[Arc] Shadows of the Past Part 3: Facing the Past

Part 2 here

"Illusions?"

Doc Black nodded as his gaze swept over the collected group around the table. Anton had awoken and was back on his feet, more than a little surprised that he didn't have a gaping hole in his torso. "Indeed. From what I can understand from all of this, your injuries during your battle, perhaps even your very opponents themselves, are the result of a shared hallucination being shared by all of us."

Anton looked down at his torso. He couldn't even feel the pain anymore. It was hard to imagine. "But, I felt it. The impact of their attacks. Felt my own hitting as well. I felt the pain and everything." Doc nodded, "I don't doubt it. This isn't just your average optical or auditory illusion. This seems to effect every sense of the human body. Taste, touch, scent. You felt the pain, not because your actually took any damage, but because your body believed it was. Pain is the body's way of telling you something is wrong, and your body thought something was seriously wrong. You felt the impact, because your subconscious felt it should feel the impact. While the source of the attacks aren't real, our bodies certainly think it is."

Celia looked over towards the ship's doctor, "What could be causing such a thing? A devil fruit ability?" "That's certainly a reasonable assumption," Doc Black replied, "But I can't say for certain. I can tell you part of the cause though." The shorter woman blinked as the doctor waved his hand through the air. "It's pollen. Some sort of pollen within the air," the doctor explained, "I'm guessing whatever illusion is affecting us prevented it from seeing it, but you all may have noticed something in the air when we first arrived. At first, I thought it was some sort of weather phenomenon, but after what happened within the sick bay earlier..." "So that explains why Sol was sneezing earlier," Melanie spoke up, punctuated by another sneeze from the young woman further down the table. Doc Black nodded, "Indeed. I should have recognized her symptoms as allergies earlier. It also explains why the illusion stopped when she increased the heat. The heat caused the pollen to burn up in the air, dispelling the illusion."

Greed leaned forward on the table, "So, now that we know that none of this is real, then we can just ignore them, right?" Doc shook his head, "Unfortunately no. Consciously, we know they're not real, but our subconscious treats everything as reality." He looked to Anton, "The injury you sustained wasn't real, but the shock you went into because of it certainly was. Our bodies will try to react to the harm it's perceiving, whether we want it to or not. It can even result in our bodies outright ruining themselves, trying to deal with harm that isn't there." Greed sat back in his seat, thinking, "Then, why don't we just have fire girl 'ere just flame up and keep 'er around? Have her get rid of them." Sol shook her head. "No-achoo! Can do. J-Just doing tha-ACHOO! That, took a lot out of me. I can't keep it up-achoo! all the time." Lune reached over, gently patting her sister on the back. After everything that just happened, her usual, cheerful demeanor was now very subdued. "Hmm, these hallucinations are caused by pollen, correct?" Barnaby spoke up, "Do we have anything to stop us from inhaling it? Protective gear and the like?"

Celia shook her head. "Unfortunately, we left in such a hurry we didn't bring anything like that with us." Anton's eyes turned downward, "I'm sorry about that. I..." Celia shook her head, "It's ok. Besides, even if we did take time to prepare, we honestly didn't expect anything like this happening." Cicero leaned forward in thought. "So, what's our strategy then?"

Anton leaned forward on the desk. "Well, despite the illusions, there has to be someone controlling them on this island, and who knows what other plans they have for the people of this island. We need to find them and put a stop to them." "Though that does leave the problem regarding the hallucinations. There certainly has to be a way to stop them, or at least cut them off at the source." "Um, if I can suggest something?" All eyes turned to Lune, "The hallucinations are caused by pollen, right? What about that giant tree in the middle of the island?" Everyone was quiet for a moment. Of course! The tree! With all the strangeness the world had to offer, nobody had really noticed it before. "I mean, it makes some degree of sense," Doc Black spoke up, "A tree of that size could very easily spread this pollen around the entire island." Anton nodded, "Very well. The tree seems to be our best bet. Though I doubt Demon's Revolt, or whatever they really are, will allow us to get close enough to find out."

"So, what is the plan then?" Celia asked. Anton was quiet for a moment, in thought. "Well, for whatever reason, Demon's Revolt still seems to be targeting me. And then there's the matter of Tremaine's disappearance." Indeed, the cipher pol agent was nowhere to be seen, having been last seen with Sylvia, and with the reveal that she was working for Demon's Revolt... "We head onto the island. Try to draw their fire towards me. Melanie, can you try to track down Tremaine?" The kuja navigator nodded, "Thank you. At the same time, Luna, can you and Sol make it to the tree and figure out if it's behind these hallucinations? And if they are, neutralize it." Lune nodded and saluted, "You got it Anty!" Sol nodded, sniffling and wiping her nose with a tissue.

Anton rose to his feet. "Very well then. We have a plan. Everyone, get yourselves ready, and inform the men. We're about to storm this island. Dismissed."

Everyone got to their feet and began to leave the room. All but one. "Anton, if I can make a request?" Anton paused and looked over to Doc Black. "Yes doctor?" Through his mask, the ship's doctor looked up at him, "Requesting permission to sit this mission out, sir." Anton blinked, "Julius, we're going to need your medical expertise for this." The doctor shook his head, "I'm afraid I cannot. I...cannot trust my own eyes right now." Anton turned to Doc Black, "Julius, if you're referring to what happened in the infirmary-" "That is exactly what I'm referring to! Anton, if Sol and Lune hadn't come in and stopped me, I would have ended up cutting you open, possibly even killed you, all the while trying to heal and injury that doesn't even exist! If I got out there, I wont be able to tell what injuries are real, and what aren't. I'm too much of a liability right now, and the thought that I could end up killing one of you..." His voice trailed off, his shoulders sagged. Anton sighed, "I can imagine it would be a nightmare for a doctor like you." All Doc Black could do was nod.

Anton placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Very well. In that case, remain with the ship. Make sure nobody tries to take to take it while we're gone." Doc Black looked up at him. "Thank you sir." Anton gave a small smile, which quickly faded as he turned and headed for the door.

It was time to put an end to this.


Post Word Count: 1,254
Total Word Count: 1,254