Lara's POV;

The entrance of this research facility was one long hallway with the occasional door to the left or right. The rooms that were connected to it were mostly storage rooms with chemicals or goods for the daily life.

“This is already the third room without anyone”, grumbled Yosaku, “when are we going to find anyone?”

I looked at Lia for an answer and promptly got one, “there should be six people in the room to our top left. They seem to sleep.”

Yosaku nodded and grabbed his weapon a little tighter. He was acting more serious since we stepped inside the tunnel. Maybe my little lecture did something? And here I thought I might have to do it again once one of them gets hurt because the other is careless.

“And what are we going to do with them?”, worried Nojiko. She was acting strong, but the slight tremble she has had since we met the first four goons betrayed her. She may have lived under Arlong for years, but actual combat is different. At least she is not opposed to killing.

“We're going to sneak in, Jo will easily be able to take them out. Am I right?”, replied and looked at the doctor. I want this guy in our crew. His name practically screams mad doctor. He might even have a cool background story. He sure is not your average doctor. He knows too much about the world to not be from the Grand Line and his demeanour was guarded when he talked with Lia about this Treteto. As if he knew him personally.

“Yes no problem”, he affirmed. We reached said room and I opened the door while decreasing the vibrations, making it soundless. The door soundlessly swung open and we stood inside an unlit room with two bunk beds. Silent breathing could be heard from each compartment and things were laying on the floor and table. Clothes, food, bottles, and weapons.

It smelled of alcohol and sweat, old sweat. Why oh, why can't these goons ever shower? I want someone who is like Mister 2. The drag queen was at least clean, if sadly not shaven.

The next part was Jo's, he walked silently up to the first sleeping guy and pierced his neck with one of his scalpels. It hit the spinal cord precisely and the guy was paralysed. He opened his eyes in shock but was not able to either move or scream. All he could do was to silently endure the fast death that came with bleeding out through a cut throat. A wound that followed directly after his spinal puncture.

Jo killed the other three guys in the same way and I watched Nojiko, Yosaku, and Jonny. Nojiko and Jonny both have their eyes averted from the killing, but Yosaku was staring at the dead body.

A strange expression was on his face. Must be contemplating the acts we do.

If I remember correctly they adopted Zoro's view on an honourable sword fight. I don't think that I can convince them of fighting with all means, but it might be possible to make them more open to killing. Zoro himself is probably the most deadly in the Straw Hats, next to Robin.

Jo finished before Yosaku could decide on something and we left the room. Further along the hallway, we found the first cross.

“The left has three people at their end, one of them is the strong guy. The other end has the remaining weak presences”, informed Lia.

“I have to speak with Treteto, I want to know why he is doing this”, declared Jo with no room to argue.

“Fine then, Lia, please go with Nojiko, Yosaku, and Jonny. You four will take out the weaker goons. Jo and I will meet this doctor. Come back when you've finished on your end”. Lia did not look like she wanted to agree but nodded with a frown. While Nojiko looked relieved to have someone strong with her.

“Be careful, this guy feels strong. He can be dangerous”, warned Lia, she then gave me a hug and we parted ways.

“So, why are two of the Long-Ear-Tribe here in East Blue?”, asked Jo the moment we were alone.

“We grew up here. Our parents didn't want to live on the Grand Line any longer and settled down in the weakest sea. What about you? You're way too knowledgeable for a normal doctor”, I answered and promptly asked. He's really interesting, the name alone would be enough to have him in my crew. It would be a hilarious inside joke.

Jo stiffened briefly and I might have missed it if I wouldn't be able to feel the increased vibrations of his heartbeat and the slight vibrational tremor in his breath.

“I'm roaming around. Seeking those who might need help”, he finally answered. It was not the truth, but also not a lie.

“The world is cruel, why would you help others? What is in it for you?”, I mused in interest.

“Redemption”, he whispered, but said louder, “I want to prove that the skills of a doctor lay mainly in healing”. I love my ears, so Jo is giving himself the blame for something.

“But you use your knowledge for the purpose of killing. The way you killed those sleeping men, that was a precise attack at their spinal cord”, I countered.

He glanced at me with a calculating look, “yes, that is true. But I want to help those in need. Killing those who will harm others is also a way of healing. Getting rid of the rot is sometimes necessary for the survival of the body.” How philosophical.

“True”, I agreed fully, with the difference in the amount of garbage that has to be getting rid off. “Say, Jo, wanna come with us?”, I then asked with my most dazzling smile.

“Don't smile like that. It's creepy, your eyes are almost glowing. And what is your modus operandi? The way you killed the guards showed me that you have no qualm about killing. And you don't belong to the Marines. This means that you are pirates or bounty hunters. Who are not much different from pirates, only that pirates have a bigger hunting ground”. He was now looking at me again, with the same calculating and judging look from before.

Why is my smile creepy? Lia always likes it when I smile like that.

“We are something like adventurers. Nojiko wants to see the world, Jonny and Yosaku want to become strong so that they can prove themselves to someone.”

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“What about you and your sister?”, he asked directly as if the others did not matter.

“Lia and I? Well, we are oddballs. Come with us and I promise you an adventure. But we will fight Marines and pirates alike. You don't have to worry about us pillaging or raping innocents. That is not something we like. Too easy, gets boring too fast”, I answered and grinned this time at him.

“Your grin is better than your smile.... I might agree to join your crew, under one condition”, he said after a long pause. We were now almost at the end of the gang. There was a closed metal double door in front of us.

“And that would be?”, I asked without looking at him. Now that I am closer I too am able to feel the stronger presence. It's indeed stronger than Smoker.

“We will not accept anything like slavery or experiments on living beings”, he said deadly serious. I am a lot less skilled in feeling emotions, but the self-loathing and hate for any such thing was easy to feel even for me.

“No problems there. In fact, that's good”, I agreed and drew my sword.

Jo looked at me as if he wanted to ask what I meant, but said nothing and pulled his scalpels as well. I then stepped forwards and cut down at the door. The heavy metal double door got cut midway and crashed inwards. A shocked cry came from inside and the stronger presence flared, it got ready for a fight.

“Treteto!”, growled Jo. He walked into the room, directly followed by me. The inside was a laboratory. There even was a patient strapped on a table. It was a thrashing man, his arms and legs were bound and his mouth gagged.

“Doctor Mengele, what an honour to have you here”, greeted a thin man. He too wore a lab coat like Jo. He also had a hat with a strange symbol. It was the number 731 and the wings of the Marines were flying over a skull. So this is a Marine sanctioned operation? Must be some hidden part, like the CPs.

The last of the three was a big man with a large woodcutter axe in his hands. He was a bearded man, almost three meters tall and big. Lots of muscles were showing under his lumberjack shirt. He also had the same symbol as Treteto printed on his shirt. This guy belongs to the strong presence. For now, he was only looking at the situation with a calm look, he gave me only a slight glance.

“Never! What we did was wrong!”, shouted Jo suddenly and I refocused on the heated talk.

“Wrong? Scientific progress is never wrong! You suddenly burned down all your notes and even tried to sabotage the whole work. You were brilliant. What doctor Vegapunk, Caesar and you, after Hogback's vanishing, were working on was world changing. And then you tried to destroy it without reason”, shouted Treteto back.

Jo was working together with Vegapunk and Caesar. The hell is with my new Doc? Oh, this is promising to become cool.

“It is wrong to turn humans into such things. I thought we were searching for new ways of using prostheses not for creating weapons of mass destruction. And on top of that even at the cost of countless lives”, denied Jo. What is he meaning? Prostheses?

“Project Pacifista would have been finished already if you haven't had suddenly gained a conscience. Those were prisoners, dirt, nothing to worry about”, cut Treteto in without any emotions. “You have set the project back for years and only now are they close to finish.

But, I have to thank you as well. Without your flight, I would have never been able to put my own touch to the project. My help with the bodily chemicals and their influence on the human body gave me enough recommendation to start my own project again.

Thanks to you I am almost finished with Haze. Haze 4 will be the best soldier pill that has graced this world. It will be used by every Marine and will bring hell to each and everyone who opposes the World Government.”

This is awesome! Jo was part of the Pacifista program. But for how long, how much is still the same?

“Alas, I am rambling. We always ramble don't we? Something that we shared. Yet it's time to part ways, forever. My loyal friend Viscent here will see you out.” And with that said the bear like man sprung into action and jumped forward. His axe swung down at Jo's neck and would have cut his head off had I not pulled him back.

“So the little long ear is able to follow me?”, laughed this Viscent in a deep voice. “It matters not, you have heard too much with your long ears.” He took another swing, this time at me. The large blade of his axe would have been able to cut smaller trees in two with one hit, so I better not let myself get hit by it.

I ducked under the incoming attack and tried to give him a hit with my free left hand, he was too close to cut down. However, he raised the handle of his weapon and I landed a hit on it, rather than his body. He was still pushed backwards and skidded to a stop a few meter away from me.

Treteto, Jo, and Viscent looked at me with wide eyes. Before Viscent began to laugh and charge at me. His axe ready to cleave me in two halves.

But this time I was not too close used my blade to counter. A block was not possible, no one blocks an axe. And especially not with a sword that isn't meant to block anything. I used my superior speed and sidestepped him again. My blade was already in an upwards cut when his fist hit me on my side.

I haven't seen how the hidden attack and got sent right into the wall at the opposite of the room. I barely managed to apply Haki on my ribs before his strike connected. And another burst of Haki before I impacted with the wall. Still, I felt that. It will not bruise but was definitely strong enough to kill Yosaku or Jonny.

“A resilient one?” He questioned with a raised eyebrow. He re-gripped his axe with both hands and waited for me to come out.

“Dammit, I should stop playing around”, I muttered while climbing out of the hole. Stupid axe is too big to look past it. But it's only metal and forged metal is prone to shatter under strong enough strain. A strain that might come in the form of vibrations. It was a pain in the ass to find the correct metal alloy that would survive my own power.

“I hate your axe”, I remarked before using a Soru to come close to him. My hands shot forward and gripped the side of his blade before I left a good dose of vibrations into it. The sudden move and closeness left him to pause for a moment and it was enough to apply enough vibrations to let him loose the grip on his weapon.

He tried to hit me again, but this time I have not a big-ass axe in my face, so I retreated. His axe was still under the influence of my power and I felt how small tiny cracks began to form.

“A Devil Fruit? No need to hold back then”, he stated and then his body began to change. His hands became paws and his skin turned hairy. His head transformed into that of a teddy bear. This guy was a Zoan Fruit user of the model bear. Black bear if I'm correct.

Now equipped with long, sure to be sharp, claws he came at me. Fully indenting to give me a bear hug. Pun intended. But if there's one thing I truly hate about males than it is their hair. And this guy is hairy as fuck. So I took a swing with his axe and hurled it at him with as much strength as I could.

The weapon turned into a spinning razor and flew directly at him. He tried to get out of the way, but his now larger frame was hindering him. He still barely managed to not get an axe latched into his body, but the left side of his fur is now way shorter than what it was before.

“No one cuts my fur!”, he roared but had to cross his arms in front of his chest to block the slash of my sword. My blade was humming slightly and started to cut into his claws. They then suddenly turned black and he roared while throwing me away.

So he's a Haki using bear? I did a flip and landed in a crouch, from which I jumped out back towards him. He met me halfway with his paw and I aimed at the same place I have already left a mark.

I further enhanced my humming blade with my own Haki and blade met claw. His claws weren't made to compete against one of the best swords in this world and gave in after only a moment. With another firm push in cut through the horn and into his hands. They were harder and also enhanced with Haki, so I did not manage to cut his hand off. Not even enough to give him a deep wound. His muscles and Haki enforced strength were a serious protection.

It would also have been the perfect opportunity to prove my words to Yosaku. Because his hand clamped down on my blade and the other clawed hand came down at me from the top right and would have hit me if I haven't been aware of it.

I let go of my blade, still in his hand and ducked down under the incoming sweep. I then pushed both my palms upwards and jumped with outstretched arms into his stomach.

The force alone would have been a heavy hit, enhance the attack with Haki and vibrations and you get something devastating. The pure force would not have given him more than a slight bruise, but the vibration travelled right through his muscles. It strained and ripped at the softer organs and shredded or boiled them.

The sudden movement pushed the cells into one direction and they overcame the boundaries of their cell structure. His intestines ripped, his liver ruptured and his kidneys exploded. This travelled through his whole body with water as its conductor.

“A heavy outer defence is nothing if the insides are weak”, I told him while he toppled over and began to spit blood and parts of his stomach out.

“Fuck you!”, were his last protesting words before I cut his head off. Nice last words, could only have been better with spitting blood in my face.

With that done I turned around to look out for Jo. He too has finished with his fight. He was sporting a bruised eye and some blood patches on his lab coat. The dead body of Treteto was laying next to him.

“What happened?”, I asked while cleaning my blade on the fur of Viscent. His body was not changing back.

“He used Haze 4 on himself, got stronger, faster and more resilient. Yet he never was a fighter and I learned a lot since I am gone from the Marines. Listen, Lara, I don't want anyone to find out about what I did, so I would appreciate if you stay quiet”, he answered and looked down at the dead body.

“I will only tell Lia, I tell her everything. But other than her no one will know”, I told him.

He sighed loudly before nodding once, “I understand. But please only her, and make her promise not to tell someone else”.

“Sure, Lia won't think less of you”, I assured. Lia is probably not thinking anything of him now. She sure will once she learns of his involvement with the Pacifista but that is nothing bad.

“What did he mean with project Pacifista anyway?”, I asked then.

“Nothing important for now. It's in my past and not something that I want to bring up again.” He punctuated this with a shake of his head and gave him a shrug in acceptance.

Jonny chose that moment to come inside.

“Sis Lara, we've found more villagers, some are in bad condition.” He then noticed the large bear man and jumped a little before looking at me with a large question on his face.

“Zoan Fruit user, he was the strong presence. Anyway, Jo will be able to help them, am I right Jo?”

“Let me see them first.” Jonny then led Jo out of the room and I walked over to the man that was still strapped to the table. He was no longer thrashing around and looked at me with pleading eyes.

“Yes yes, I'm gonna unbind you. But if you attack me I will stop you”, I said and he nodded. I ungagged him and freed him of the restraints.

“Thank you”, he croaked out, clearly not under the influence of Haze. I ignored him from then on and walked out of the room to follow Jo and Jonny.