Chapter 28: Part 3.7
Keystone threw down the last brick for his bridge and stumbled off to lean up against a tree while panting heavily. He clutched his chest a few times and made some exaggerated motions with his hands. He was quickly followed by everyone else behind him, including myself.
Most people shrugged off people they were carrying near the shore Keystone ended his bridge at and collapsed, their hands shooting up into the air and grasping at nothing. Once everyone made it to shore Keystone lifted his hand in the air and gave a big thumbs up to everyone.
"Good cardio everyone. Great workout..." He panted out.
He received a bunch of groans from the prisoners in response. I didn't see what their problem was. I was just fine. Sure, it was a long run, and I carried a guy more than half the way, but it was nowhere close to running laps around Level Four for the mandatory exercise the prisoners and guards used to have to do. Magellan had started, and stopped, that program itself. It was fine until too many people died. Even the Warden has a limit on people who can die.
Too bad. The death triathlons was probably some of the only exercise the prisoners ever got.
When Keystone catches his breath after a long time during which I was staring at trees and wondeeing how they worked. I knew they made oxygen, but how exactly do they work? Do they just take the shitty air around them, suck it in, turn it into less shitty air, then put it back out again? Or am I missing something?
Keystone takes a deep breath then calls out to the crowd, "Alright everyone. Gather around, I have an announcement to make."
Slowly but surely, we all circle around him. When we finish, he twitches and waves his hands. "No no no. Don't circle around me. Makes me feel like I'm surrounded. Ughh. Semi-circle, yah, make a semi-circle."
Groaning, the men shamble around until we are clustered just how Keystone wants us. He raises his right hand and inches his fingers apart, "Do you think you could scooch just a little bit out of my peripherals? I don't want to be startled in case somebody makes a sudden movement I don't like. I can't see the people standing there so well because of my mask."
More people groan and I ask confused, "Isn't the peripheral the muscles in your stomach, or do I have that wrong again?"
Klahadore, who was running alongside me the entire trip from Impel Down from here and hasn't sweated a single drop, pushes his glasses up. Then he explains, "He's referring to the field of vision commonly known as 'the corner of your eye'."
I make a fist and smack my palm in realization. "Ah. That makes sense. I don't even worry about those can I can hardly see out of the corners of my eye because of my mask."
A thought strikes me and I rub my chin for a bit. Then I call out to Keystone, "Hey Keystone, why don't you take off your mask so you can see better and all these tired guys don't have to move around?"
The prisoners seem to agree with me and throw several questioning comments to the Cipher Pol agent. Keystone jus shakes his head. "No way! It hides my secret identity, which is important to me. Why don't you take off your mask?" He asks accusationly.
I simply reply, "I take this mask off all the time when my face gets itchy or when I need to eat. I wear it because it was the second thing someone had ever given me."
"Oh yah, prove it. Take your mask off right now."
No reason not to. I reach behind my head and ubdo the leather straps one by one. The prisoners watch with baited breath as I do so. When the straps are done, I grab the front of my mask with one hand. Slowly, for dramatic effect, I begin to lower it. Then I quickly lower it when my forehead is shown to maximize the drama and reveal my face.
Most of the prisoners recoil with widened eyes. Maybe they're freaked out by the stitches?
"What the hell happened to your face?" He calls out.
I explain, "When I was young, I was a snitch. Still am I guess. Anyways, snitches don't make a lot of friends in Impel Down, and I've been introduced to the buisness end of some shivs more times than I can count."
With that out of the way, I put my mask back on. My face didn't get the same protection from the sun that my body got from Gurry becasue of the mask and the natural light hurts damn it.
Keystone coughs to get everyone's attention. "Well, sorry for making it awkward. But now I need to hurry because I'm on a bit of a deadline. First of all I want to introduce you all to the wonderful Brakka Island! Fun fact, the island is split in half. This half of the forest is always in the opposite season as the other half. Right now it's Fall here, so it's Spring on the other side of the island. This half is uninhabited, while the other half has a large population. Which is important for what I'm about to tell you."
He takes a deep breath, then continues, "Brakka island has for years been a member of the World Government. That means that they pay a quarterly tithe, or tax, and in exchange are afforded protection from invasion from other World Government affiliate nations and the Marines protect them from large scale pirate attacks while the city guard handles smaller crews. Pretty common setup. What isn't common is that they have failed to pay the tithe for the last two quarters. CP3 investigated and found that this was due to Revolutionary attacks on the treasure ships. Because of this, they have been granted another quarter to pay the tithe while under probation. Under probation the Marines will no longer interfere unless ordered directly by the Fleet Admiral who is occupied right now, and will probably still be occupied for the next few days... or even months. The projections aren't sure what's going to happen after this war ends, but it won't be pretty."
"Why is any of this important!" Someone called out in the crowd.
Keystone pointed this man out and shouted, "You! What's you're name?"
"Ughh. Shiv."
"Well, Ughh Shiv, I'm glad you asked! My plan involving Manjū-san involves him being as terrifying to the general population as possible. And you know what's terrifying Ughh Shiv?"
"Egg grenades?"
"Yes! Egg grenades-" Keystone stopped and shot Shiv a dirty look. "What?"
Shiv panicked and looked around at everyone looking at him confused. He shook his hands around and explained, "My old captain used to turn eggs into grenades and paint them in beutful colors with distracting patterns. Then he would dress as a platypus and go around claiming he was Easter. His name was Easel, not Easter. Then he would go in disguise into towns, hand out the egg grenades, then sneak out and remotely detonate them."
Keystown just stood there blankly and then responded, "That is terrifying. Not what I was talking about however. What are pirates mostly feared for?"
"Pillaging." Kreig replied with a massive grin on his face.
Keystone laughed, long and creepily. His laughing was echoed by a few prisoners who joined him. He then tossed me a glass sphere with a needle floating in it and addressed me.
"Manjū-san. To earn your true freedom, take these men and burn and loot Brakka Village to the ground, then set sail to Diz-Harmony Island for further instructions."
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