The Yawning Grave • ONE PIECE

i I state of unfairness

ONE  I   STATE OF UNFAIRNESS

(season 1 : episode 1)

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                Cruelty. Unfairness. Desecration of will. The world was built upon these concepts.

Once upon a time, a pirate king spoke about finding all the things the world had to offer. A lot of good wealth, fame and power did for him when he found himself on the chopping block. Alya herself would never hope to find what the pirate king coveted - children of misfortune could only ever expect misfortune.

And the state of the world they lived in was unnecessarily unfair to those of unfortunate blood.

Criminal activity ran rampant. Pirates set their sights on destroying the lives of innocents. Marine's abandoned their noble ideals of truth and justice as money and power corrupted their morals. And she didn't even want to get started on the World Government.

The common man had been abandoned as the world fell into peril.

Alya had once been a victim of such degeneracy from pirates and Marines alike, and to this day was still hounded by it. The Marines waged a hard fought war against the scourge of the seas, but in a way, criminals were like cockroaches. No matter how hard one tried to snuff them out, they kept scurrying on with their miserable lives.

Alya could hardly say she was untainted herself. She was far from it. Her life had been an unceasing cycle of the Gods spitting upon her existence. There was once a time where she had wondered what she had done to earn their ire, but had long given up trying to figure it out.

Some children were just born to be forsaken by the world. Cast out and thrown hurdle after hurdle until there came an obstacle they found themselves stuck to like a fly in a web. There were moments in the present that Alya had felt like she had reached that point. The endless monotony was something she couldn't unstick herself from. All of the mistakes, the voices howling at her back and the ceaseless attempts to remove herself from unending starvation had weaved a hapless path to the here and now.

It was always; do the job, get the money, move to another island. Do the job. Get the money. Move to another island so you won't be hunted down like helpless prey. The cycle she could not free herself from.

The night air was exceedingly cold, despite Shells Town's regularly warm climate. Reflected off the ocean's surface was the white light of the high moon, casting a deeper shadow over the rest of the water not hit by its touch. None could see what lay in the shadows of those murky depths. A caravel class ship sat anchored, moored away from Shells Town's docks. Its sails were furled up into the masts, bow bobbing upon the waves. The gentle breeze displayed the flag of a merchant guild.

Silence haunted the decks, only a lone lookout remaining in the crows nest. His eyes fluttered shut, sleep pulling him into its calming embrace, the comfortability of being so close to a Marine Base lulling the crew into a false sense of security. Due to the lack of attendance, the candles burned low in the lanterns on deck, soon to become smoking embers.

Once confirming the man's descent into the throes of sleep, Alya lowered the telescope, the heavy cotton scarf covering her face protecting her from the sting of the night's chill. Picking up the rowboat's oars, she slowly and silently pulled up to the side of the ship. Climbing aboard, she peeked through the slats of the railing, ensuring the deck's emptiness before hopping onto the softly creaking wood with a catlike grace. She almost felt sorry for the poor man in the Crow's Nest. His negligence would wind up with him sinking like a stone into the ocean's darkest depths.