The Puppet Master [One Piece]

The Demon

~Echo’s POV~

                Bitter cold pierced through me as I stumbled into consciousness. My body felt heavy and I found myself struggling to lift my head. I opened my eyes slowly expecting to be blinded by light, but resorted to blinking a few times to make sure I hadn’t gone blind. It was dark and took quite some time for my eyes to adjust to the din. A flimsy piece of material slipped away from my body as I groggily sat up. Someone had attempted to cover me up, but whom?

                “You shouldn’t move just yet, girl.” A low somewhat raspy voice called out to me in the darkness. I’d heard that voice before, in a vision I had.

                He spoke the truth. The moment I sat up, I was overcome with pain and nearly doubled over. My body protested even the slightest bit of movement feeling lethargic, sluggish and heavily weighed down. Parts of me I didn’t know existed felt bruised and broken and I dropped back to the floor with a soft whimper of pain.

                “They did a number on you when you lost consciousness.” The gravelly voice chuckled.

                That’s typically how members of the World Government and Marines did things; ‘kick them while they’re down’ seemed to be their motto. They were despicable beings. “That’s usually how they operate.” I grumbled bitterly as I cleared my mind to block out the pain.

                “I wonder how the elusive demon of Funesto managed to get caught?” The raspy voice mused.

                I turned my head to see who was talking and took a double take. The man occupying the cell with me was none other than the former Warlord, Crocodile. He was a tall well built man with stitched scars across his cheek and slicked back black hair. In place of his left hand was an oversized golden hook which somehow (thought it seemed a little redundant) was shackled along with his normal sized right hand.

                Resigning myself to get up, I ignored him and rolled to my feet. Agony rippled through me, every muscle in my body protested against me, but I miraculously managed to stay on my feet. Teetering slightly, I managed to stumble toward the door of my cell. My legs were unsteady and I found myself leaning against the bars and grasping them tightly in an attempt to keep myself upright as I peered through the bars at the cell across from me.

                Ace was there! He was chained to the wall, his arms suspended above him as he sat on the ground with his head hung low. His skin was dusty, flecked with some dirt and some dried blood in places. Bruises dotted his body at random probably from his capture and possibly during his stay here.

                I opened my mouth to call over to him only to snap it shut again as a handful of guards approached my cell. What now?

                “Stand back demon.” One guard barked at me.

                “What do you want?” I glared as they aligned themselves outside the door as if to enter my cell.

                “Your presence is requested.” Another guard pointed with a malicious smirk.

                “Where?” I stood my ground.

                “Interrogation.”

                I heard a few prisoners hiss sympathetically nearby, some cackled madly and the majority in the area flinched. “You can try I smirked as I loosed some of my wires preparing for them.

                The door surged open and they rushed in, their formation seemed pretty well thought out, but I was quicker. I caught three of them with my wires and turned them on their comrades. Someone hit me on the back of the neck from behind and I was suddenly paralyzed. My body slumped forward before I had time to withdraw my wires.

                “What the hell are these?” One of the guards gaped as the wires slackened around my three victims.

                No! They discovered the wires.

                “This how you’ve been protecting yourself?” Someone asked wickedly.

                Motor function was still completely beyond me, I couldn’t move!

                “We’ll have to do something about that.”

                No! I couldn’t let them take them away; they were the last possession I had from my father. They were like a treasure to me.

                “Bastard!” I snarled willing my body to regain motor function, struggling against all odds to force myself to move.

                They caught the loose wires and began pulling them away from me.

                My breathing became desperate and labored as I fought to move. “Get away from me!” I raged.

                “Not so tough without these creepy things, are you?” The guards were enjoying stripping me of my wires.

                “Stop it!” I raged as my arms were completely exposed and they continued unraveling my wires.

                Tears welled in my eyes as I felt my father’s presence fading away with each tug. I couldn’t lose him again! The wires were all I had left of him, all I had left of my home, my people. The upper part of my torso started to become exposed as they continued stripping away my wires.

                Their cold laughter began to fill the cell. One of them poked at me with his sword and grinned as blood bubbled to the surface. “Not unstoppable now, demon.”

                “Please don’t.” My voice was desperate, broken and defeated, “They’re all I have left of my father.” A few tears escaped my hold.

                “That self-righteous bastard?” A guard with an evil disposition and a single slash scar across his left cheek smirked, “I enjoyed watching his head get bashed in.”

                Something inside of me snapped. All I saw was red, deep scarlet, the color of blood, rage, and vengeance. In that moment I completely lost myself. A wild shriek escaped me and my wires suddenly grew taught slicing right through the hands and fingers desperately trying to pry them away from me. Blood sprayed from the severed limbs as nubs of fingers and stubs of hands fell to the cell floor followed by the agonizing wail of the men I’d disfigured. I truly was a demon. I held no more claim to humanity, every shred of it gone as I was inflicted with the painful memories of the massacre of my kin.