Neo Destiny - Vol 1: The Adventure Begins

Chapter 9 - The Plan To Escape

In the lower decks of Quetzel's ship, the passengers that was taken from the S.S. Lily last night are being forced to row the oars of the ship as they are now slaves of the pirates. When one of the passengers is not rowing fast enough, they get punished by getting lashes from a whip. Seeing the pirates going through these lengths is enough to scare the slaves into compliance.

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Locke is still thinking about how he is going to escape. He then hears a familiar voice in the cell left of him. It is Zell. He has just woken up to find himself chained up and now a prisoner of the pirates. Unlike Locke, he didn't complain as it will not help his situation.

"Zell!" Locke calls out to him.

"Locke, is that you?" said Zell.

"Yeah, it's me!" said Locke.

"Try to keep your voice down," Zell warns. "Don't want the damn pirates to butt in."

"S-Sorry!" said Locke, lowering his voice. "Do you have any ideas on how to escape from here?"

"None..." Zell replies. "If I had my sword, I would have busted myself out of here and leaving you here."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Locke shot back.

"I'm only kidding..." said Zell.

Locke lies his back onto the wall once again. Suddenly, he remembered what the mysterious woman in his dream told him,

"That's right! The key!" He checks his pockets and finds that the Golden Skull Key is still in his possession.

'I guess this may turn out to be our salvation...' Locke thought, looking down at the key in contempt.

Without saying anything to Zell, Locke tries the key on the lock and chains. The key and the keyhole does not match, leaving Locke very flustered. Then suddenly, the key changes shape and is now able to fit the lock. "Time to test this thing out..." he said to himself. He enters the key into the keyhole, twist the lock and it unlocks his bindings.

"It worked!" said Locke as he is surprised.

Zell overhears him, "What worked?"

Locke turns to face Zell in his cell next to him, "...This thing." He flashes the key to Zell. He stands up and walks over to Zell's cell.

"Where did you get that?" questioned Zell.

"It's a long story..." Locke nods his head. "Right now, we have to save Concordia and her ball seal!"

"You realized I was hired to hunt her down, right?" said Zell. "And have you forgotten that she stole from you?"

"I haven't forgotten," Locke clenched his fist. "I'm going to give her a piece of my mind after this is all over with!"

"Hmmm... Now pass me the key." Zell commanded.

"Here you go," said Locke, throwing him the key.

Once Zell catches it in his hand, he uses it to free himself from his bindings. Just as soon as he plans to use the key to unlock the cell door, the key disappear from his hand.

"What the-!? Where did it go?" Zell wonder where the key had went.

"I forgot to mention that the key return to my hand after it has been away from me for more than a moment," Locke explains.

Locke walks over to the cell door and checks to see if any pirates are walking around. Once there is no pirate in sight, Locke unlocks the cell door with the key. "Now to get you out." He frees Zell from his cell.