King Engine

King silently sat in the barely lit room where Archont was asleep, recovering from immense fatigue, dehydration, and wounds. The room was dim, illuminated only by a flickering lantern that hung from the ceiling, casting long, erratic shadows across the walls. The air was thick with the scent of metal and blood. King looked out the moonlit window, lost in thought. He couldn't even catch a bit of sleep on this night—the night just before arriving at Marineford.

Violent waves were crashing against the ship, producing loud noises every few seconds. Yet, the ship remained steady.

Occasional screams and explosions could be heard faintly from the lower parts of the ship, where the crew usually did their training. The clanging of swords and the thud of fists against flesh mixed with the occasional burst of laughter from the crew, sounds that King had already become accustomed to. These were the sounds of life aboard his ship, and they rarely bothered him.

Yet all King could hear was the disturbed and heavy breathing of a gravely sick Archont. Occasionally, Archont's face twisted in fear, as if he was having a nightmare. A nightmare that had trapped the 18-year-old kid in sleep for four days, with the few hours of consciousness he had spent explaining the situation to King.

Archont's face was pale and gaunt, his cheeks hollow from days without proper food or rest. Dark circles underlined his eyes, giving him a haunted look, like a boy aged beyond his years. His once-bright eyes were now dim, clouded with the horrors he had witnessed.

Finally, Archont felt good enough to speak without much problem, and the time to get the full picture had come. His voice was hoarse and weak, cracking with every few words, but it was full of determination.

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"...Each time traders and merchants came to the island, people gradually changed. Just slightly. But enough for me to notice after a while.

They offered coupons and deals that seemed better than usual, but I thought it was all due to the low level of pirate activities in West Blue making the trade flourish, as well as making the people of Haltom prosper."

King raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I don't get it. What types of changes?"

"It varied from person to person. Some people became healthier and stronger, while at the same time behaving like never before. And I've lived on the island my entire life, knowing these people.

Some became rich in a matter of weeks off the trade, but suddenly started having health issues, like lazy eyes and hearing loss. And they would brush it off like it was nothing much.

But when Captain McSheriff refused any of my calls to check the merchants' wares for signs of bad goods, I truly became paranoid. He even started leaving Haltom to have meetings and go on pirate hunts."

"Weird. Mary didn't tell me anything about that in our calls."

"As expected of you, King. You noticed right away. It's a shame we didn't have a way of getting secure contact with each other.

McSheriff's daughter was the weirdest one. All of a sudden, the other kids didn't want to play with Mary. The little girl started helping her father in the office instead to pass the time. Not in a cute way, but in a way that was way too smart.

The Captain was overjoyed, making him listen to her even more than his closest officers at times."

Archont took some time to collect his thoughts and said, "One time, I saw her playing by herself. She would talk, dance, and play with her imaginary friend.

I watched over her for a minute from the window three floors above, and somehow her 'friend' noticed me. She didn't look at me once, not even a side-eye.

She said something like, 'Oh, Archie is here?' into the blank space and suddenly turned to me."

"You think it's possession?"

"I'm sure of it. Please trust me here, King. There is no chance a person would change so much in so little time, especially a carefree child like her."

King nodded.

"After that, it was as if I'd been blessed by luck and my life unfucked itself. The protein I bought was always cheap, my job became easy and fulfilling, and it seemed like people began treating me like a person and not an ex-pirate youngling."

"Too good to be true?" asked King.

"Yes. As if to soften me up, make me less suspicious of what was happening.

It continued for a while until the day before the disaster. At 4 p.m., Captain called me to his office in the morning and offered me a promotion to Vice-Captain due to my 'excellent ability and diligence.' He promised a great future in my career and said to sign an official form of promotion, with a bonus.

I almost did. The only thing that snapped me out of it was the fact that the pen was handed to me by Mary.

I declined politely.

They responded by just laughing it off, saying eventually greatness awaits me, that I could delay all that I needed. McSheriff said it's okay 'to be shy.'"

"Felt like a deal with the devil?"

"I'd worked there for just two and a half months! HOW THE FU—KHA!"

Archont screamed a little louder than he should have, making him spit blood once again.

King's face turned to subtle shock, and he stood up from his chair to get to Archont.

"I'll go get Lex. We'll continue after you rest."

Archont wiped away the blood and gestured for King to stop.

"Please don't bother. Just a nasty flu."

"Oh, okay. I'll close the window."

King calmly closed the window and went back to his seat.

"Continue."

"Yeah, thanks. Dangerous thing, I tell ya. But I guess flu from the sea kings is the lesser of troubles those things bring for most people."

King raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Archont hurriedly adjusted himself to sit with his back straighter and said, "Apologies. I will get to the main topic. I'm just a bit stupid."

"Uh... Relax."

"McSheriff told me to take the rest of the day off and think about his offer again.

Then I decided to spend the rest of my day training and then ate in my room some smoked meat I had stored since I was too tired to go out to eat at the canteen. I took my precautions against people breaking in. Been doing that since I was little."

Archont painfully smirked a little, seemingly remembering his younger life.

"And by 10 p.m., I was asleep.

As I partly told, overnight there had been a huge amount of humidity in the air, making it hard to breathe and quite easy to have my morning protein dry. I'll skip the obvious and say that marines that came overnight were too suspicious, but it was legitimate official orders to reinforce the island against the storm and potential pirates that would come to plunder in the chaos.

The wooden wave breakers they installed looked more like barricades, mostly to keep people in, but most people didn't know what that meant. Neither did I.

At noon, they locked me in the sheriff's home to 'keep me safe,' along with twenty others who mostly worked office jobs, along with a few citizens. The Captain gave us an official explanation that people were placed at different locations for protection, but conveniently got busy and left when I asked why his daughter wasn't here.

Just moments later, I heard noises, screams, gunshots.

I managed to break the lock on the window sills in one of the rooms, allowing me to peek outside.

Shit was horrific. Just a merciless execution! I've seen a lot growing up, but this was just beyond cruel. It was fucked up!

Everybody who was out was shot, and then certain homes were raided and quickly emptied as the screams ended, and... then... ngh... then..."

Archont began to weep like the lost child he was, only knowing life in one city in the slums as a servant to the pirates. The tears dropped straight into the bandages on his face. He was trying to talk further, but words from King couldn't subdue his sobbing.

Though he had grown big physically, standing half a head taller than King and having decent muscles, he was still a scared kid. He was beaten, sick, exhausted, and terrified.

King leaned in his chair, placing his elbows on his knees as his hands were joined at his mouth. His gaze was fixed on the floor.

He was hiding his shaking. His arms, legs, and even his lips started to tremble from fear, anger, or both.

"Everything is going to be fine," King told both himself and the boy.

Archont quickly and forcefully wiped his face and started talking anew, having a moment of confidence that King would bring justice.

"I called the other people, told them we needed to go since there was no guarantee this house wasn't next. We took any weapons we could find. I took an old gun from the sheriff's office, and we escaped through the window.

We went out to the backyard that led to the forest and eventually to a small fishing port on the other side of the island.

After a few minutes, many people couldn't run, so the strong among us carried those who couldn't, which slowed us down. But eventually, hours later, we arrived.

And there waited a single fucking person. Meme D. Troll. A freakishly tall, pale, and skinny pirate filth that somehow came back from West Blue's toughest prison, not inside a body bag, and we had no news about it.

There were a couple of small fishing boats behind him amidst a violent sea.

I decided to distract him so that people could escape.

I shot him, and he laughed. (TROLOLOLOLO). I stabbed him with a knife. He took out the knife without a care and threw it at the people without even looking, killing my coworker instantly. Then he used his hands and feet to kill people like they were his toys.

After laughing a lot like a psycho, that fucking bastard revealed that under his clothes, he was covered in bandages, somehow making him immune to all the damage I tried.

I threw rocks, punched, and even bit him. I was laughed at with that vicious laugh that had haunted the island for so long, and he ignored me. One by one, he killed everybody else but ignored me.

After that, he said, 'TROLOLOLO, you can leave now, if you really want to.' Or some stupid shit."

King asked, "I'm sorry. So he wanted to keep you alive? Have you interacted before this?"

King remembered his first encounter here, that Meme D. Troll was that powerful. King thanked his luck but couldn't feel a shred of relief. His heart started to waver, knowing that someone like that had a grudge against him. Monsters get killed, and that's the end of it from them. But it was different here, much more complicated.

Archont said, "He was my boss's boss. So he came around the base every now and then, but no. Nothing."

"I decided to take the opportunity and find help on the neighboring islands. Even if it was a trap, I knew I was useless, and there were no people left to save but myself. I took the most pathetic decision and tried to run away, telling myself that it was the circumstances and not my fear."

King sat in silence, lowering his gaze to avoid the words he tells himself every single time something happens. A knot formed in his stomach, his mind replaying this too familiar of a thought.

Archont continued, "I fear that it's not only my luck that brought me here, but that someone wanted me to be here. Meme D. Troll is smart, but he's no planner.

I don't know how I ended up all the way to meet your ship. All I know is the constant attacks of the sea kings. Everything else is still a blur. That's my story."

There was silence for a long time. Soon, the sun began to rise, its light slowly creeping into the cabin. King was deep in thought once again, and Archont patiently waited for a response.

King's hands clenched into fists, his nails biting into his palms. A pulse pounded in his ears, drowning out the crashing waves and Archont's labored breathing.

*RUMBLE* *RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*

Suddenly, King's Engine started, shaking the cabin, then the whole ship. It was as if the very core of his being had ignited, sending shockwaves through the vessel. Every person in the crew felt it, the vibrations resonating through the metal even reaching under the ship from the cabin on near the top.

The sound of hurried footsteps and the clatter of weapons being readied filled the air.

The bald giant personally came to the cabin, his stomping steps shaking the ship in rhythm with King's Engine. His massive frame filled the doorway as he opened the door, faithfully awaiting orders, his face is read determination and anticipation.

Monsters beneath the ship twisted and squirmed, ready for action.

Archont started to back away, almost falling out of his bed, as he felt that King's anger was directed at him.

"King, we have arrived at Marineford ahead of schedule," the bald giant announced, but he was promptly ignored. The words barely registered in King's mind, overshadowed by the storm of emotions surging through him.

King stood up suddenly, making his vision dark for a moment, but it didn't matter. For the first time in existence, King's Engine started not because of fear, but because of resolution and a rush of adrenaline.

"Archont," King said, his irises shaking as he placed his hands on Archont's shoulders.

"Huh?" Archont stammered, surprised by the sudden intensity in King's voice.

"I will serve justice to them. I promise."