Bell-mère may be feeling overwhelmed by her daily collection of hundreds of new charges slumbering in her [[Shady Grove]], but in Shadow's opinion she should count herself lucky.
After all, while she was only monitoring and saving a selection of the children easiest for her to care for, the REST of the 5,700 or more newly orphaned little ones collected by Gem had to be healed, sorted, and sent to the nearest safe havens that Shadow could find using [[Dark Vision!]]
And that was PER DAY! Strife, war, and sea battles caused so many tragedies!
Sigh.
So only a subsection of the endless multitude were delivered to his Host to care for, which was still a good number.
After all, sending a child to his Host that couldn't survive on the surface or below the clouds wouldn't help anyone. And, in most cases, having the kids that spoke the same language and had the same culture and stuff stick together was just simplifying this process and reducing long term issues.
Issues like 'Your country is stealing our children, now we go to war' and stuff.
Plus, having ALL the slaves show up at the Haunted Isles or their schools would be a bit obvious, so sending them to kind hearted people and orphanages belonging to the species and cultures they were kidnapped from fixed a lot of smaller issues too.
Shadow just had to give them some local funding or valuable stuff to pay for their care, add a short note with background information and stuff so the younger ones would know who they were and where they came from, and make sure the Darkness kept an eye on them.
Or a few million eyes.
Still, aside from drastically increasing the average life span and health of the younger population of the world, everything was mostly going smoothly.
So Shadow was getting off punishment early! WOO!
And totally not because Gem was swamped with taking care of all those kids and stuff, or distracted by her communications with some sort of sibling Devil Fruit that felt like another Shade of himself, but because he had TOTALLY learned his lesson!
Shadow: Mr. Responsible.
He grinned with his many maws of pink fangs. That had a good ring to it!
But today, he had a different goal. A personal plan, one that required careful scheming and split second accuracy and perfect execution!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Bell-mère blinked at the request half way down her pile. "Huh?"
Unlike the other Haunted Shop taskings, this one was… Odd.
The paper was smoldering with black flames a little bit.
The ink didn't seem to want to stay still.
And if she didn't focus on it hard enough, it all tried to shift away to the corners of her attention.
It also was horribly spelled. "Uh… 'Plz gets us Candy ans Snakes.'"
Why would anyone want candy and snakes? WHO would want candy and snakes!? Or was this one of those strange requests, like finding a snake made out of candy or a candy that is snake flavored?
She blinked at the paper that seemed to fade away into nothingness. And was gone now.
What the hell?
Right, uh… "Yami yami no: [[
Dark Visions.]]"
Bell-mère felt the Darkness blush and point out that it was SUPPOSED to say 'Snacks' and writing stuff in actual letters was hard and he would do better next time but if possible he would like Candy AND good stuff to eat that didn't HAVE to be Candy, but if they INCLUDED Candy then that was fine too.
…What the hell!? "Are you my powers?"
Silence.
Oh for fucks sake. "Yami yami no: [[
Dark Visions.]]"
The Darkness was innocently whistling while trying to point out nonchalantly that Candy was an important part of a balanced diet and clearly she had been SUPER busy lately and she should eat some Candy to calm down and relax.
God damn it, this WAS her powers. Somehow. "Why do you want candy so badly?"
Silence.
She felt her eyes twitch. "Really!? Are you going to make me use my ability every time!?"
Silence.
Fuck you, powers. "Yami yami no: [[
Dark Visions.]]"
Darkness felt like she was being a bit harsh, because apparently it was a bit tricky to interact with her on a fundamental level without consuming torn sections of her Soul like other Devil Fruits did to improve the connection quality and honestly eating Souls is pretty blegh unless the jerk is a Snack, and while Snacks were not nearly as rare as one would think… Most people were just flavorless background characters that rarely did anything, seldom attempted anything, and barely felt anything.
Also, the entire concept of 'Why Candy' was so confusing that she could actually FEEL the Darkness become unfocused and fuzzy at the entire concept.
Bell-mère leaned back in her chair, the pile of Haunted Shop requests ignored. "Just… Just give me a moment to process that. All of that."
Silence.
Right, she couldn't talk to the Darkness easily without… Well, whatever.
Feeling out her connections, she glanced through her Heartless Helper's eyes and checked on the girls, the construction of the new buildings and expansion of the island, the group keeping watch over the seas for invaders and unexpected visitors, and so on.
So.
Her powers could eat her Soul.
All Devil Fruits could. And apparently did.
And the only reason she was spared was due to her's literally being a picky eater.
A picky eater who was unpicky, as long as what he was eating was candy and snacks. "Right… Uh." Candy. She could get candy. "Any specific type of candy? Also, how do I give it to you?"
Silence.
Damn it, this was annoying. "Yami yami no: [[
Dark Visions.]]"
The Darkness enjoys all kinds of Candy and Snacks, and his Host could just eat them like normal. With her permission, he could share the experience and absorb the food directly through her Soul after consumption so she wouldn't have to overeat or ruin her other meals or Snacks or whatever.
She blinked. "Hang on, you mean I can just will for you to take away what I eat, and I won't get fat or over stuffed but can still eat what I want? Yami yami no: [[
Dark Visions.]]"
Darkness nodded.
Bell-mère felt a grin begin to fight its way free! "So alongside protecting my kids, making me rich, giving me raw power and healing, a personal army, a defensive meat shield, and actual MAGIC…" She wasn't going to stop trying out the new options of Heartless Helpers after all, and all the new ones had interesting new skills. "...You ALSO can help me stay fit and ship shape, yet eat all the unhealthy and delicious stuff I want?"
A pause… Oh, right. "Yami yami no: [[
Dark Visions.]]"
Darkness had a grin, and that maw was filled with pink fangs and glowing pink eyes. Together, they felt how delicious the world could be!
For once, the Hunger of the Darkness found a partner. "I'm going to go make and eat a WHOLE chocolate cake. That
awesome one mom used to make with espresso powder. I'm going to make that bitch 12 layers thick and eat it all by myself!"
Even without her powers, she could feel the Shadow's embrace her passion!
To Snacks! To glorious, tasty Snacks!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Shadow was grounded again.
Apparently, when your Soul and your Soul Symbiote Fruit/Shadow/Darkness/Heartless/Out Of Context problem sync up right way? It can resonate.
And there is something like a feedback loop?
So as Bell-mère made and ate more and more Candy, then went on to buy out shops and make orders and so on and so forth, Shadow was sort of egging her on and enhancing her abilities and form for optimum candy consumption rates and…
So he was grounded.
Also, Bell-mère had eaten several tons worth of Candy, literally. And created a superstition about sexy ghost princesses that haunt for delicacies and who might suddenly appear and buy out your entire shop in seconds.
Oops.
It was only thanks to [[Dim Memories]] that no one remembered WHO the incredibly sexy and hungry woman was.
Though the fact that the mess and stuff got left behind with every Twist, leaving her perfectly clean and beautiful even as her eyes began to flicker purple and pink and her H̱̣̼̻̪̭͈̮̹͙̙̙̗̦̫̮̩̩͠͡u͡͏͏̙̬̪̲̰̯̳̠̳̣̣̪̮̬͔̫̫ͅͅņ̡̩̯̝̣̪͈̩̗͈ģ̩̳̹̠̬̟͉͔͙͖̫̼̲̦̫͡è̵̷̛̥̯͇̯̬̝͔̲̩̞̜̱̟͚̱͇̠͝r̡͜͞͏̞͓̗̖̼̹̳̞̺̙͓̭̤̤̱̳̀ͅ continued to grow and…
.
Sigh.
So now a bunch of people know a magical floating lady had shown up, thrown Beri everywhere like currency was worthless, 'bought' all the food in the area she had shown up… And some sort of beautiful chaos had unfolded as memories went fuzzy and the Jaws of Darkness Co͈͕̯̘̳n̹̯̲ş̲̹͇͔̠u̥̦m̡̟͔͎̳̠͚ͅḛ̼̹̯d̸̺ͅ the endless banquet.
Gem was not impressed.
But now that Bell-mère was mostly back to her previous form (Maybe a bit enhanced and stronger and able to resist being cut or whatever), and Shadow knew NOT to connect to his host that way when he was on a Snack Rant, he should have been fine, right?
Nope.
Grounded.
AGAIN! In the same Jump!
Sure, things might have gotten a little out of hand. Maybe. A bit.
But come on, SNACKS! That was like… Totally a justifiable reason to spend millions on brownies and cakes and pies and taffy and stuff!
Though apparently his Host was now embarrassed beyond belief and frustrated at him, and Gem pointed out that all that money was needed to build important stuff and…
Sigh.
So yeah, he sort-of, kind-of deserved to be grounded.
To make up for the mess, Shadow had been doing the most grueling punishment imaginable: Paperwork.
Documenting each ability, how to use it, other options when training, varieties of Heartless available for summoning from the Host's Shadow, issues to watch out for, warning signs, yadda yadda yadda.
Sure, spending so much time and effort making SOP documents and manuals sucked. But it should turn out to be super helpful for Bell-mère, and Gem wouldn't give him that look, and he'd feel a bit less guilty over going a little bit overboard earlier.
Hopefully.
Guilt sucked, by the way. MOST of the time, eating Snacks or causing a bit of chaos was pure fun! But uh… Potentially slowing down the facilities for homeless children to learn how to recover their lives?
Yeesh. NOT the plan, Shadow just wanted Snacks!
Thankfully, these jerks over here (Who smelled DELICIOUS by the way) had all sorts of stuff and weren't using it anyway. Wouldn't even notice it was missing, or remember what it was either!
Why these World Nobles kept gathering all these cool toys and gadgets and paintings and things just to lock them away and never look at them was confusing as all get out, but SCORE! Every orphan gets a few dozen golden toilets!
Seriously, why so many expensive poop chutes? Some of these didn't even hook up to plumbing, acting like really expensive poop pail! A few were made from silver and gems, these ones had rare minerals and stuff, more than half would feel COLD if you sat on them and…
Shadow shuddered.
The idea of being a poop slave, who's job it was to sit on a toilet and warm it up for your boss to poop? Holy crap.
Worse, that was one of the better jobs a slave could have. Killing them would make a mess while the boss needed a number 2, and they didn't have time for that.
Anyway, lots of stuff that could be sold. Technically legally donated to a massive network of auctions that the Haunted Shops supported to be used to generate funds for the new education islands.
The auction thing had gone better than expected too! A bunch of rich people found the entire concept novel and assumed the large number of valuable and rare goods were a sign that the event was a secret operation by some really high up people, and it all got a bit nuts.
Now people who WEREN'T auctioning something off were considered too 'poor' to even join in on the fun. Groups of jerks and idle moneybags had jumped on this bandwagon just so they could brag about helping more of those… What were they called? (Orphans, Sir.) Yes, those.
They had helped FAR more of those 'O Fens' than YOU did, Sir. Lixbi Cumberbatch the twelfth!
Take THAT!
Side note, several of those weirdos had assumed the number of expensive toilets being auctioned was some sort of hidden code or status symbol, so uh…
Lots and lots of bathroom fixtures were up for bid.
It was a little concerning. Again, mostly toilets, but now you could buy sinks gemmed with diamonds and tubs of ancient wood not seen for decades…
Meh, whatever. If Rich people want to throw cash at each other to make and then buy lots of crazy expensive stuff to bathe in or poop through, that was more money for the children.
Shadow blinked, his Soul fragments mid alteration of an ability description memory.
It would probably be for the best to not tell kids that rich poopers were funding their future.
That might be an awkward conversation.
Was… Was this a fetish he had missed?
No, don't check. Shadow had enough disturbing realizations after all those Snacks from London, no reason to look for more.
Right, so paperwork!
But you know, through using something easy and basic like Soul based 'genetic' memories, instead of that awful paper and those pencils and pens… Use crayons like a sophisticated Heartless, damn it!
And they mostly use white! Only Orihime understands the important of a good mauve when putting together vital information about core abilities belonging to an impossible and potentially supernatural fighter.
That girl has some good skills, and an innate talent for fashion!
Once again, for the hundredth time, the Darkness grumbled a bit about how lucky the other Shadow was to keep his awesome pink mask. Oh sure, Shadow could probably duplicate it easily enough with his abilities and a bit of help from Gem but…
Well, the emotions. The touch of Heart when that young woman painted his mask… That wasn't something so easily replicated.
Sigh, still, it set a standard for others like himself to follow. With dedication and focus unlike his normal attitude, Shadow ensured that each of these innate Soul memories would cover each topic thoroughly and comprehensively.
No being a lazy Soul fruit for him, no sir!
Freaking Devil Fruits shoving power into people. If they don't pop or die, they just lounge around consuming their Host until they got stronger or got mangled from the damage caused… Or the Host got offed in some random accident.
Meanwhile, those fruits barely cared if any interesting new advancement in their ability was discovered. Jerks. Inefficient, lazy, and uncaring jerks!
Shadow blinked at the twisted memory in his claws.
Uh. Oops.
Right, just… Let's just redo this one. And maybe the last few, which had a few extra torn bits than was expected.
His pink eyes narrowed at one of his 'completed' works.
When had he included Confectionery Kungfu lessons in the Heartless Helpers summoning tutorial!?
Shadow slowly froze as he began reviewing item after item, work after work.
Wait.
Wait wait wait wait…
Was he going to have to redo ALL of these!?
He can't taint Snack related combat by infusing it with normal genetic ancestral Soul memories! That's illegal! And immoral! And…
Oh, and he should also redo the actual documentation that was supposed to be about skills and stuff.
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY!
With passion, Shadow got to work as Gem sighed with exasperation elsewhere.
He would right this wrong! An entire skill TREE lovingly dedicated to cooking and preparation abilities, laced with perfectly protected product preservation and comprehensive Candy combat potential!
No, an entire genetic MAP of memories! Enough to establish a new civilization from scratch with the essentials to grow from cave dwelling hunters and gatherers to the pinnacle of cuisine crusades!
A burning mission of passion was unleashed, let loose the hungry rage of (Snack related) war!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Bell-mère was denying everything.
As long as no one noticed the numerous food shipments to the home and she carefully fed a percentage of the amazing delicacies to her girls, it would be fine.
Not sure how, but [[Dark Visions]] confirmed it. Sort of.
Honestly, when she woke up from the most intense sugar rush ever, her frantic use of the skill had somehow met a different side of the Darkness.
One warm and accepting and maybe pink and exasperated and promising this wouldn't happen again and that Shadow was grounded, no not her shadow but 'Shadow' Shadow, and there wouldn't be another crazed craving catastrophe.
A tentative question also confirmed that she could still binge without penalty, which… Well, that was good, that's all she was saying.
Also, somehow her budget for construction had tripled overnight for some reason. Also, a new wave of markets had sprung up out of nowhere focused around confections and expensive toilets.
No, she had no idea why, some people are just weird.
BUT the important bit was that she could still afford to take care of the kids, even expand her existing construction and educational plans, AND ignore the subscription based fancy food being delivered on a weekly basis.
Like, she already paid for it, right?
And a few actual barrels of amazingly expensive and delicious cookies can't just be returned, right?
It was just not wasting money to keep them all and make sure they didn't get tossed out or something.
Though how she was going to explain the massive containers of hard candy and gumballs to the girls without them going through a sugar coma via osmosis? Nope. No idea.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Robin smiled with innocence. "Thanks, ma'am!"
The old woman gave a smile filled with nostalgia and wrinkles. "Oh you dears are all so adorable! I love your little ghost costume, child. Now, who else would like a 'treat'? These biscuits aren't going to eat themselves!"
She moved out of the eager crowd of decorated children and continued down the street.
This place was beyond impossible.
The entire island almost seemed customly designed to be the best hideout and alibi ever. Leagues away from her previous location, filled with bustling crowds coming and going at all hours, overcrowded with armies of children that appeared out of nowhere and were 'saved by ghosts of the waves'...
An island that, despite being buried under wealth and valuables, no one was touching.
No Marine patrols, no pirate crew raids, even the shadier merchants were keeping themselves in line… Because of the haunted eyes of the dead protecting this land. Supposedly.
She weaved through the cheerful crowds, most people dressed up as pirates or 'ship cows' or ghosts or dragons or whatever. The strange Halloween theme that had conquered these waters made disguises trivial and hiding your appearance common and expected.
Combined with her unnaturally good health, steady supply of food, a secure location to sleep in without fear of drunken (or sober) men coming to…
She shook her head.
Robin even got an allowance! Her host, Miss Bell-mère, seemed to know anyything yet worried about nothing as she just left small bags of Beri outside 'her bedroom'.
The woman knew her name, somehow. She almost seemed to know about her past, which had her horrified for hours after suspecting that. But all the woman actually cared about was the care and safety of the island's children, her own especially.
So of course, within minutes of waking here and getting food and drink and magically healed… She had vanished into the city. Investigating. Preparing to flee, to escape whatever new hell she had stumbled into.
But reality had just left her off balance. BADLY off balance.
This WAS the East Blue sea.
Too many people proved it. Far too many, talking too many tales to be coordinated, coming and going… If THIS many strangers were all working towards fooling one girl, then the battle was lost already.
More than that, this Island and the ones it touched were undergoing a strange rebirth. Endless opportunity and growth and impossibilities were found and collected here every day, the kind of tales she had grown up with about adventure and treasure seeming pale by comparison.
A shop that could answer any question, if the price was paid.
An island that could bring loved ones home. Alive or dead. Even if their bodies were lost… Or destroyed.
A mysterious sort of luck, where people trying to conquer or oppress these new places had accidents exposing their corruption, or were somehow caught by bounty hunters that were far too underequipped and lacking in power to do such a thing.
The archaeologist dreams in her heart burned at the idea of just… Asking.
Even if she couldn't risk asking about specific things, not to some unknown force, not about something so important… There was still incredible value here.
Sure, from the information she'd been quietly collecting, the expense of answers exponentially increased the more specific or rare the data requested had been. But for a fraction of the cost, you could gain leads to seek on your own!
Asking about the locations of ruins, or clues about legends, things that could lead her towards her goals. To find the Rio Poneglyph, that stone pillar which tells the true history of the world… Even the hidden truths depicting the Void Century.
The lost years.
The time that no one was allowed to document, or question, or reveal.
The information that killed her family and burned her home when the World Government sent the Marines to burn everyone and everything.
Eventually, she returned to that odd house with two children and a woman who seemed to secretly be a goddess.
This island had too much potential, too much hope for her to risk departing.
A place where her trail had been cut off, leaving pursuers in the wrong oceans and with no leads.
A place with strangers appearing out of nowhere daily, but no oversight or overview.
Where, for a cost, impossible things could be found, bought, or known.
Though, she admitted, the fact that the food shared in this home was life shatteringly amazing didn't hurt things either. Not to mention the free food, clothing and money…
And she wasn't being led or fooled. This impossible woman was doing similar things for ALL the children, orphans or not, locals or not, on the island. Somehow.
Robin had never HEARD of children being cared for to this degree. It was even common in some places to just abandon kids to the wilds during the day 'to play', uncaring if they wandered into the woods and had to escape massive beasts or monsters.
But here, there was a feeling of… Warmth. Of Protection.
No eyes, tainting her skin. Or the flesh of the other young ones.
No hidden horrible hungers, no whispers about her being 'young meat' or a 'tender treat'.
People like that didn't last long on these islands, and shockingly none of the locals were surprised or curious about the efficiency or wide scale nature of this effect either.
No, on the Haunted Isle of Plenty, you did not abuse, hurt, or prey on children. Period.
She gnawed on the biscuit, another delicious snack just handed out to any child wearing a costume on these loud and crowded streets.
Not as good as the snacks at her base, but damned better than anything she had stolen while fleeing and leagues better than the filth she had subsided on in the worst times.
Still, things being this impossibly good had her feeling on edge… So she continued investigating.
About her host and base owner, Bell-mère, specifically.
A woman that somehow controlled these lands without effort or notice or threats or structured chains of commands or anything.
When that woman walked through bustling streets, the crowds parted.
Smiles were everywhere, along with winks and lustful sighs from men AND women.
Her saucy style sauntered through this entire place, past stores and crowds, not as a queen overseeing her kingdom, but as a sexy woman with things to do… And no one looked down on her for it.
It was not normal.
Bell-mère's background, which wasn't hidden or secreted away, was even more unusual.
A famous and powerful Marine Captain, one with a passion for protecting the lost and weak… Betrayed.
Something that resonated with Robin. The idea of those defenders of society turning on you, so unexpectedly.
Whispers about her life were fairly easy to gather, if tricky because Robin was supposedly 'too young to hear such tales of evil' or whatnot.
Bell-mère had lost everything. Her crew, her family, her career, her future.
And she had borne it with a smile because two little girls needed Justice.
If Bell-mère was the secret ruler of these waters, then her two girls were certainly considered princesses. They led the growing groups of orphans on wacky adventures and were cherished by the chuckling shopkeepers and construction crews like starlight on a dark night.
Robin's confusion about this only cleared up however when she looked into the eyes of these people though.
An older man chuckled as she walked by. "Heh, great ghost costume! Here kid, have some pretzels. Just salted them, wouldn't want 'em to go to waste!"
She smiled under her white ghost hood that covered most of her face. "Thanks mister!"
Her hand accepted the still slightly too warm treat as she carefully checked his face.
Another man who had grief in his eyes and memories in his mind.
Her smile didn't falter on the outside as she moved along, hearing about how he had 'just salted' some more snacks for the next boy and girl that walked along. As he had before she arrived and as he would in the future.
This was part of the reason she felt safe to hide here, to risk gathering resources and plan longer term goals… Well, aside from all the other reasons.
Because not all those who came to this Haunted Isle found the family they had been searching for. Not alive.
And not everyone who lost their everything could bear to leave this place that had tried to give them hope.
So they stayed here, these young and old men and women, and watched over the children. To atone for untold sins, they became wardens of these little ones.
The spirit children, some called them… Those saved from the sea.
It felt like everyone was just family you haven't met yet… And it was hard for Robin to mentally shove them all into the 'THEM' category of the 'her vs. the world' lifestyle she lived.
So for now, she healed and recovered and rested and investigated and prepared.
And maybe, just a little, she felt a ghost of home here on this island of spirits… Even if she didn't admit it out loud.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Zoro frowned. "How could you lose your boat?"
The captives were too bruised to explain the situation.
Darn it, this was inconvenient. "Oh well, at least I managed to get you all bound up."
Not sure how these incompetant pirates could lose their own boat while following Zoro through their own ship's cargo hold, but now that they were already in a town it probably wasn't important.
The man whimpered something through his gag, but that didn't explain much. Meh, their ropes were tight and they would follow well enough… Let's go get that bounty! "Right, I think it was this way, somewhere to the north?"
North was up, right? And up was basically left with a bit of a turn to it.
With confidence, Zoro turned around and went backwards so he could properly head west.
Turn them in, get the bounty, and finally get a good nap in! It had been over two hours since he last slept or had a good training session, and collecting morons like these idiots had always been exhausting.
