KESU KESU NO MI

A/N: Because Webnovel doesn't allow italics, I had to get a bit creative with this italics heavy chapter. So italicized sections (in this case, flashbacks) will have // at the beginning and \\ at the end.

Soap bubbled over reddened skin, a coarse sponge rasping tender flesh, yet even as Echo relentlessly abused his tainted skin, he knew deep down that no amount of scrubbing would ever rid him of his sin.

//"When you smile, I answer in kind. See?" his mother had said over five years ago, right as the first rays of light had peeked through the thick foliage of the ancient olive trees that bordered the property's front-yard. Her dulled amber eyes had regained a spark of life, and with forced cheer she'd dazzled him with her smile. "That's the one power we all have: free or chained, rich or poor, we can all brighten other people's lives."\\

Yet all Echo'd achieved was to snuff the light out of his only friend's eyes.

//"But I has ugly smile," Echo sniffled.

His mother caressed his cheek with skin as warm and dark as the black dahlia she'd pointed out. Her calloused thumb rubbed a stray tear away before she pressed her index fingers to the corner of his lips and stretched his pout into a wobbly smile. "Whoever told you this has poor eyesight, baby-bird, because these are the cutest dimples in the entire world."

"So... Me not a fleak?" he asked in a small voice.

"Oh, baby no. You're not a freak, no. You are the greatest of all treasures. MY treasure."\\

Broken sobs filled the shower stall as useless tears disappeared down the drain. How he'd wished her words to be true. But now he knew: No good could sprout from Mary Geoise's dry, dead soil.

//"We'll need a boat," Shizo had said in a tentative voice after Echo'd exposed his dream turned extremely-fallible-project.

Echo wiggled his brows, and with a toothy grin, he said, "We'll requisition one."

"... Um... we'll also need money..."

"We'll live off my inventions and your magical paper folding!"

"A-And a crew."

"We'll find them on our journey! First a navigator, then a cook, and a musician, and all the nice people we'll meet along the way. We'll have the best crew ever!"

Stars came to life amidst pitch black eyes. "What about our destination?"

"The world will be our destination!"

Shizo giggled. "Alright, alright, I see you have it all planned, Captain. So then, what are we waiting for?"

The boy's frenetic energy collapsed and died faster than a half-baked uprising on an oppressed island.

"I'm sorry, I still don't know how to safely remove your collar..."\\

Echo tore his towel off its bar and dried himself with punishing aggression before he pulled on a loose shirt and baggy trousers and bulldozed inside his bedroom.

His gaze zeroed in on blueprints, soon-to-be-completed projects, and other useless trinkets. With a heated glare, he stomped toward his workbench, uncaring of the inventions he crushed on the way, and shred the notes and schematics pinned to the wall. What use did he have for them now? They were nothing more than the pathetic thoughts of a dumb child who'd foolishly believed his creations would lead him to the man who'd invented these blasted collars.

A raw scream tore up his throat while he swept hardware and tools off his desk before he turned his ire on his desk's drawers and ripped them off their slides. Thin cogwheels, springs, and copper wires scattered on the floor, and only when he grabbed a hold of a pair of funny-shaped goggles did he pause.

//"What's your favorite animal?"

Shizo tucked a loose strand behind her ear. "Cats, because they are fierce and agile, and they can even see in the dark."\\

... She'd been terrified of it. The dark.

Echo pressed the unfinished present to his chest before he placed it on his head. The tip of the goggle's branches grazed the back of his ears while the still-imperfect night-vision lenses—cocooned in a triangular casing—came to rest on his damp hair.

With a side-glance, he met his cracked reflection in his vanity's shattered mirror, attention zooming in on the white ear-like contraptions, before the vengeful thralls of grief sent him back on his rampage. Not a single item was spared, yet the beast remained unsatisfied and narrowed its eyes on the bedroom door.

He crossed the mansion like a rabid doll, limbs pupeteered by unfamiliar rage, and blindly entered his father's office. Wild eyes surveyed the quiet room in search of his next target, but what he found instead birthed a wild smile.

//"To eat a devil fruit is to welcome the devil."\\

Then it was only fitting that he eat one, he thought as his eyes narrowed on the pear-shaped fruit propped at the center of his father's mahogany desk.

//"Promise me, Echo. Promise me you won't cede to temptation."\\

He prowled forth, gaze captivated by the black and yellow striped fruit. It was surprisingly light, thick skin soft to the touch, and despite its imposing size, he managed to chew and swallow every last bit of the spongy atrocity.

*

Staring blankly at his dark ceiling, Echo found that 'not a great plan' didn't even start to summarize his impulse, not when there were devil fruits out there that could turn you into a literal snot-monster. The more rational part of his brain had taken a momentary leave of absence, and now that he'd returned to his room, boiling rage tuned down to a weary simmer, his more pragmatic side had reared its head back with a vengeance.

This... This was far from the rational mindset with which he'd intended to pick a devil fruit. Because it had never been a question of if he'd eat one, but which... Echo'd never cared about the sea's price, not when he was as effective a swimmer as a newborn kitten. Still, he hoped he hadn't traded his chance to turn into a bird zoan for a lame or life-altering ability.

They'd talked about this at length with Shizo, hushed whispers traded in the darkest hours of the night as they'd dreamed of powerful wings that'd carry them higher than the clouds. A wish shredded with steel and fire... Thinking about it, turning into a snot-monster was exactly what he deserved.

Echo's spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the instinctive awareness of a hectic man's approach. Not ten seconds later, his father barged in, a row of curses tumbling past his lips when he tripped over Echo's dented toolbox.

The flick of a switch chased the early evening's darkness to reveal post-battle chaos.

"Did you eat it?!" his father asked, blind to or uncaring of the mess. "The fruit on my desk. Did you eat it?"

"Yes," Echo numbly answered.

His father stalked forth. "Spit it out!" he shouted as his elegant hands grabbed a hold of Echo's apathetic form and shook him with teeth-shattering force.

"It's too late."

"Like hell it is!"

His father forced his jaw open and pushed two long fingers toward the back of his mouth. Echo trashed in protest, eyes watering as he gagged on the intrusive digits until his stomach gave. Rolling to his side, he pulled loose bangs away from his spasming stomach's reflux and stared at the bright yellow bile that sat huddled on the floor.

"It's too late," Echo repeated in a scratchy voice.

"Foolish child. You're lucky the Kesu Kesu no Mi doesn't cause any physical changes!" His father paced around the room, tense fingers pulling on thin red hair. "Can't you see all I do is to protect you?!"

Echo jumped off his bed and went to stand toe to toe with his sire. "I don't need your protection!"

"Oh, you dumb, stubborn child," his father said with a dark, humorless chuckle. "You don't need my protection, huh? WHEN WILL YOU FINALLY REALIZE YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A DRAGON THE SIZE OF AN ANT?! You wouldn't survive a day in or out of these walls without me! You," he said, fist clenching around the hem of Echo's shirt, "Are alive because I wanted it! You are free because I begged for it!"

Echo gaped, wide-eyed, at his towering father.

"I sacrificed everything for you, and make no mistake, I'd do it all again. You are my blood, my one precious surprise child, and there isn't a thing I wouldn't do to keep you safe," he said, his words as much of a promise as a threat. "But I can't do this alone, Echo. It's time you play your part." Constantin loosened his grip, and with a hefty-sigh, he said, "What's done is done, but your devil fruit power... Just don't use it. Don't even try to find out about it. Ever. Because if anyone discovers you ate one, the Gorosei will banish you faster than you can think 'freedom'."

Echo, still surfing the waves of grief, failed to see how this would be a bad thing. He'd intended to leave anyway, so why not do so with the biggest 'fuck you' he could ever throw at his brethren's faces?

"Don't." A sigh. "Donquixote Homing had the wisdom of age and money on his side, yet even he didn't survive. Whatever childish plans are brewing in that thick head of yours." Another sigh. "Just don't," his father said in a weary tone. "It's getting late. Think. Rest. Just, for the love of God, don't do anything even more stupid... We'll talk tomorrow."

And with a final sigh, his father abandoned him to a confusing maelstrom of feelings and thoughts that pulled him into a restless sleep filled with angst, hope, and a mysterious orange glow.

Echo startled awake not long after and frenetically scanned his haloed surroundings. With a confused frown, he uncurled from the cold hard floor and shuffled to his window only to take a startled step back when his bleary eyes landed on a demonic blaze.

Mary Geoise was on fire.