Arc 3: Keystone: Part 1

Do you know what my first thought was after stepping outside for the fist time on the dock of Impel Down? It was, 'Ahhhhh! Natural Light! It burns!' The skin complexion of someone who has literally spent their entire life indoors does not agree a single iota with sunlight.

My second thought was about the ocean. I saw it for the first time when my eyes adjusted to the light. It was blue-gray and constantly moving. I swear I could see giant shapes moving beneath it's surface, but that might've been my mind playing tricks on me. It moved like nothing I'd ever seen before.

My third thoughts, naturally, was about what I saw immediately above the ocean. The horizon. The sky.

Magellan was right, it was a cloudy day. There was a massive fog bank all around us and the sky was a swirling grey mass. I was entranced by how the wind I felt for the first time blew across me and how the clouds responded. They swirled in the direction the wind blew.

How far up was the sky? If I could fly, how long would it be before I could touch the clouds? What did the sun look like? I could feel the sunlight filtering through the clouds, but I couldn't see it anywhere.

As I stood at the edge of the docks the prisoners that had traveled with me were looking all over the docks frantically looking for something. I didn't join them in their activities. I was too busy soaking in all the sights and sounds of being outside.

The only people not scrambling around beside myself were Gurry, Kreig, and Klahadore. I looked at them curiously and asked, "Why aren't you all panicking with everyone else?"

"All things happen for a reason. And if there isn't a good reason, I'm not going to but any effort into something." Gurry explained.

Kreig just crossed his arms and looked pissed. "There's no way I'm going to be able to escape. I looked around and I got nothing."

Klahadore pushed his glasses up with his palm again. "I'm still analyzing the situation."

"Good to know... Analyzed anything interesting?"

He nodded. "I've deducted that this is the first time you've been outside."

"Wow. You're right. How did you figure that out?" I asked amazed.

He pointed at my hands. "You're already getting sunburned."

I looked at my own hands that before my very eyes were beginning to redden and itch. "Ah! Sunlight! It burns!" I said surprised and in a little pain while shaking my hands around.

"Don't worry boy, I got you." Gurry said taking a deep breath.

Before I could ask him what he meant when he said 'got me' he spit. His thick phlegm landed all over me. Kreig and Klahadore looked extremely ill, and I was much worse. The only thing that made it even slightly more bearable was the fact it still wasn't as bad as the time I got eaten by the Sphinx.

I wiped as much of the semi-clear sludge off of me as I could and the it into the water. I swear I heard it hiss a little as it splashed.

"Why did you do that?" I asked the sage, trying my best to keep the edge out of my voice.

Gurry nodded. Then calmly replied, "My mucus acts as natural protection from radiation, like UV rays from the sun. Just don't get any in your mouth, it's very poisonous, but you'll be fine if it just on your skin."

I felt like strangling the old man right then but I stopped myself. My skin had stopped feeling like it was on fire again so I guess it worked. I then sighed loudly. "That's okay. Doesn't matter anyways. Magellan will be back soon from wherever it is he's going, and when he comes back he'll take us from here and back to whatever Level we belong on in our cells or just kill us for some inane reason... Man. I wish Warden was a gardener like he always wanted to be. Then he wouldn't be torturing us. Instead he'd be growing... some kind of plant."

"Huh, I didn't know Magellan wanted to be a gardener." The man wearing a black reflective mask with a fedora atop it and a black suit standing next to me said.

I nodded. "The more you know about a person the less..." I looked at the guy. I imagine that behind his reflective mask he was looking at me curiously.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He asked innocently.

I scrunched my eyebrows in concentration. Where did this guy come from?

Kreig and Klahadore had more extreme reactions. They jumped in the air shocked by his sudden appearance. Gurry didn't seem worried however. He was just gazing out into the fog. Klahadore had an intense look in his eyes I hadn't seen before and pointed at the new guy. "Who are you are where did you come from?" He demanded.

The man scratched his neck nervously. Then replied embarrassed, "Well, you see that parapet up there?" He pointed above the entrance to Impel Down where there were in fact some battlements.

We nodded so he knew what he was talking about, then he continued talking. "I jumped down from up there. I was afraid of all the prisoners that just escape so I hid up there... Oh, and my name is Keystone. I'm an amateur bridge builder."

Now Kreig was suspicious. He said, "What's a bridge builder doing here at Impel Down?"

Keystone laughed. "Well, I am a bridge builder. But I'm more than just one thing. I'm also a CP2 agent."

Klahadore raised both his eyebrows. "A Cipher Pol agent?"

Keystone snapped, then placed his hands on his hips. "Damn straight. And a good one too! My office is in charge of conspiracies, and boy to I have one cooked up! It might even land me that promotion! It's why I'm here! I'm looking for a prisoner for a plan called C2G."

"Which prisoner?" I asked. Maybe it was one of the guys in the crowd I took with me. Good behavior wouldn't take me anywhere, but it never hurt to be a helpful person.

"I'm looking for Prisoner 10013." He asked with utmost seriousness, his voice having audibly dropped. Then his attitude flipped and he was scratching his neck again and his voice had a somewhat pleading tone to it. "Does anyone seem to know Manjū-san?"