Chapter 16 Katie
"Ability Users are really troublesome."
Nicholas was also feeling a headache. In the Pirate World, some Devil Fruit Abilities were just too outrageous. Even for the Strongest, carelessness could lead to considerable trouble.
Some Abilities were almost invincible. Logia Type and Zoan Type were relatively easier to deal with, but some Paramecia Type were just ridiculously absurd, pushing absurdity to its limits.
Just as Nicholas was lying on the Throne, wondering if he should find an opportunity to have Shaki help him collect a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, he suddenly saw an interesting scene in his 'Perspective'.
A thin and weak little girl was cautiously weaving through the dirty, dilapidated Alley.
And it seemed she knew that there were Monsters wandering around the City, as she had deliberately disguised herself with various Trash and Silt from the Sewer to confuse the Monsters' Sense of Smell.
Nicholas followed the little girl through the complex Alley, across the Commercial Street, and into a small Alleyway. Then, he saw the little girl stop in front of a Wall.
After cautiously looking left and right, and finding no one else around, she laboriously moved a Stone.
After moving the Stone away, a small Hole appeared at the base of the Wall.
After the little girl entered the Hole, she laboriously moved the Stone back into place.
Under Nicholas's 'gaze', the little girl moved downwards along the dark Cave. Judging by her practiced movements, she had obviously walked this path countless times.
"'Cave Dweller' in the City? But this is really interesting."
Looking at the little girl's destination, Nicholas revealed a look of interest.
He originally thought that many things that happened in his previous life were already unbelievable, but after coming to the Pirate World, what he had seen was far more unbelievable than things in his former world.
After all, that world was at least somewhat orderly. In this Pirate World where Strength reigned supreme, the lives of those at the bottom could be described as being in dire straits.
Soon, the little girl passed through the long Darkness, and a Underground Factory constantly emitting black smoke appeared before her.
As if completely separated from the upper world, the people here were still unaware of what had happened above.
The huge factory emitted black smoke, even making the unseen dome above even darker, artificially adding a black curtain to it. The entire Underground Space had no light source except for the light emitted by the factory.
And the little girl carefully ran towards a rock Wall. One could see that the huge rock Wall was covered with dense Caves, and many Caves contained Life Auras that were extremely weak.
The interiors of these Dwellings didn't even have a table or other Furniture, only a dirty and messy Bedding.
The little girl hugged the Cloth Bag in her arms tightly, vigilantly looking around. She knew that here, these same kind were even more terrifying than those Monsters outside. After entering one of the Caves,
"Papa, Mama!"
The little girl shouted quickly.
In the Cave, a pair of thin men and women lay on tattered Bedding. It was obvious that they had not eaten for a long time, and could all be described as skin and bones.
The man laboriously stretched out his hand, touched the little girl's head, and said weakly, "Katie, be quiet, Mama is asleep, don't wake her."
"I…"
The little girl looked at the peacefully sleeping woman, opened her mouth, but said nothing.
Then, as if thinking of something, she quickly took out the Cloth Bag from her arms, unfolded it, and said to the lying man, "Papa, food, if you don't eat, you will be taken away for recycling like Uncle Jike next door."
Seeing the slightly moldy Bread in the Cloth Bag, a gentle smile appeared on the lying man's face. He touched the little girl's head and said gently, "Katie, eat it. And Katie, after Papa also falls asleep, you must find a way to leave here. Papa knows that with Katie's intelligence, you will definitely be able to do it."
After speaking, the man glanced at his peacefully sleeping wife beside him. For Refugees like them on the Grand Line, sometimes Death was also a relief.
Tap~
With a soft sound, the man's hand fell weakly to the Ground.
And Katie also seemed to realize something, and hurriedly and frantically stuffed the slightly moldy Bread in the bag into the man's mouth, but no matter how she stuffed it, the man didn't seem to have any chewing movements.
Looking at her motionless parents, Katie stopped her movements, and tears also fell down.
With a soft sound, when Katie turned her head, she found a strange person suddenly standing beside her. His face was not as pale and numb as the people here, his body was also obviously very healthy, and his clothes were even more neat.
"Human Life is sometimes so fragile. Life itself has no meaning, but in the process of living, you might find interesting things. So, are you willing to board my ship?"
In fact, even if Nicholas wanted to, he couldn't save the man in front of him, because the flame of his Life had long become so weak that it could be extinguished at any time. In other words, long-term overload labor had already squeezed out his Life potential completely.
Katie heard this strange guy say strange words, wiped away her tears, "Then can you save my Papa and Mama?"
"I can't do it now, but maybe I can in the future."
Nicholas said.
"Okay, then I'll join you."
"I am Albert Nicholas, from today onwards, I will be your Captain."
"I am Katie Reminis, from today onwards, I will follow Captain Albert Nicholas, becoming the Captain's most loyal follower!"
Katie looked at her peacefully sleeping parents, wiped away her tears, sniffled, and tried her best to make herself look like a little adult.
Nicholas took out a Candy from his pocket, tore open the packaging, and handed it to her, "It's very sweet, do you want to try it?"
Very fragrant.
Extremely fragrant.
Katie looked at the white Candy in Nicholas's hand that exuded a rich fragrance, and swallowed hard.
"Eat it, my future Head Chef."
Nicholas put the Candy made by Bell-lin to her mouth. Katie finally couldn't help it, and gently licked it. Just this one lick made her feel unprecedented happiness. Was this the taste of Candy?
"Let's go, calculating the time, Bell-lin and the others should have finished dealing with it."
Saying this, Nicholas planned to get up and walk outside.
Katie followed Nicholas blankly, obviously now in her mind, Nicholas would be the person she followed.
When she saw the Guards patrolling everywhere in Uniforms and Armor, Katie pulled on the corner of Nicholas's clothes, signaling him to hide, after all, in Katie's mind, these Guards in Armor were the rulers of this Underground Space.
"By the way, how did you guys come here?"
As several Lightning bolts appeared out of thin air, all the patrolling Guards fell to the Ground.
"Ah!"
After a moment, Katie who had reacted, recounted how they had arrived here.
According to Katie, they were Refugees from the Sea. As for Refugees, they were people who were unable to pay Tax. They were deprived of their identity and could only wander around on the Sea. People like them were often the favorite Prey of Slave Trader.
And Katie's parents came here after seeing the Job Advertisement of the Taji Royal Family, originally thinking of finding a job and settling down, but they didn't expect that after the Taji Royal Family gathered them at the Wharf, they directly brought them here, and then it was endless dark labor.
As for Katie, because she was too young, she escaped a disaster instead.
Katie also discovered the secret passage leading to the upper world in the process of wandering around.
"So, this is the legendary Human Battery, once used up, it's directly scrapped, it's really cheap to the extreme Labor Force."
(End of chapter)