One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

Chapter 113 Purgatory on Earth

"Hey! Don't kill me! I'm just a small soldier who was ordered to guard this place!"

"On orders? On whose orders? And what's that building behind you? Tell me everything you know!"

"Yes, yes!... This is a waste disposal station used by the Celestial Dragons. They will discard anything they think has lost its use here, but we have no idea what it is..."

"You don't know anything? I should have seen it when I threw it in, right? Or are you still hiding something from me?"

"No, no! Even if I had a hundred guts, I wouldn't dare to deceive you, sir! All the goods were directly transferred inside through the special transmission device invented by Lord Satan of the Five Elders, and no one is allowed to go in and watch, not even the admirals of the navy are exceptions!"

"Forbidden? That makes me more concerned... Just have a good sleep here."

As the invisible aura swept out from Kaido's body, the guard who had been trembling with fear and raising his hands suddenly rolled his eyes and fell to the ground with a plop.

"Really? Wouldn't it be better if I could learn from him and speak the truth earlier? You're wasting a lot of my time..."

Looking back at the unconscious crowd lying on the ground, Kaido muttered a little unhappily, and walked straight over with a swagger holding his mace.

Kaido, who had finally gotten rid of the black fog by jumping on the higher rocks, came to a fully enclosed building that he had never been to before. When he landed from a high place, the surrounding government soldiers and officials, after a brief moment of astonishment, picked up their weapons and attacked him without saying anything.

Although the enemies were numerous, including some masters from CP0, they were still nothing to Kaido at this time. He knocked them all down in just one minute and extracted the information he wanted from the only soldier who was so scared that he collapsed to the ground the moment he saw him.

After wandering around on an island where he was completely unfamiliar with the terrain for a long time, Kaido had already lost his patience in looking for treasures. Therefore, after listening to what the man said, he almost insisted that the so-called waste disposal station was just a means for the Celestial Dragons to cover up their tracks, and that one of the real purposes of the Rocks Pirates' expedition this time was that the rare devil fruit was sealed here.

As long as he could snatch those devil fruits before anyone else and use them to cause as much havoc as possible on the island, he might be able to lure out the mastermind behind the attack on Beehive Island that day that severely injured Setsu.

Then, even if it means losing his hands and feet, he must kill him with his own hands.

Kaido, who had made up his mind, walked to the door and stopped unconsciously. Looking at the tightly closed door that seemed to be made of fine steel, Kaido did not hesitate at all. He just swung the mace in his hand casually, and a deep dent was smashed in the sturdy and heavy door, which fell down.

The moment the door fell to the ground with a dull sound, a strong smell of blood wafted out from inside, making Kaido frown and pinch his nose. Driven by curiosity, he walked step by step to the door frame.

For some reason, the room had been pre-installed with lighting equipment. The dim incandescent light struggled to shine through the dust-filled lamp tubes, barely illuminating everything in the room.

Thus, that shocking and cruel scene was clearly presented in front of Kaido.

It was as if he was in hell. His whole body began to tremble uncontrollably, and his eyes widened to the point of almost bursting.

The whole room was dyed red with blood like ink. Everywhere you look are densely packed corpses and broken limbs. Some had several bullets piercing their heads, some were shrunken and only a pile of skin and bones were left. Some were even worse, with a huge hole torn in their chest and abdomen, and their intestines and internal organs were all over the floor.

Those people did not die in the battle, but were slaughtered one by one without any resistance. The iron handcuffs on their hands and the vaguely discernible target patterns on their bloody backs were the most powerful evidence.

Under some rusty metal beams, there were several bloody female corpses hanging, all of which had their clothes torn off, revealing their naked bodies. Their eyes were wide open, and fear and despair remained in their dilated pupils, and it was obvious that they had suffered extremely unbearable humiliation before they died.

The strong smell of blood and rot in the air made Kaido's numb nerves slightly sober. He had experienced countless battles on the battlefield and was accustomed to corpses and blood, but the scene of corpses everywhere in front of him almost made him vomit on the spot.

He suppressed the nausea that was rising in his heart, squatted down tremblingly, picked up the mace that fell on the ground, and walked forward very slowly with his left hand covering his mouth and nose.

Could it be that...the waste that has lost its use...refers to them...?

...Am I in...the human world...?

Mechanical and broken words were squeezed out from Kaido's dry throat bit by bit, making him unable to believe that he would make such a hoarse voice. His eyes, which had almost lost their color, kept scanning the surroundings. The corpses of men, women, young and old, even a few newborn babies, and the empty eyes that seemed to be telling of their own grievances were like criss-crossing spider webs that tightly covered Kaido. No matter how he tried to get rid of them, he could not dispel them from his mind.

"what......"

A faint groaning sounded in his ears, which brought Kaido back to his senses suddenly. With an uneasy heart, he looked towards the source of the sound and saw a half-open iron door in the corner.

As the iron door was gently pushed open with a creak, a figure gradually emerged from the deep and dark corridor and appeared in Kaido's field of vision.

To be precise, there was more than one figure.

A guy wearing a white robe and a bubble-shaped glass cover on his head slowly walked out riding on the back of a naked man.

The man wearing the glass cover had a long ponytail hairstyle, and his already ugly facial features were squeezed into a ball by the fat on his face. He held a thin iron chain in his hand, and the other end was connected to the collar on the neck of the man under him.

There is no doubt that person is one of the few people who can enjoy privileges at will within the jurisdiction of the World Government. They do not have to worry about legal sanctions, nor are they subject to any form of restrictions. Their actions are recognized as reasonable and logical. Even the slogan of "justice" that is often on the lips of the government and the navy seems pale and powerless in front of them, as if the rules of operation of this world are tailor-made for them.

Kaido did not think about why such a high-ranking person would appear here, nor was he interested in the purpose of that guy's visit, and he didn't even look at him.

His eyes were fixed on the man who was already out of breath but still crawling. Because when the man noticed that there was a third person in the room, he couldn't help but look up to see who it was, and his eyes met Kaido's almost immediately.

The moment he saw the man's face clearly, Kaido's heart felt like it was hit hard by a sledgehammer. His pupils trembled violently and his whole body froze in place like a statue. His heart was shocked beyond words.

He had seen this man more than once in the past.

The man's name was Albert, and he had once served as the deputy army commander of the Kingdom of Woka. He was deeply loved by his colleagues and the people because of his vigorous style and his ability to remain calm no matter what happened. His outstanding achievements on the battlefield made him a role model and a person that countless young soldiers were willing to follow.

Although Kaido and this always serious officer did not have much contact on weekdays, the many private exchanges in the training ground made him recognize the other party's strength, and he was even willing to put aside the psychological burden of the strength gap and ask the other party for military tactical skills. In this country, apart from the unfathomable Kubota, this officer was the only one he admired and could trust with his life.

From the moment Kaido was arrested by the navy and taken to the warship, the last impression this cold-outside-but-warm-hearted man left on him was that he had a fierce argument with his superiors over forced conscription. He was never seen again after that, and even after Kaido returned to the Kingdom of Woka, he was unable to find any trace of him.

However, at this moment, the man who Kaido once thought had disappeared from the world appeared before him again.

But there were only a few sparse hairs like dead grass left on his head, his eyes were dull, his eye sockets were sunken, and his entire face had collapsed deeply. Only a wrinkled piece of skin was left wrapped around the skeleton. He looked like a dead man without any life. Where was the majestic demeanor he had before?

“…Ah…you are…?”

As if recognizing Kaido, Albert's body trembled slightly, and he opened his mouth slightly as if he wanted to say something, but because a small part of his tongue was cut off, the only sound that came out of his throat was a hoarse and dry sound.

The joints of his limbs were broken by hammers and other tools, and their structures were changed violently, so that he could only crawl on the ground with his front and hind limbs in a vertical position, and his knees had long been rubbed bloody by the rough and uneven ground. There was no intact skin on his body, and it was covered with bloodstains of various sizes. Even a stone man would be moved when he suddenly saw his body that was almost inhuman.

However, the only response he got was merciless scolding.

"Hey, I've told you so many times, why are you still moving around, Pochi?!"

The Celestial Dragon sitting on his back was shaken uncontrollably, and in a rage he kicked him in the face, "It's making me unable to sit still!"

"Guwa!"

Albert, who was already covered in wounds, was kicked so hard that blood spurted out of his mouth and several of his teeth fell out. However, he begged, "I'm really... really sorry, Saint Pigbart! If I make you feel uncomfortable, just beat me up! I am willing to accept any form of punishment!"

The dragon seemed quite satisfied with his reaction. He slowly climbed down from his back and walked in front of him. His eyes, which were not very big to begin with, were squeezed into a slit by his fat. He said with a smile, "Dululu, I always find it very funny to see you like this. If you perform it again, I might forgive your rudeness, just like usual!"

Albert felt as if he had been pardoned when he heard this. He kowtowed repeatedly and forced a flattering smile with a bruised face: "Yes! Yes! Thank you so much!"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly put his head close to the feet of the Celestial Dragon, stretched out his tongue and kept licking the other's boots, while shouting: "Woof! Woof woof!"

"You are indeed my top-notch pet dog. You are much more obedient than those idiots who cry at every turn. I will give you a sea beast bone to chew on after I have settled the matter!"

The Celestial Dragon known as the Saint of Pigbutt proudly stepped on Albert's head with his other foot, squinting his eyes to look at the indoor environment, and then he noticed the presence of a third party belatedly. His good mood instantly vanished, and he couldn't help but frowned, his face full of disgust, took out a pistol and pointed it at Kaido's head and shouted: "Who are you? How dare you trespass into the forbidden area? You must be tired of living!"

Kaido stood there with a blank expression on his face, just staring quietly at the man in front of him who had lost all his dignity. He seemed oblivious to the noisy chatter around him, as if it had nothing to do with him.