outside.

"Get your hands off of me!!! Let me go!!!"

"STELLA!!!", I shouted as I ran out of the owner's room.

" Tesoro!! Wait!!!", the owner shouted behind me. He tried to stop me but the sound of Stella's distress filled my body with adrenaline as I rushed out.

Reaching outside I saw a grim scene that was oddly familiar to me.

Several men in black suits had multiple slaves with bomb collars strapped to their neck while being held by chains. It seemed that all the slaves in the human shop were here as they all had a look of despair to them. The slaves were being motioned to move while a hideous laughter filled the air.

The owner of this hideous laughter was a man in a white jumpsuit with a bubble sphere covering his head. Behind this sphere he had a purple goatee and a purple mustache. He had an ugly smile and perverted gaze as he stared at Stella who was held beside him by two armed men.

"Hiok! Hiok! Hiok! My my what a bountiful harvest I had today all of these slaves are really exquisite, especially this blondy-eh" he exclaimed before clutching Stella by the hair. Stella struggled under his grip but the two men in suits held her from retaliating .

The man in the white clothing now grinned wildly as he tightly held Stella's chin, "I like it when you little bugs struggle".

"Stella!!!", I shouted as I ran towards her, "LET HER GOO!!", I screamed as I tightened my fist to punch that bastard.

 I cogged back my fist as I took a deep breath. It had been quiet a time since I got into a scuffle but I knew a thing or two about punching bastards like him. I leaped up into the air as I was ready to cave the man's head but before my fist could connect with him I felt several bullets piercing my body as I fell back. Blood droplets splattered every where as I landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"Tesoro!!!" Stella screamed as the rattling of the chain under her struggle could be heard clearly.

I gritted my teeth through the pain as I raised my head to see what exactly happened. Before me I could see a man in a black suit standing before my body unarmed. He had no weapons on him but only his bloody index finger which was pointing at me as it dripped blood.

"Huh was this insect trying to approach me-eh? Hiok! Hiok! What a fool-eh? Guards make him suffer-eh", the prince ordered with a wave of hand.

"Yes prince Kacke", the men saluted before picking me up and punching me in the gut.

They kicked me in my shin and kept punching me in the face. The pain coursed through my body as I felt some of my bones fractured while the headache grew.

" Please stop!!! I'll go with you willingly so please stop" Stella cried infront of the prince.

"Huh you think you can order me-eh", the prince slapped Stella and she fell to the ground with a red mark around her cheek.

"… Y..you…" I glared at the prince as I was kicked again in the face before falling to the ground. The kicking and the punching slowed down as I laid on my back with my blood dripping on the ground .

"Tch, I'm bored let's leave-eh" the prince exclaimed as he turned around and motioned for his guards to bring the slaves along.

Through severe pain I lifted my head and opened one of my bruised eyes to see that the slaves were being pulled by the chains as they reluctantly followed. Even Stella was picked up and pulled by her chain but she struggled for a bit as she tried to come towards my battered body. Worry was etched into her expression as I realized that I must look really horrible.

" Wait!! Let her go!!!" I shouted as I tried to get up from the ground. But fell back down as my legs gave in to pain refusing my command to move. I gritted my teeth and tried to crawl my way towards them. My nails dug into the ground as it threatened to break under the pressure.

Stella saw what was happening and looked towards me with a bitter sweet smile as a tear ran down her face.

"Thank you I appreciate your feelings at least"

'No!!! Don't say those words', a headache grew in my head as my heart rate increased. I gritted my teeth as one my nails broke off when I tried to crawl faster.

 My vision distorted again as I saw a man with a pink suit standing before a crowd of people as they looked at him with fear in their eyes . Voices and visions assaulted my mind. I could hear whispers from all around me but I could only make out some words, they kept saying "Gold…..power....money....". I shook my head (Which made the headache worse) as I tried to ignore the voices and tried to move my legs.

"I thank you for the last three beautiful years that you have given me, I was happy", Stella's chain now was being tugged hard as she was forced to stumble backwards.

"I… I….. I'll.. sa… ve…", I muttered as I willed my body to stand as my body finally listened to me. My knees were shaking as my joints creaked, the pain throughout my body reminding me constantly that I shouldn't move at all. My head felt like it was about to explode as my breathing started to slow down.

"I was happy from the bottom of my heart" Stella said before she was pulled further away. She was smiling as she mouthed something in addition but I couldn't hear what it was as by now my vision was darkening and a ringing filled my ears.

The prince stopped in his tracks as he looked behind and pointed at me as he ordered, "oh yeah grab that pest as well, he'll also be my slave-eh".

"Yes prince Kacke!!" the armed men stammered before heading towards me with chains in their hands.

The headache grew severe before I could hear a deep voice in my head, "Time for the show to start".

"Kill them

Break them

It's either them….. Or it's you"

Voices started muttering in my head as my rage bubbled up. At that moment I felt something come over me like an animalistic instinct. Veins in my forehead popped as the sound of my teeth gnashing against one another could be heard loud and clear. My eyes became bloodshot in anger as my fist now clenched tightly, broken nails digging into my skin as blood trickled down.

I took a deep breath as I saw the guards nearing me. Slowly I felt something or rather multiple things around me. All around me in the ground, in the people around me, flowing inside them, it's inside them, I can feel it. It's IRON.

I smirked while raising my dirty and bloodied palm towards the guards as blood splattered my cheek. But the only thing was that it wasn't my blood.