Chapter 112: Chemical Substance
Ben, Nojiko, Honey and HQ walked through the cave. They could see skeletons sitting on the floor with their backs on the wall.
Most of the skeletons looked like they were wearing civilian clothes however there were a few skeletons wearing pirate clothes, their bones bleached white. The skull, devoid of flesh, was adorned with a tattered bandana. Empty eye sockets and a jagged, skeletal grin revealed teeth that have long since turned to dust. The skeleton's bony fingers sat on the ground, while a worn leather belt held a set of decaying holsters. A threadbare and salt-stained coat with tattered cuffs hangs from its shoulders. Beneath the coat, the skeletal frame is draped in a ruffled, once-crimson shirt, now faded.
Nojiko and Honey held Ben`s hand. Their bodies got close to him. He could feel the breast touching him. He smiled.
"Ben I am scared," Honey said.
"What is this place?" Nojiko asked.
"I don't know," Ben said. He wondered why there were bodies of skeletons lying inside this cave in the middle of nowhere.
"The bodies look like someone had set them up," Ben commented.
"Yes you are correct Master, they did not die here," HQ commented.
Ben was shocked and curious. Nojiko and Honey were now even more scared. "How can you tell?" Ben asked.
"Their body position and there have been no signs of struggle at all in this cave," HQ explained.
"So who could do this?" Ben asked.
"I don't know Master," HQ replied.
"Some of them look like ordinary people's clothes and not pirates," Nojiko said.
"You are right," Ben replied. Ben thought about what could have happened here. This island was holding some dark mystery.
"Let's keep going but keep our guard up," Ben said.
"Yes Captain," Nojiko replied. Honey hugged tighter.
They continued to walk until the skeleton stopped. They reached the end of the cave. It was a dead end.
"End of the line," Ben commented.
Nojiko took out the map. It was dark but she was able to make out the cross. "Ben the map says its here," Nojiko said.
"Maybe there is a secret passage," Honey said.
"Yes there could be," Ben replied.
"Everyone fan out but don't get too far," Ben ordered.
Nojiko, Ben, Honey and HQ all went to different ends of the wall and started tapping on the rocky formation. They were trying to see if there was something here. They tapped all around, the sound was consistently the same. Until HQ tapped on a rock which made a hollow sound.
"Master there is something there," HQ reported.
Ben, Nojiko and Honey walked to HQ and tapped on the wall. The hollow sound was different to the rest.
"There is something here," Honey said.
"Yes I agree. Good job HQ," Ben added.
"How do we open it?" Nojiko questioned.
"We use the map," HQ replied.
Nojiko handed the map to HQ. "Thank you," HQ said. HQ then held the map and started moving it across the hollow area. She slowly moved right to left and then went down another line.
Ben, Nojiko and Honey watched anxiously. Then a small piece of rock went upwards revealing a panel with a numeric keypad.
"I think we need to press a number on it," Honey said.
"What could it be?" Nojiko asked.
Ben thought. This was not random and there have been patterns and symbols throughout One Piece. He thought about a phone number pad.
"Press the number three, three times," Ben said.
HQ pressed the number 3 three times. Nothing happened.
"Did we get it wrong?" Nojiko asked. Suddenly next to the number pad the rock opened up and a lift could be seen. It was sleek and modern white. The polished surfaces made it look new despite being here for many many years. The lift was spacious, with smooth, gleaming walls that reflected the soft overhead lighting.
"This looks familiar," Ben said.
"Yes, it looks clean," Honey said.
"I wonder what we will find here?" Nojiko questioned.
"Let's go in Master," HQ said.
They stepped in the lift and looked to the right. They saw the lift panel, where there were two buttons, each marked with a single, bold letter in black font: "D" and "G."
The "D" button, positioned at the bottom.Its surface is pristine, unblemished by any marks or wear, The "G" button was positioned on the top. Like its counterpart, it is spotless, its black lettering contrasting sharply with the white panel.
"Here we go," Ben said as pressed the "D" button. The door closed. Then the lift slowly started moving. It went down for a few minutes until it stopped. The door opened.
In front of them was a lab which had two distinct rooms and a large open floor.
Honey and Nojiko were in awe. Ben was surprised. "This is something. The map was right," Nojiko said.
"Another lab," Honey noted.
"I wonder what we will find here," Ben said. They walked to the first room, with its pristine white walls, had rows of state-of-the-art computers neatly arranged on long, sturdy desks. The screens were glowing. Above the computer desks, a control panel with an array of buttons, switches, and monitors stands.
"There are those computers like from the Clockwork Island Lab," Honey said.
"The Gold Island lab also had some," Nojiko said.
HQ walked into the room. Ben looked to the other side of the room, and saw a line of large towers. Blinking indicator lights and the faint hum of cooling fans can be heard in the background.
Ben, Nojiko and Honey walked down and into the second room. There they saw a round table in the centre. There were several chairs around the table. The soft glow of overhead light casted a shadow. The table's polished surface was clean and clear. To the back of the room there were cupboards and a gas stove.
"This looks like a kitchen and dining hall," Nojiko said.
"Yes it does, it's a bigger version of what we have on the Miss Love Duck," Honey said.
"It is probably used for lunch breaks," Ben remarked.
The front of the room had no walls but a glass display, similar to the Gold Island viewing room.
"Let's go and see what is down there," Ben said.
They walked down the corridor to the end and down the stairs. There they saw an open floor with several massive, transparent cylinders tanks.It was filled with an unknown pink liquid.
The liquid swirled and undulates inside the tank. There were small bubbles which appeared from time to time.
Each cylinder was connected via various pipes. The pipes went to a ceiling and connected to a machine. The machine has an open tube slot on the front. The tube was very small. The right side of the machine had another pipe leaving it. The end of the pipe had a syringe.
"What is this?" Ben questioned.
"I don't know," Honey said and added, "It looks like the pink liquid comes here."
"I guess, when the liquid comes to the machine we need to add something in that slot," Nojiko said.
"It's pretty small, the shape reminds me of those injections that Kaya has," Nojiko added.
"Interesting. We should get Sumi and the girls to look at this," Ben said.
Nojiko and Honey nodded.
"Lets see what HQ is doing," Ben remarked.
They walked back to the first room. They walked into the room where they saw HQ typing on a computer.
"What are you doing HQ?" Ben asked.
"Master, this computer is the radio and I can connect to the Miss Love Duck which will connect to the other labs," HQ said.
"That's brilliant," Ben said.
"We can communicate with our labs more efficiently now," Nojiko said.
"They are like our bases," Honey added
"Can you connect to Sumi now?" Ben asked again.
"It almost connected Master," HQ said as the bar had just finished loading.
The screen then connected showing a chair. "Sumi, are you there?" Ben called.
"Twice in one day my work husband calls," Sumi said as she rushed over to the monitor. She sat down on the chair and saw HQ, Ben, Nojiko and Honey.
"This does not look like Miss Love Duck," she remarked.
"Yes we are at a new lab right now," Ben said.
This got Sumi's attention. "Emma come here please," Sumi said. Emma who was walking by came over.
"Yes Miss Sumi," Emma said. She saw the girls and Ben on the screen. They were not on the ship.
"Hi Emma," Ben greeted.
"Hello Ben," she greeted back. She also greeted the girls.
"So Sumi Emma we are on a lab on Partia island, there seems to be a pink liquid substance here. It is connected to a machine," Ben said.
"That machine has a small tube slot similar to an injection and a syringe coming out of the machine," Nojiko added.
"Interesting," Sumi said.
"I would need to see the lab and analyse the pink substance to give an conclusion work husband," Sumi added.
Ben thought maybe the System may know.
(Sweetie do you know what this lab and pink substance is?)
[This lab is part of a series of labs connected to enhance the A.S.S Models. The pink liquid substances can be used with the combination of blood from a devil fruit user to give the A.S.S that devil fruit. The A.S.S have limited capacity on board so they must be filled with the liquid. Once a A.S.S receives the pink liquid with a devil fruit she cannot change to use another devil fruit.]
(Thank you very much Sweetie for the information. You are such a smart girl.)
[Hehehe]
Ben thought she does sound like someone who gets complimented by their crush. This was a big attitude change.
Ben explained what the system had told him to Sumi and the rest.
"Very Interesting," Emma said. She was amazed by this man and his abilities.
"However we would still need someone to analyse and operate the machinery for this procedure," Sumi said.
"That is true. I will think of a plan and get back to you on it. Right now we need to head to Alabasta for Vivi" Ben said.
"Yes, good luck work husband," Sumi said.
"Good luck," Emma added. The screen went blank.
"Okay let's head out for now, HQ this would be a massive upgrade to you. However we should not use the current devil fruit abilities. We need to diversify our power and capability," Ben said.
"That sounds reasonable, Master," HQ said.