Chapter 3

It was night. Raoh was tied by his captors, and he was guided by one of them. 

'Alright, this doesn't make sense. Earth-benders and Fire-benders working together. This had never happened in the Last Air Bender series. Not on Aang's watch. Maybe the background of this world has a slight difference from the original show. That little detail can create a butterfly effect, and thus, I'm in a place where my knowledge can do me a little.' 

The red armoured man guided Raoh to a near mine entrance. There, his legs and arms were chained. While he was staring at them, Raoh could break his chains. 

But he thought about it. He may run now, hide, and deal with troubles. But he won't have time to train. 

Or, he can get in and work out. 

Knowing that he has a healing factor and a body with superhuman potential, he decided to play the role of my slave. 

Besides, he wanted to know what was with this world. 

His arms and legs were chained by metal chains, Raoh was given a shattered shirt, and he was pushed into the mine as a guard with a brown armour took him. 

"If you think of escaping again, I'll make sure to crush your bones." Said the man who was pushing Raoh, who just rolled his eyes, as if not taking it to the heart. 

'Yeah Yeah. Say whatever you want while I'm patient.' He forced a smile and gave a nod. 

"Now, work! You'll get based on how much you work. Laze, and you won't eat." 

Raoh got in a tunnel. In his sight, appeared a group of very skinny men, old men and some women. Their bodies, almost all of them, had whipping marks. 

 Raoh walked in slowly while staring at one muscular man, standing above everyone while holding a whip, whipping in the air and screaming. 

"If you don't work! You won't eat! Start mining!" 

Raoh understood what he has to do. He picked up a pickax and rolled it in his hand. 

'Well. I'll start with my workouts.' 

For a fighter, he should aim for a training balanced between endurance and raw power. 

Since he has a Healing Factor, he believed that he doesn't need recovery time. Only food and sleep. 

Raoh started doing what the other slaves are doing. Taking a deep breath, he started hitting with all of his power. 

"One… two… three…"  

He started working, hitting the rocks. 

Time was passing, and his body's temperature was rising. His muscles, after so many repetitions, started to hurt, and then he knew it was the time to take a break. " Two hundred." 

As he was done, he looked to the side, seeing a young man with lifeless eyes, holding a cart, and waiting for him to be done. He stepped aside, and he let the young man lift the rocks. 

Raoh didn't seem to attract the whippers. He was doing a good job. He clenched his hands again around the pickax and started working out again. 

Compared to the people here, his hits pierced deeper. Raoh continued working out for a few more sets, and the night was over. 

"Have your meal and sleep, and be thankful for the Fire Lord to let you eat the remains." 

Raoh felt already annoyed once he heard the name of the Fire Lord being mentioned. 

He is in this world, with some dreams of living to the fullest. 

In such a world under a tyrant, he surely won't have what he wants. 

Wanting money and a few chicks in this world was like wanting to be an entrepreneur in a communist country. 

'I need to be patient.' He reminded himself as he was walking with the rest of the slaves under the watchful eyes of the guard. They reached a line where some old bread was placed in front of them. The guards gave each one according to the work they had done. One piece of bread and a bottle of water for each one, and Raoh got a little meal of three pieces of bread with some salad and clean water. They then were guided to a big room where straw beds were placed on the ground. 

Raoh realised that he has to sleep on these. 

His face drew an ugly expression as he raised his hands and looked at the metal chains and shackles. 

'For God's sake. I wouldn't have the ability to sleep on a comfortable bed with my pants on, let alone with some shackles. These barbarians took the slavery to a whole another level!' 

Seeing the uncomfortable place, Raoh found that he needed to remind himself it was only temporally. 

As he lay down he picked up his food and stared around. 

His body seemed to have already recovered from the workout, and it's already stronger. The meat of the wolf surely had done it. The good thing about his healing factor was it doesn't consume food too much, and it breaks the food to an atomic level to provide the max possible energy. Although it seemed to be astonishing beyond the level of logic, he knew he got it from the system while he was in One Piece world, the world where logic can be left out of the equation. 

He stared at the pieces of bread, ate two and drank the water.

Raoh was left alone with the other poor people, who were eating or trying to sleep. Surely, the little food they were provided with will not take so much time.  

Now, it seems to be the perfect moment to find the answers to the questions in his mind. 

He needed to know more about this world, and why they are here. 

Next to him lay an old man with his hands on his stomach. 

"Hey, old man," Raoh called. 

The old man ignored him at first, but once Raoh started shaking him, the old man turned, stared at Raoh with half-open eyes, and said in an annoying tone. 

"What the heck! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep, young man? If the hunger came to me before the sleep, I'll eat your brain." 

"You can eat this." Raoh waved the bread in his hand. 

The old man opened his other eye. His bald head shone, and he extended his hand. But Raoh took his hand back. 

"Not so fast." 

The old man didn't seem to be stupid. The slaves won't likely to share food unless they are family. 

"You want something? Sorry. There is only one thing that I can give here, and I still rather die than give it." 

Raoh cringed. "You have a dirty mind. I don't whatever disgusting thing you think I want." 

"What's it then?"  

"I need information." 

"Fine. You can call me Tsu for now." The old man, Tsu, introduced himself. "Tell me what you want to know."

"You can call me Raoh. I have a few questions." Raoh said, waving the piece of the bread. 

"Go ahead?" 

"First of all, since when the Fire nation started having slaves. And since when they gang up with Earth benders?"  

"Hahaha! You're for real?" the old man started laughing. "Were you living under a rock when the Earth Kingdom fell completely?" 

Raoh didn't show any emotion on his face, and his patience was already running up. "So what If I am." 

"Well. People like you are the ones who still believe that the Avatar will come back one day. People had already lost hope after Sozin's Comet came. The greatest walls of the Earth Kingdom fell two years ago… Man. Only in those days, slavery wasn't a thing." 

Tsu said in a mocking tone. 

Raoh, however, didn't feel it was a joke. 

Sozin's comet is something that came one year after the awakening of the avatar. 

if the man said that the comet struck two years ago.

This is three years post canon. 

So, the Avatar never came as it did happen in the franchise, and the Fire Nation took over the Earth Kingdom, with the power of the comet, and no one was there to stop them. 

If this is true, Raoh's dreams of an easy life found one more obstacle. 

"People like us, who have resisted, were too many. Jails weren't enough for us, so we were degraded to slaves… a fucking working slaves." 

"You can eat this." Raoh threw the bread to the old man, turned, and put his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. 

'I need to make new calculations for my life.'