Broken Faith

Lesson 18: To question a World Noble is to declare war on the World Government

Nitroglycerine.

Stifling a yawn you stared at the word on your notepad, before aggressively scribbling it out like you had the previous fifteen times. This wasn't working. You were just going round in circles at this point. Round and round in circles... But could it be nitroglycerine?

No!

Collapsing backwards, you stared blank eyed at the gentle sway of the trees above you. This wasn't making sense. The book you'd borrowed from the Foosha library lay next to you, closed to avoid damage. You didn't even need to look at it any more. The number of times you had poured over it, you would be surprised if you didn't have it memorised by now. Most of it wasn't even helpful, just restating things you already knew. Deep down you counted your lucky stars that you had been paranoid enough to research various explosives in your childhood, absolutely petrified that you were going to be under attack from an unknown assailant.

Fire... heat... throat hoarse from calling for help.

Well... fat lot of good that did you in the end. But at least you knew now.

It was that initial knowledge that had sent your mind into this endless loop. In particular, knowing that nitroglycerine smelt sweet. Like burnt sugar, to be precise. It was one of its key defining features. However...

Sitting upright you grabbed the book and flipped to page 538, waving aside a golden brown leaf as it drifted down from a molting tree. You scanned the words hoping that this time, the final time, you would be hit by some sudden spurt of inspiration. But the text was the same as it had always been, your brain miraculously managing to decipher the squiggles as the ink blurred in your vision.

'While nitroglycerine is a powerful explosive, it has one major disadvantage - it is very, very unstable. To be useful an explosive has to be able to withstand, without detonating, the jolts and bumps both of its manufacture, and the transportation to where it will be used. Nitroglycerine is far too dangerous for this, and many people lost their lives in the last century trying to use nitroglycerine for peaceful purposes like quarrying. Thus, after the invention of dynamite 50 years ago, the World Government proclaimed that the sale and export of pure nitroglycerine was strictly prohibited, leading to the collapse of numerous mining...''

And that was that. You snapped the book shut. No more nitroglycerine. Not that it really needed much prompting. Not even the most mentally unstable criminal would want to get their hands on that stuff. Dynamite was a far safer alternative, no questions asked.

But the warehouse smelt sweet... Too sweet to be from dynamite...

So it must be nitroglycerine!

You groaned, letting your head thump back against the cushion of leaves once more. It felt so nice to lie down. Like your body was sinking deeper and deeper into the pile of autumnal leaves.

Honestly, why couldn't those idiots have just blown themselves up. Your life would be so much easier without this burning curiosity inside of you. But... Your lips curled. But this was almost fun in a way. You actually felt like you were doing something for once, rather than relying on Ace, Sabo, Luffy, and the others. As much as you liked doing your carving in the woods, it often got just a bit...

Stagnant. As if you were frozen in place doing the same thing day after day.

This was new! Exciting! You didn't know what was going to happen next. You felt a little guilty thinking that way about something that had caused people to lose their lives, but you'd firmly decided to stop lying to yourself. If it made you happy then it made you happy. Nothing bad about that.

Besides, you thought to yourself as your heavy eyelids flitted shut, it felt good to have a bigger purpose than carving children's toy ships.

A shadow fell over you. "Whatcha doin'?"