Lara's POV:
“So you want to tell me that Mrs Chicken Wing is a super intelligent chicken that can fight an Admiral and has a whole island of like-minded chickens somewhere in the Calm Belt?” Lia nodded and I almost laughed, while feeling like crying. Of course, there were more.
We also didn't stumble into a normal One Piece world. Then again, who says that this isn't normal and the original series just skipped them? I mean the CP9 had a highly intelligent pigeon. Who says that it isn't one of them?
“Okay!” I finally said and Mrs Chicken Wing, who sat on a chair in our quarter looked at me with a tilt of her head. “I mean, why not? The Grand Line is fucked up and I have seen way stranger things. Heck, we both are stranger.”
“Bough?”, asked Mrs Chicken Wing. I think she wanted to know if I truly believe her, or asked what we are now going to do.
“Mrs Chicken Wing, if we come upon information about your husband, then we will go and help him. That is if it isn't too dangerous. If it is for us, then we will at least try to plan for some other way. Is that good enough?” The hen I spoke to nodded her head in agreement and clucked once more. She then jumped down from her seat, opened the door and left our room.
I stared at the door for a moment, thinking about the possible mistakes I have done that warranty such a cruel fate. The countless chicken I might not be able to eat!
Lia thankfully gave me time and allowed me to wipe the tears away. I calmed down after a few deep breaths and a package of tissues.“What else did you find in the lab?”, I then asked once I forced the information down. “We also need to start the training we prepared for the future. I don't want to face someone like an Admiral and flee.”
“Indeed. As for the lab, well, there was a three-barrelled cannon. I think they experimented with a different kind of ammunition as well as a higher firing frequency.
The other lab had something of higher importance. It was most likely also the reason for Kizaru's present and the future. They experimented on a few of Mrs Chicken Wing's brethren. From what I could see, before she destroyed the data, they were trying to find a counter to their highly strong Haki.
Do you think those birds are strong enough to threaten the World Government? Mrs Chicken Wing is certainly strong enough.”
“No, she has to be an exception. They wouldn't be isolated otherwise. I think there are a few highly skilled and strong among them, but by far not the majority. Kinda strange to speak about chicken, as if they are real people and on top of that really dangerous.
I don't think I should set foot on this pellicular island. Or else we might have to fight our way out. Just because I can't kill Mrs Chicken Wing does not mean that I can't hit one of her feathered friends.
So when we visit them you will have to act as the captain. I will remain on the ship.” It finally came, a day where I will have to refrain myself from hunting and eating poultry. What sad day it is.
Lia nodded and started to get ready for bed. “I understand. Well, at least she is not offended when you eat normal chicken. She said they aren't seen as brethren.”
“What will be our next destination?”, I asked while also getting undressed.
“Jaya most likely. If there weren't any fillers we will now have to see as well.” She said while undoing her braids. I hummed and finished with my clothes. I was just about to get under my blankets when Lia coughed loudly.
“Don't you think you forgot something?”, she asked with a sultry smile. She was sitting on the table, her legs spread wide and her sex in full view.
“Ah”, I replied lamely and grabbed a pillow for my knees, this might take some time. At least I will not dehydrate.
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Josef Mengele's POV:
Two days ago we had our raid of the Marine base. The one that almost got us killed because there was an Admiral. Neither Lia nor Lara claims to know how he simply vanished. I trust them that they don't know the how, but am not so sure about the why.
Yet, there are only a handful of possible explanations. The first, and most absurd, is that Mrs Chicken Wing fought him and forced him to flee....yes, not exactly something believable. She may be strong, but Admiral strong?
The second one is that he got beaten by Lara and Lia, however, I don't think they are strong enough to do that, at least not yet.
And then, thirdly and at least for me the most likely reason, the Admiral might have gotten the order to take the research data and secure it before a stray bomb or attack might hit it. The defence was certainly strong enough against most Paradise crew's, so him vanishing with the belief that everything will be taken care of is not unlikely.
Either way, it doesn't truly matter and isn't even what I am wracking my brain about. No, the Marine base was an almost mistake but we managed and will be more careful from now on.
What I am struggling with is the history of my captain and her sister. Why are two long-ear-humans really in East Blue. Their answer to have grown up there doesn't feel to be a lie, but it lacks the reason.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The same with how they are so strong. They must have been trained from an early age to be so strong now. What reason did they have for that?
And then there is the next large mystery about them. Why does Lara have the symbol of the Sun Pirates on her back and does Lia have it as well? They couldn't be part of the crew, it was a fishman only crew.
And Fisher Tiger was killed by Kizaru almost 10 years ago, they would have been too young, even if they were part of the crew. It must be something else.
So why is it that they have his mark? I do have some suspicions, but think it might be better to ask them directly. They don't act like liars, especially Lara. I just have to word my questions carefully, as they do like to only answer the question, but not the hidden things.
That is why I ordered Lara and Lia into my office under the pretence to check Lara's shoulder.
“Jo, can I take this stupid thing off now?” Speak of the devil and he will come. Lara just opened the door, her arm still in a sling, and sat down on the bed. Lia followed her silently.
“Let me see, normally I would say no, but you two seem to heal a lot faster than the regular human. Might be a long-ear trait”, I answered and began to take her sling off.
“Say, Lara, I noticed the burn mark on your back”, I then began while undoing the bandages on her shoulder. It gave me a good view of her back.
“You don't have to pussyfoot around the topic Jo, we both know that you are way to knowledgeable to not know what it represents”, she answered with a joyful tone, underlined with some seriousness that was only rarely in her voice.
“Yeah, I forgot that you can be way more deceptive than what you act like. Okay, why do you have the burn mark of the late Sun Pirates on your back? And am I safe to assume that Lia does as well?” And here I thought I might be able to not cut right into the matter. This is sure to have been something dark and ripping old wounds open is not what I want.
“We will tell you if you tell us more about project Pacifista”, offered Lia from my side. I shuddered briefly. Lia was always the colder of the two and her voice in combination with project Pacifista brings back memories.
Still, it might be good to tell someone. Neither of the two is of the judging sort, they might not think lesser of me for having done such things. “I see you haven't forgotten”, I said tiredly.
“Okay, but you two first.” I then relented while inspecting the fully healed wound of Lara. There wasn't even any scaring. That should not be possible, even for long-ear-humans.
“The answer is rather simple. Tell me, Jo, what is more dangerous for someone than the tattoo or mark of a pirate crew?”, asked Lara. She was grinning when she saw her healed shoulder. The last three days I had to reprimand her countless times not to move it.
But more dangerous than a pirate mark. I can only think of two such things. The sign of the Rebel Army and the symbol of the World Nobels. “So you were slaves.” It was the only logical answer and exactly what I hoped to be not the case.
“Yes, our parents got us while being slaves to the World Nobels. We were two when Fisher Tiger razed Mariejois. We took refuge on his ship and the property mark of the World Nobles was burned over by their sun mark.
It's the truth that we were raised in the East Blue, but we only got there when we were three.” I took a moment to process her words. So she was one of those lucky ones who managed to escape and thankfully too young to remember the atrocities that must have happened around them.
“But why are you this strong then? Did the world Nobles fed you with your Devil Fruits?”, I asked. Only this would not make their strength necessary for their survival. And I can't imagine any father to force his child to do the training that would be needed for their strength.
“No, we found those in the forest of our home island. Ate them without knowing what it was. In hindsight, it was strange to find two Devil Fruits in the East Blue at the same time. But life is often strange.
Our parents knew what a Devil Fruit, our heritage and our past means. Combine all of them and you will have a very hard life, so they decided to teach us how to defend ourselves. They just did not know that Lara and I liked the training and continued on our own, coming up with harder and harder things to do”, answered Lia this time.
Go figure, those two are always training the longest and hardest from all of us. “I see, thank you for telling me.” The room went silent for a moment. The two sisters were waiting for me to tell my part and I needed time to gather myself.
“Project Pacifista,” I began and put as much venom in the name as possible, “ is a World Government founded and funded project to create the best anti pirate weapon in the world.
It's now under construction for years and probably in its end phase.
I was one of the few doctors that were working on it. At first, it were only Dr Hogback, Dr Vegapunk and Dr Caesar. Then Dr Hogback vanished and I took his place.
My task was it to create artificial limbs on the basis of the human body and with the same characteristics. They gave me samples to work with. I thought they were body parts of the recently deceased.
Working together with people like Dr Vegapunk and Dr Caesar was like working with the celebrity, a dream coming true. You have to understand that they are part of the highest and most renown scientific society.
Anyway, I made my job and was good at it. I found ways to create limbs that could function as good as the human counterpart. In combination with Dr Vegapunk's alloy and Dr Caesar's chemicals, we were quick to produce results. In only a few short months we were able to create a fully functional robotic arm. Yet, that was not everything we tested. We also experimented with organ transplantation and enhancing, the human brain and other parts. We practically tried to build an artificial human.
That was when I got my eyes opened.
At first, I thought we were inventing these things to help crippled Marines. To give them the chance to get back in life and do their job to protect the helpless citizen from the pillaging type of pirates. Or even to build robots to do the fighting.
And then we went into our next phase. We got new test subjects. Living pirates, pirates who have lost their limbs or organs. Pirates whose limbs, organs, or friends I have dissected mere weeks ago.
I never experimented on limbs from the dead, which in itself is morally questionable, but on the body parts of those, I was now ordered to give new parts. We were also ordered to exchange parts inside the still living.
We were ordered to do human experimentation. And removing organs on a living subject has a high risk of the subjects death.
I had a personal conundrum. Morally I couldn't accept this, but personally, I was fascinated with the prospects and possible results. The researcher in me wanted to continue, while the human wanted to burn everything down.
At the start the researcher won, I tried to tell myself that I only had to be careful. As long as no one dies it would be okay. That was what I told myself. It got harder to convince me after the fifth dead subject, no, human.
Then I also tried to tell myself that they are only subjects, outcasts who would die anyway because they are pirates.
So I continued, we lost only a few of them, but many were in no condition to live normally. The change that truly opened my eyes was when we got our next batch of 'subjects'.
Those weren't the already mostly inhuman pirates. They were not the fiendish pirates. They looked human, had their body parts and on top were not known pirates.
I was able to see and research the wanted poster of each subject, but not those of the second batch. They had no poster, they were no pirates!” I had to stop to catch my breath and calm down.
“ No, those were normal people with slave collars. Men and women that had no reputation for being mass murderers or rapists. They were sold to be experimented on.
From then on I planned my escape. I rigged my research to self-destroy itself and left the facility for a holiday. I also planted some bombs in hope to give those prisoners a chance to escape.
I don't know what happened to them, but chances that they are still alive aren't very high.
The following months I tried to stay low, leave the Grand Line and escape the world. When I learned of my bounty I knew that life would become way harder.
Yet it also was made me realise that I had a limited time and that I should use this time to redeem myself. That is why I was at Geral-Island. And that is why I decided to come with you. You two seemed not to be of the unwarranted cruel sort and so far you haven't disappointed me.
Even if you are deadly and merciless to those who have attacked you. You are not killing the innocent and also not pillaging. Even helping those in need, as shown in Alabasta.
So yes, that is my history.” I finished my tale and leaned back. It felt good to tell someone as if a burden was lifted.
“Hmm, I think you have the most interesting story of all of us. We are sure to face the finished product at some time. Any tips?” It was Lara who said something first. Her tone was unchanged as if it is nothing new as if it doesn't matter what I have done.
“Aren't you at least a little bit repulsed by what I have done?”, I asked they should accuse me of being a monster.
“Josef, we don't care about someone's past as long as he is good in the presence and future”, answered Lia. Lara nodded in agreement.
“Thank you”, I whispered but was sure they were able to hear me. Lara clapped me on my shoulder, smiled reassuringly at me and then left my office with Lia. I sat in my chair, thinking about the past, the present and the future.
Maybe I will be able to redeem myself, maybe Lia and Lara can help me with that. Their training will make me strong enough to matter and we might even be able to visit the facility and raze it to the ground.
But it will be dangerous and we will get hurt on the way and this time I will not be the reason for pain, but for healing those in pain.
With that last thought, I opened the medical book I got from Lara and began to study with regained zeal.