c3: Good People Are Useless, Les Misérables
After his body reached perfect condition, Lu Kai, who lived a second life, clenched his fists and his whole body trembled with excitement.
It reminded him of Luffy standing on the execution platform in Loguetown, arms raised in defiance of fate as the lightning spared him. For Lu Kai, this feeling was just as divine, just as unreal.
In his previous life, Lu Kai was only 24 years old when he was swallowed by a sea monster and died. Only he knew how unwilling he felt in his heart in the moment before he lost consciousness.
It was the same unwillingness Ace must've felt when Roger turned himself in. The kind of helplessness that eats you from the inside out.
In his second life, he came to the pirate world, but Luke had been dragging his dying body since he regained consciousness.
This body, no different from the abused bodies of the Tenryuubito's slaves in Mariejois, had endured torment beyond what his mind could justify. The wounds weren't only physical they were woven deep into the spirit.
Although he survived, which gave him new hope, his life could be taken away at any time, causing his hope to be shattered bit by bit again.
It was like being trapped in Impel Down's Level 5 alive, but only just, and always on the edge of collapse.
Although he lived two lives, Lu Kai has only lived for thirty years. Having died twice, his desire to live is something that others cannot understand.
Not even Zoro, who willingly stepped into Kuma's torment, could truly understand this. Lu Kai didn't choose pain—he was thrown into it, again and again.
He was really worried that the body he traveled through might die at any time and say goodbye to this world at any time.
And unlike Whitebeard who died standing, Lu Kai feared he'd die discarded unseen, unnamed, and unwanted.
Now that he has recovered his body, Lu Kai can't control the ecstasy and excitement in his heart. All of this gives Lu Kai a strong sense of unreality.
Even Law's Ope Ope no Mi couldn't perform a miracle this personal. This wasn't surgery this was resurrection.
Only the system interface that always appeared in front of his eyes and that Lu Kai was reluctant to hide could make him feel at ease.
It was his Den Den Mushi, his eternal companion in this hostile world a constant signal in a world filled with betrayal and noise.
It was not known how long it had passed before Lu Kai slowly came back to his senses. Then he shuddered all over and realized that now was not the time to be happy.
Even the Straw Hats didn't celebrate when they escaped Enies Lobby they looked at the destruction around them and understood the cost of survival.
Although the king of Rafia claimed that the royal factory provided a large number of job opportunities for the people outside the city and gave them generous wages to support their families, this was nothing but propaganda. Just as the World Government declared Ohara's scholars "devils," the king whitewashed slavery behind a veil of employment.
But all this is just a carefully woven lie to fool the world.
Like how the Celestial Dragons justified human trafficking through the Holy Laws, Rafia's royal line wrapped evil in noble robes.
The truth is that the greedy royal families, in order to gain more profits, arbitrarily captured residents outside the city to serve as slave labor. The so-called rewards did not exist at all, and there was only inhumane slavery.
These lies were no different from Doflamingo's manipulation of Dressrosa where smiles hid suffering and toys were nothing but stolen lives.
Once anyone enters the royal factory, there is only one way to get out, and that is death.
It echoed the horror of Punk Hazard's chemical labs where Caesar Clown used children in grotesque experiments, all under the name of "science."
The cell where Lu Kai is now is called the processing room, which is a place where slaves who have lost their value are temporarily detained. It is equivalent to the execution chamber for slaves.
This was Rafia's answer to Mariejois's slave market no auctions, no bids—just quiet extermination.
No matter whether the slaves sent here were dead or not, there was only one outcome, which was to wait to be taken out and cremated the next day.
Lu Kai realized then that even death here lacked dignity. He would not go out like Ace, whose funeral was honored by the sea itself.
Lu Kai felt as if someone had poured a large basin of cold water on his head. He no longer felt the joy of having fully recovered. Instead, he was left with a strong sense of uneasiness and anxiety.
His joy turned to dread as if he'd awakened in a sea-prism prison, powerless and watched.
After an agonizing wait, Lu Kai finally made it to the next morning. The sudden sound of footsteps in the corridor made Lu Kai tremble all over, and his heart instantly rose to his throat.
The sound was like the clanking boots of Cipher Pol agents—each step heralding another life snuffed out.
Lu Kai immediately stood up, huddled in the corner and stared at the cell door, as if only this could give him a sense of security.
His instinct to hide reminded him of how Sabo had to suppress every part of himself to survive among the nobility.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, followed by the sound of a door opening, and then two figures pushed the door open and walked in. Seeing Lu Kai standing in the corner, both of them were stunned.
They expected a corpse. What they found was defiance.
"No. 867, you are not dead? It seems that your leg is not broken." The one-eyed man looked at Lu Kai and smiled cruelly, saying, "That's great. It makes me happy again."
The man's smile was like Spandam's when he crushed Robin's hope with cold glee. This wasn't duty—it was sadism.
The person who spoke was the guard who beat little Lu Kai to death yesterday. When he saw Lu Kai standing in the corner, he immediately took out a short stick from his waist and walked towards Lu Kai.
He was the type of man who'd smile while pulling a slave collar tighter—just like the Tenryuubito in Sabaody.
"Stone, stop!" Another guard suddenly took a few steps forward and stopped the one-eyed Stone.
The interruption cracked the moment like a blade through silence.
"Bahrain, what do you mean?" One-eyed Stone's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he said coldly, "Are you going to forcibly protect this slave?"
There was no honor in his tone—only territorial arrogance, the same kind Hody Jones had when deciding who was pure enough to live.
"I didn't mean that." Balin said in an unchanged tone, "I just want to remind you that according to the factory regulations, slaves are also part of the property. Except for natural damage, no one is allowed to destroy them at will."
Even evil, when institutionalized, wraps itself in procedure. These men were not acting out of justice—just guarding their assets, like Stelly counting tax returns on dead workers.
One-eyed Stone smiled contemptuously and said, "I really didn't realize that you, Bahrain, are so abiding by the rules. But don't make a mistake, this is the processing room."
It was the same tone the Tenryuubito used when justifying human auctions at Sabaody, dressed in law but dripping with sadism. Stone didn't follow rules he twisted them.
Balin's face changed slightly when he heard that, but he chuckled and made way.
Like a Cipher Pol agent hiding a threat behind a grin, Balin moved aside but it was clear the game wasn't over.
Just as the one-eyed Stone walked past him, Balin suddenly said, "This is indeed the processing room. If you really want to kill this slave, I have no objection and I won't stop you.
—his voice steady like Smoker confronting corrupt officers in Alabasta controlled, but cold as iron.
"But this slave obviously hasn't lost his value, so I will definitely report this matter to the boss and tell him that you, Stone, deliberately brought a slave who had not lost his value to the processing room in order to satisfy your own selfish desires, and then tortured him to death.
The words struck with the force of Justice from the Marines because in this factory, currency was king, and even cruelty had cost.
"I want to see what will happen to you then."
It was a threat, not of morality but of accounting. Even in the underworld, as Doflamingo said, balance was everything.
One-eyed Stone suddenly grabbed Balin by the collar, glared at him fiercely, and said, "Balin, do you really have to go against me for a slave?"
Stone's grip was the same kind of desperate dominance seen in Fishman Island's slave rings, where power fed on fear.
"Rules are rules!" Balin refused to give in and stared at Stone, and the stalemate continued.
Balin's words echoed like Fleet Admiral Sengoku's voice in the Marineford War unbending, tired, but still stubbornly loyal to structure, not soul.
After a while, One-Eyed Stone suddenly let go of Balin and sneered, "Balin, you are a good person. I hope you can be happy every day."
The mockery in Stone's tone was sharper than any blade. It was the same poison Spandam used when ridiculing Robin's pain, veiled behind a smile.
After saying this, Stone strode away without looking back.
The same way Akainu walked away from the corpse of Ace satisfied, without remorse.
Balin, who had been acting tough before, almost broke down because of Stone's last words, and his face became extremely gloomy.
His jaw tightened, as if he'd swallowed the truth of Mariejois that even enforcers were shackled by the system they upheld.
Good people are the least needed in this flour factory, and they are also the most miserable.
Just like the scholars of Ohara—kindness was criminal, and compassion was punished with fire.
This place is a cage for the slaves, and it is also a cage for the guards like them.
Like Punk Hazard's frozen halls and boiling rooms everyone here was imprisoned, only the heat of despair or coldness of cruelty made a difference.
The king would never let the secrets here leak out, so the guards could only stay in the factory until they died, but their lives were not as miserable as those of the slaves.
They were like CP9 agents after Enies Lobby disposable, erased from record, sentenced by their own loyalty.
Once you become a factory guard, you either refuse to accept anything here, feel condemned by your conscience all the time, become depressed all day long, or end up with a mental breakdown, just like Bahrain.
Balin was like Fujitora a man who served the system but wept for what it demanded.
Or you can completely accept everything here and become increasingly distorted, like Stone.
Just like Hody Jones, who became the monster he claimed to oppose.
Seeing Balin's ugly face, Lu Kai was scared back the thank you he originally wanted to say. He didn't dare to make trouble now. It was better to have less trouble than more. He was soon taken back to Warehouse No. 5 by Balin.
Even Luffy had moments of silent restraint—like when he wore a slave collar in Sabaody, waiting, calculating. Lu Kai knew now was not the time to speak.
The flour factory is very large. Warehouse No. 5 alone covers an area of 50 acres and has more than 10 slaves. There are at least shipping warehouses like this in the entire factory.
It was on par with Kaido's weapon factories in Wano expansive, cold, and designed purely for output, not humanity.
In addition to the shipping warehouse, there are also purchasing warehouses, processing areas, packaging areas, etc. There are at least more than 20,000 slaves in the flour factory alone.
A population larger than Dressrosa's underground gladiators—yet equally silenced and forgotten.
There are at least ten factories as large as the flour factory in the Kingdom of Rafia.
The kingdom rivaled Doflamingo's puppet empire—greed masked behind bureaucracy and noble titles.
The people outside the city were more like reserve slaves in the eyes of princes and nobles than common people. As long as there were not enough slaves, the soldiers guarding the factory would capture them.
It was like the World Nobles viewing fishermen as livestock entitled to take, enslave, dispose.
Moreover, the security in the factory was extremely strict. Once you entered, you would be enslaved to death, and there was no possibility of getting out.
It was the same as Impel Down's eternal sentence you entered, and that was your end.
Inside the warehouse, hundreds of children ranging from six to ten years old were carrying sealed boxes with great effort. They all looked indifferent and said nothing.
Just like the drugged children on Punk Hazard, eyes hollowed, movements robotic.
Of all the factories, the work in the shipping warehouse of the flour factory is the easiest, so it is done by the children.
Because their bodies were small but their worth was lower still.
There were guards holding whips in every corner of the warehouse. If any child moved slowly or accidentally bumped into something, the guard would immediately and mercilessly whip him with the whip.
These guards were no different from Doflamingo's puppeteers mechanical cruelty powered by detached satisfaction.
While beating them, the guards would also insult them with very ugly words.
Just like the jeering crowd in Dressrosa's coliseum—where mockery disguised horror.
Such situations can be seen everywhere in the entire warehouse. Almost all the children have numb expressions and keep moving things like machines. If they slack off for a moment, they will be whipped.
They were not children they were gears in the engine of power, easily replaced, never valued.
Just as Lu Kai was observing the situation in the warehouse, One-Eyed Stone came to Lu Kai's side without him knowing when, and whipped him without saying a word, causing him to grimace in pain.
The pain tore through him like Borsalino's light-speed kick sudden, brutal, and unapologetic.
"Bastard, who told you to be lazy?" Stone roared while beating Lu Kai.
The words weren't meant to discipline—they were meant to dominate. Just as the Celestial Dragons never asked—they commanded.
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