c7: A bar is inserted across the way, and the hatred is hard to settle
"Please... please kill me..." The one-eyed dragon had collapsed. He knew that he would die today, so he was begging for death—like a worn warrior in Wano who finally sought release after failing to uphold his code.
"How can this be possible?" Lu Kai said in dissatisfaction, "Why would I kill you? I like you so much, how could I kill you? Come on, let's continue."—his tone eerily reminiscent of Doflamingo's twisted fondness for torment.
Just as Lu Kai was about to continue slashing, a hand suddenly grabbed the wrist of Lu Kai's right hand holding the knife, and a voice said at the same time: "Kid, that's enough!" the voice cut clean through the tension like Mihawk's black blade through steel.
As the man spoke, he stepped on the one-eyed man's chest, killing him instantly the gesture cold and efficient, like Rob Lucci's merciless judgments under CP9. The one-eyed man showed a smile of relief when he died a grin echoing the peace of Bellamy's final moment after accepting defeat.
Lu Kai instantly flew into a rage. He turned around and punched the man behind him in the face, screaming wildly: "Asshole, who told you to kill him? Who told you to kill him? Who allowed you to do this?"—the fury in his voice recalling Luffy's howl when Sabo was struck down.
Lu Kai punched down again and again, but the man did not dodge at all, allowing Lu Kai to hit him in the face with punch after punch absorbing the hits like Garp silently letting Dragon vent his pain.
However, Lu Kai showed no intention of stopping. He became even crazier, crying and laughing, "You bastard, you killed my baby, I want you to die..." his breakdown echoing Big Mom's terrifying blend of grief and fury during her hunger pangs.
"Kid, reinforcements from the city will be arriving soon. We've already wasted long enough. If we don't leave now, it will be too late." The man explained his voice calm and clipped like Jinbe during the raid on Onigashima.
The force of Lu Kai's punches gradually decreased, and finally stopped completely. Looking at the other party's distressed eyes, he finally stopped hitting reminded of the moment when Ace calmed as Luffy reached him at Marineford.
The man who stopped Lu Kai was Tara. He took Lu Kai out of the secret room in a hurry and told the last person to leave with him moving with the urgency of a revolutionary like Ivankov under fire.
Soon, the entire flour factory was empty, and the raw materials and boxes of flour had all been moved away, leaving only the bodies of the soldiers and guards on the ground a scene reminiscent of Dressrosa after the factory collapse.
On the way back, Tara and Luke took the same carriage.
Lu Kai, who had calmed down, was unusually quiet. He didn't say a word the whole time, nor did he have any desire to speak. He didn't even look at Tara—like Nico Robin after Enies Lobby, his silence held more than sorrow.
But Tara showed great interest in Lu Kai and said, "You are special!" his curiosity echoing Dragon's first glimpse of Luffy's bounty poster.
Lu Kai gave Tara a very strange feeling. He had extraordinary strength at such a young age his aura sharp like Zoro's in Whiskey Peak.
Moreover, Tara learned about Lu Kai's situation from his subordinates, and knew that his body, which was originally seriously injured and on the verge of death, had miraculously recovered in an instant similar to Sanji's rapid healing after Germa's experimentations.
Moreover, the murderous aura that Lu Kai exuded when he was mad was extremely shocking, like a madman, but after calming down, he was much more mature than he should be at his age.
That's right, it's maturity, not the numbness of other slaves he resembled Koala, who never lost her will even when branded a slave by the Celestial Dragons.
Lu Kai was clearly capable of independent thinking and had not become a walking corpse because of his life of slavery.
"By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Tara!" The man introduced himself without putting on airs. "What's your name?"
"Tara, the legendary leader of the resistance army? Thanks!" Lu Kai was slightly stunned and said, "Lu Kai!"—his voice still hoarse, as if dredged from the past like Sabo's lost memory.
After a long time, Tara slapped her thigh, looked at Lu Kai and asked in surprise: "Are you the missing little noble Lu Kai from Gaocheng?"
"Yes, that's me." Lu Kai nodded and replied—his voice firm but cold, echoing Vivi's strength when she renounced royalty in Alabasta.
"You're not dead?" Tara asked again.
"Nonsense, can I still talk to you after I die?" Lu Kai, who was still angry, said directly.
"Then...Lucade..." Tara was about to ask, but instantly felt a strong murderous intent emanating from Luke, as if the three words "Lucade" were some kind of taboo—the same chill that spread when Robin whispered "Ohara."
"Don't mention this disgusting name in front of me." Lu Kai said with cold eyes.
"Huh!" Tara let out a long breath, as if she had thought of something, and looked at Lu Kai with strange eyes from time to time.
The fact that Lusaid's eldest son Lukai was attacked by bandits and disappeared was well known throughout the Rafia Kingdom—an incident publicized like the lost prince of Goa Kingdom.
For this reason, Gao Cheng even sent out a guard team, but failed to find Lu Kai.
But Lu Kai appeared here as a slave. What exactly happened?
But Tara didn't ask any further questions, and Lu Kai didn't seem to want to say anything.
After a long time, Tara slowly said: "You know? Your grandfather has been very kind to me.—He was one of the few nobles who defied the World Government's orders in public."
"I was a slave in a steel factory. I escaped by chance, but I didn't expect a high reward would be placed on my head. I almost died while being chased by the guards—like those bounty hunters at Sabaody who hunted people like me for points.
"It was your grandfather who helped me conceal my identity and went to sea.—He used an old Marine coat to disguise me as an officer and smuggled me onto a merchant ship headed for Baltigo. Unfortunately, I have never been able to repay his kindness. I even found out about his murder only afterward. The papers said 'accident,' but it had Cipher Pol written all over it."
"Little Lu Kai, just follow me from now on. I will never let you suffer any injustice again."—His voice, for once, didn't sound like a rebel commander, but like someone clinging to a vow he couldn't keep years ago.
However, Lu Kai did not agree immediately, but asked Tara some questions that he was concerned about. Questions like whether Gaocheng was still under Luside control and if any rebels had ever made contact with the castle's inner circle.
After getting the answer, Lu Kai fell into deep thought. He remembered something from before the cage, a whisper about a 'Council of Twelve' nobles one of whom had called his mother "the dagger behind the smile."
As they continued to move forward, the group arrived in front of a big mountain.—It wasn't even marked on any known map like the Revolutionary Army's secret bases hidden in islands erased from the log pose routes.
The mountain looks bare and very ordinary, but a huge space has been dug out inside the mountain and a small town has been built, where many people live.—It was not unlike the hidden passages beneath the Kamabakka Kingdom, with rudimentary stone homes, pipes running steam, and blacksmiths forging weapons from stolen marine steel.
Those who live here are all members of the resistance army who attempt to overthrow the rule of the aristocracy. Former slaves, ex-soldiers, even deserters from the lower-ranking Marines were among their number.
Tara led Lukai and others into a very hidden underground town entrance.—One opened by rotating three jagged rocks in a specific sequence—an old Wano trick taught to him by a samurai who once escaped Ringo.
After arranging Lu Kai's affairs and instructing him not to run around, Tara went to deal with the follow-up matters of the attack on the flour factory and also sent someone to take care of Lu Kai. The flour factory had been producing rations for Gaocheg's private army, and its blueprints had shown connections to Luside's estate.
However, just as Tara was counting the harvest, the person who was taking care of Lu Kai rushed over and said hurriedly: "Chief, the child is missing." His voice trembled as though he'd lost more than a charge—he feared what that child might do next.
"what?"
...
When the hatred in a person's heart is so strong that it cannot be suppressed, he must always find a target to direct at, otherwise his spirit will surely collapse. Even the calmest minds like Nico Robin's or Trafalgar Law's nearly broke under such weight.
Over the past two years, Lu Kai's double torture of body and mind has caused his hatred to continue to accumulate, to the point where it is impossible to fill the sea of hatred.—It was the kind of hatred that would make even Enel's wrath look shallow.
Little Lu Kai's memories and hatred have been chewed over and over again by Lu Kai in the past two years. He'd memorized every betrayal, every scream in the dark, the way slaves vanished when they disobeyed.
What little Lu Kai hated the most were the Luside couple, and his hatred for them reached an uncontrollable level, even more than that of the One-Eyed Dragon, although he had never met them. They were like the Celestial Dragons to him: untouchable tyrants who fed on the pain of others from behind gilded veils.
Lu Kai was not satisfied at all with his revenge on the one-eyed man just now, and he was particularly depressed by Tara's interference. He wanted the kill, the sound, the sight Tara robbed him of his only justice.
But Tara was trying to help him, so Lu Kai couldn't possibly turn his hatred towards him. Even in rage, some part of him still remembered that Tara had risked his life to smuggle in medicine for injured slaves.
So Lu Kai came up with another idea, that is, Lu Kai's parents, the Lusides. They weren't his family anymore they were symbols, the core of the rot he wanted to cut out.
And now it is not just a question of hatred or not. Lu Kai has integrated the memories, feelings and emotions of little Lu Kai. The Luside couple has become his obsession, and he cannot think of not killing them. Not even Dragon or Ivankov could've talked him down now—his cause had become personal.
If he hadn't escaped from the cage, Lu Kai could have continued to divert his attention, making escape his first goal and constantly persuading himself.—Like the minks hiding in Zou, telling themselves that survival was victory enough.
But after walking out of the cage, Lu Kai could no longer control himself.—Freedom didn't calm him—it sharpened him.
So at this moment, Lu Kai was walking on the Moon Steps and rushing towards Gaocheng.—Geppo, the "Moonwalk" of CP9, used now not to assassinate but to avenge.
---