[Episode] Some Animals Cannot Be Tamed

Summary:

“What do we need to go to slave auction for? We've already got this pussy cat that Grandpa gave us?”

“Because Grandpa said we can only use him for errands. I want something I can play rough with.”

It was a cold, and slightly rainy night on the island of Notice and a group of four men, all dressed in fine suits, walked along one of the many well paved roads that snaked through the island's central city. The two identical looking men talking were a pair of skinny, athletic looking youth with slicked back hair, diamond earrings and an all around general swagger about them. Their names were Frank and Tony Luciano, collectively known as the Luciano twins.

Behind them, slouched over and holding a large umbrella over the twins was the pussy cat in question. A once great prize fighter formerly known as “The Great” Lu Shang, his life had recently taken a turn for the worse after the world government found out that friends were fixing his fights. Long story short, he had been smuggled, literally, out of the East Blue by those same friends and was now forced to lay low and work as a glorified servant for them while they figured out what do about all the heat he now had on him. Not to mention the various debts that he still owed them.

Lu Shang knew how dangerous his friends and the friends of his friends could be. He would never admit it, but he was afraid of what they might do him were he to disobey their orders. So, despite being much larger than the twins, and possessing the powers of a devil fruit, he remained silent as the twins talked trash about him as if he wasn't even there. Such was his life now.

The fourth man was a mystery. He was only slightly shorter than Lu Shang but had many more scars and long, wild looking hair. On his side was a sword, a nodachi it was called, longer than most horses and wider than the shoulder width of most normal men. Despite it being dark out, with even the moon and stars covered by clouds, the mysterious man wore thick sun glasses. Lu Shang didn't even know his name, only that he was working as a body guard for the Luciano twins tonight and that he had a body count larger than his weapon.

The streets of Notice were alive with nightlife even in spite of the weather. Lively nightclubs, fine restaurants and various boutique shops lined the streets and attracted crowds of the young and wealthy. In better days Lu Shang would have been the life of such a party. Men used to shower him with gifts and beautiful women would practically beg him to use their body for his pleasure. Now all it did was depress him as he was reminded him of how far he had fallen.

Not that it mattered now he thought.

The men weren't out to party...yet. The twins had decided it was too early for that. Right now their destination was a seemingly abandoned warehouse that was far off the main road of the city. The four men walked into the building which appeared to be completely empty, devoid of anything except for a large steel hatch in the middle of the ground. The twins casually walked to the hatch and one of them bent down and rapped his knuckles against it.

“What you want!?” came a loud voice from the other side.

“We're here to visit our friends.” answered the twin.

“They ain't here!”

“Are you sure? Our wallets are very heavy.”

“Why didn't you say so!? Come on in!”

There was the heavy clanking sound of a large metal lock being undone and the hatch swung open. The body guard entered first, followed by the twins who were followed by Lu Shang. The hatch led to a ladder which led to a tunnel which led to the slave market which was quite literally underground.

Outside, just off the coast of Notice, a great storm was picking up steam. Its wind howled like wolves and its thunder boomed like drums heralding its arrival. It was still a ways away but it would not be long until it reached the island.

Word Count:

It was always different to be part of the slave auction as an item of desire as opposed to a proprietor. The young Chinchilla Mink had been waiting, alongside the other items. Some were pirates, or figures of some renown on the sea. Some were hard working and physically built men for labor. Others were odd ends and oddities that were scantily hard to find across the seas of the blues. Then there was herself, a domestic slave of which had soft and luxurious fur, and an adorable appearance. Though even she wasn't sure what she was. Perhaps she was some sort of monster, or mythical creature.

They called her a "Mink", though in reality, she wasn't sure what that meant. Other times they called her a giant mouse, or rat, or some odd mix. She was worth high value, for never once had she stepped out of line in such a way that she would be whipped or punished. However, here she was now on the verge of being sold. Again. Names called piece by piece. However, before long, she found herself called. "NUI!~ NUINUI! Here we have a special item!"

"Straight from the lands of Zou!~ A member of the Mink Tribe! A young domesticated female, with fur so soft and luscious! All Minks are naturally gifted fighters, and are rare! Rare! RARE! They generate electricity, and are stronger than they look! The starting bid! One million beri!" Frankly, Myla as she stood in her cage looked at the members of the audience whilst the spotlight was upon her, and she honestly couldn't make heads or tails on whatever the man was saying. Whatever he said didn't sound true to her.

So it surely wasn't true? Right?

Buyers slowly raise their numbers, seemingly contemplating the value of such a small rat, even if it was a human sized one, and with it, she holds her paw like hands to the bars, looking at the man ahead of her. He had prickly hairs that stood all about him, his moustache and goatee sharply pronounced. They said the proctor had the power of the devil. The man could turn any part of himself into a needle they said, and a terrifying man who had his slaves move or dance for his amusement and to entice customers to purchase.

A scary rumor.

Sailing on a crudely constructed ship which looked to be a nightmarish fusion of what Gosa used to be, the giantess stared at the island of Notice with a horrendous grin. She knew that this was an island that held great promise resource wise however there was still one little problem with just dominating this place like she did with the small village of Gosa. There was just too much firepower. DeVillna was a brute, but she wasn’t going to make the mistake of underestimating the marines because in the end their sheer numbers could outlast her will. Which was why she was going to the slave market.

DeVillna heard about this market from one of the Gosa townspeople who she slaughtered for some reason or another. It was being held somewhere around here underground which would be hard for a giantess like her to get into but the giantess had a plan for that at least. The boat slowly made its way to the shore, she anchored the ship so it would slow down and come to a stop near the shore of where the auction was being held. DeVilla looked at the nice looking buildings around, perfect material for making her nightmarish monolith of a ship even bigger than it already was; however she was going to need a few crewmates in order to start taking over a few islands. The giantess would then leap from her ship then she landed onto the beach making the ground shake as she lumbered closer into the island, looking around she spotted a few people attempting flee from the beach but the fleeing towns people where too slow which allowed DeVillna to quickly scoop up the group of punks with a speed that betrayed her size.

“Trying to leave already? Why, I’m in simple need for a few directions,” DeVillna cooed sinisterly as she began squeezing the trio gently so they didn’t pop but make that satisfying screaming sound as the demanded to be put down.

“Now not yet. You three are gonna lead the way to the auctions unless falling almost 40 feet to the ground is what you mean by being put down…. “ the giant sneered, squeezing the poor people within her fist until they gave in and decided to take her to the where the auctions were and she made a disgusting grin that made every wrinkle on her face look more horrifying.

“Goooooood~ Take me there now!” she demanded….

……..

As the auctions were going on, a young mink was on the verge of being sold. The bids started at one million, but later it started to go up and up. Eventually someone offered to buy the Mink at a whoopping 100 million berries and the auctioneer pointed at the one who was offering up that many berries to own the mink.

“100 million going once! Twice and sold to the man with….-" Suddenly there was a rumbling. The filthy rich as well as some of the rough looking pirates looked up to the ceiling of their underground auction hall as a few rocks started to come down and hit some of the folks in the head. That was when the whole ceiling collapsed! The auctioneer screamed when this happen, believing this was the end, that somehow the underground auction house was unstable and that they were all going to be buried alive but then the majority of the debris was taking upwards to a huge gaping hole within the ceiling! Dirt still poured from the ceiling but it wasn’t serious. The dust cloud made the auctioneer cough and wave his hand as the majority of the middle row of people who was here for the auction was just… gone… Rubble left in their place….

The auction hall now looked like someone bombed it, it was a good thing the stage was away from where the collapse happened. Then from the massive hole peeked a massive grotesquely obsessed giantess who was laughing at the stunned expression on the auctioneers face. Her eye would then glance over towards the tiny mink on stage, then she glanced down at the other people who were still sticking around in stunned amazement at the massive nearly 40-feet tall monster that looked like a fox who dug out a rabbit hole. “Hmmmm…. Ahhhh so you must be the first one being sold are you?” DeVillna cooed. reaching in to the hole pluck out…. the auctioneer! He screamed then writhed in the giantess hand.

“W-wait! I’m not on sale! It's the mink! THE MINK!”

She put the man into the pocket on her coat, then with a shrug and started to pluck some of the injured people completely ignoring the mink for now.

“This auction is a fucking waste of time,” spat one of the Luciano twins.

“I get ya. Not one of these fucking slaves looks like they'd be much fun to play with,” responded the other.

The Notice's annual underground slave was a big event to those involved in the North Blue's. Taking place in the sprawling network of tunnels that snaked and twisted beneath the big island, it attracted a veritable who's who of the North Blue's rich and sleazy. The twins, Lu Shang and the mysterious body guard had arrived before the big auction that would be the main event of the evening. So to pass the time browsed the other 'wares' being sold like live stock in cages and pens, usually for a flat fee.

These men, women and children weren't valuable enough to be sold on the auction. Many were defective in some way meaning they were crippled, mentally deficient or deaf or blind. Others were just too plain to be seen as anything valuable. As one of the twins had so politely put, it nobody would pay much money for some dime a dozen refugee that had been kidnapped from some war torn, shit hole island.

While the twins continued to act like children who were angry that the store was not selling the toy they wanted, Lu Shang actually felt bad for the people being sold. His recent fall from grace had left him in a similar, though considerably more comfortable, situation. Still, he mused, being some spoiled brat's house cat wasn't much better than being one of the farm animals. Despite these feelings however he remained silent while the twins continued to complain.

“Ladies and gentlemen it's ti-i-i-i-i-me for the great auction!” boomed the announcers voice over the  microphone which prompted the four to turn to the main stage.

“Finally,” scoffed one of the twins. Lu Shang rolled his at the remark.

Outside the storm had reached the island and the thunder grew louder.

Spotlights came illuminated the stage as the flamboyant looking announcer began to describe the creatures up for sale. The first few, a tough looking octopus fishman, an member of the long ear tribe and a young girl who had been imported from one of Wano's whorehouses, were uninteresting to the twins. The fourth,

“Look at it,” smirked one of the twins with a sadistic gleam in his eye.

“Oh we could have some fun with her,” chimed the other.

“We could beat it...”

“Cut it...”

“...burn it.”

“Bet it will sound so cute when it whimpers.”

“Even cuter when it screams.”

“Lets bid.”

And so they did. Bidding 10 million, 25 million and finally...100 million! Meanwhile Lu Shang simply sat there like a neutered pet listening to this sickening display of sadism and wealth. As he observed the poor creature. He couldn't explain why but in that moment he felt like he was something of kindred spirit with it.

You were a great champion once... once he thought with a disgust and shame. Now look at you.

Then, just as one of the twins was about to be declared the winning bidder, something happened. A grotesque, obese looking abomination of a woman, quite literally the biggest woman Lu Shang had ever seen, dwarfing even him and his 15 foot, 3100 pound frame, crashed through the ceiling. Rain poured through the now open ceiling. Cages were scattered. People yelled, murmured and complained. Some even took up arms. And...

“Hey Lu Shit, move your ass you retarded oaf,” commanded one twin.

“Yeah, go fetch us our new toy before we decide to spray you with a squirt bottle,” mocked the other.

...Lu Shang had an epiphany. He decided right then and there that he'd rather be hunted than caged and that it didn't matter who that cage belonged to. The storm that had started out at sea was now right over their heads. Lightning cracked, thunder boomed and Lu Shang attacked.

Lu Shang's powerful leg shot out and with one swift thrust his large heel struck the chest of one of the twins crushing their lungs and their sternum, killing them but not quickly. He would then pivot into a roundhouse kick aimed at breaking the neck of the other one. Sadly, before he could connect with the neck of the remaining Luciano twin his heel of his foot was stopped by the flat side of a sword being held by the mysterious body guard.

Lu Shang had just betrayed the Luciano family, killed one of their sons and attempted to take the life of the other. He knew what was going to come next and for the first time in a long time, he was excited instead of afraid.

Word Count: