A cell for a (slightly) better cell

The loud sound of the doors opening woke me up. I watched as a large team of guards stormed in, grabbing several of the slaves from the cell next to me, full of the young girls. None of them were the Boa sisters. Not that I cared. Honestly I wasn't a fan of Hancock's character. Sure she was hot, but that was it. Her attitude was a major turn off. Don't hate me for having a different opinion. I glanced over to the corner of my vision, where the skill progress bar was, showing me that I slept roughly 8 hours.

The only girl that caught my eye was about my age, hazel eyes, and cherry red hair. She was a mink, or half mink. A pair of canine ears and tail sprouted from her body, her pale skin covered in thin scars, a piercing hanging from the tip of her left ear, a clearly sloppy job. The piercing resembled that of a handle. Her right ear was torn at the tip, where a matching piercing would hang. She fought desperately against the guard handling her, eventually biting his arm. He shouted in pain and grabbed a remote. The girl recoiled in pain as the collar released an electric shock.

[WILL CHECK FAIL! ALERT! WILL CHECK FAIL! ALERT!]

Nyx was laughing in the back of my mind. "Well, I saw that coming!"

I Didn't have time to ask Nyx the fuck she was talking about as I lost control of my own body rushing forward, shattering the bars of the cage with my superhuman strength. Upon reaching the guard, My hands found his throat, snapping his neck. Swinging my arms around, I threw the dead guard into his friends, surprised that it was so easy to kill one of these 'Elite Royal Guards' that protect the dragons.

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[Level up - Skill Tree unlocked + 1 skill point + 1 attribute points]

[Level 2 (0/200)]

[Makeshift weapons skill unlocked]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[Makeshift weapons skill Level up]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[Level up + 1 skill point + 1 attribute points]

[Level 3 (0/300)]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[Makeshift weapons skill Level up]

The other guards rushed at me, and I responded in kind, the level 15 boxing taking over along with my 50 points in Strength, denting the decorative armor they wore, collapsing their ribcage.

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[Level up + 1 skill point + 1 attribute point]

[Level 4 (0/400)]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

I felt the back of my neck tingle, as if warning me of danger. I ducked and a sword passed where my head was. I grabbed the man's arm and broke it in half, making him drop the sword. I picked it up and blocked an incoming swing. Then retaliated, slicing a guard's neck open.

[Swordsmanship Level 1 unlocked]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[defeated royal guard +50 EXP]

[Swordsmanship Level 2]

I blocked out the continuous notifications as I fought off the guards slowly. My level rose, along with my swordsmanship skill. I hit level five for both makeshift weaponry and swordsmanship after I picked up a corpse in one hand to use as a club, smacking the other guards away and stopped using my fists, but I broke sword after sword in my grip, making me pick up other weapons. My collar started releasing continuous electric shocks, paralyzing my muscles, as more and more blows started landing on me.

The continuous fighting attracted the attention of something I didn't have time to react to, and all I felt was a sharp pain in my head as I was sent flying into a wall. With blurry eyes I looked up to see a man dressed in a white suit staring down at me.

"You will do well in the arena."

When I came too, I was chained to a wall, laying in a cell about 6 feet in length, and 3 feet in width. With a wince I opened the status screen.

__________________

Name: Col D. Shock

Age: 15

Race: human-giant imbalanced mix

(can be refined)

Status

!critical!

Level 10

Str: 50

Agi: 10

Dex: 45

Int: 10

Attribute points: 5

Occupation: slave (Master: Saint Quintit)

Health 1/500

Stamina 1/500

24 years before the Great Age of Pirates (G.A.P.)

__________________________________________

Skills:

Boxing Level 15 1,500/100,000

Stubborn Will level 3 (500/800)

Makeshift weapons level 3 (500/800)

Swordsmanship level 5 (1,550/3,200)

Electric Resistance level 2 (50/200)

________________________________

"Mornin' Nyx." I muttered.

"Morning sleeping beauty, how's your head?" Nyx giggled. Less than a minute awake and I was already wanting to go back to sleep.

"Great. I feel like I was hit by another truck." I muttered. I blinked the spots out of my eyes, to see that I was no longer in a cage, but a fairly reasonable bedroom. Outside of the cell of course. I was still chained up, but I could guess why I was here. To be manipulated, controlled, whatever you want to call it. They were going to basically say, 'Here, you can live so much better than the other slaves, you just have to do every single little thing we say!'

"Fuck that noise."

"Yes, my thoughts exactly." Nyx said. "By the way, you are going to love this, the lady you saved has also been assigned to be your caretaker, of ALL your needs."

"huh. Well, added benefit from that whole mess." I responded. "Moving on, Open the skill tree please."

Nyx just hummed as she pulled up a small box

___________

Skill points: 2

There were hundreds of skills I could pick. I spent an easy hour choosing, and ended up choosing the Crafting and Polearm skills. It seems I get a skill point for every five levels, leaving me with roughly 50 skills at level 100. I don't know If i will get that far before the God's Island incident, but who knows, I have 10 years. I definitely won't be able to stand up to any of the bigwigs at that point, I know that much. Garp and Roger seemed to have this handled, Xebec dies, the Rocks pirates disband, God's Island disappears. Those points must happen, and will happen without my interference.

A knock on the door brought my attention to reality. The girl walked in, she had another slave collar on, but she was wearing much better clothes than before, and her appearance was much clearer than it was when he saw her in the cages.

"You're awake. Great, you have been out for a while. If it weren't for you snoring they would have mistaken you for dead." The Girl said. She looked to be around my age now that I got a proper look at her. "Sorry for causing you trouble, I don't exactly have great control over my abilities. Oh, right, My name is Cherry. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Romulus. Pleasure to meet you too Cherry." I said as she put down the tub in her hands. "So you were the reason I went berserk?"

"Yeah, my previous master forced me to eat a Devil fruit. It gave me the power to manipulate people, and other things, but I don't have much control of it." Cherry said as she walked over to me and started wiping down my body. "It's odd though. Supposedly you are supposed to know what Devil fruit you're and your abilities, but I can't remember."

"It's fine, I don't mind much really. I was just surprised." I said as I looked at the chains. "I don't suppose you can let me down?"

She gave a small smile. "No I can't. I don't have the key to your locks, and even then, they are keeping a close eye on you after your little rampage." After a few seconds, she wrung out the towel and spoke up again. "I suppose that little incident was beneficial for both of us. After you were knocked out by one of Master's personal guards, he moved us in with the fighting slaves so we don't have to worry about torture or back breaking labor."

"Still a deadly position to be in." I said as she closed the cell door behind her. She nodded in agreement as she sat on a chair nearby. "Still doesn't explain why I have a room, even if it's not in the best of conditions."

Cherry let out a small sigh. "Master Quintit likes having his slaves in the best of conditions when they fight, and gives them proper motivation to win. The better you do, the better living conditions you have. It's a ruthless system, as slaves can challenge other slaves for their room. If they win, they get the room, and the sex slave that comes with it."

"And how are we situated in comparison?" I asked her, skipping over the sex slave part. She looked around the room for a moment. A small bed, desk, torn sheets, and a bucket in the corner was about all of the furniture in the small 6x6 room, with the exception of the small cell I was in that could be counted as a closet.

"Slightly above the other slaves, so lowest amoung the Arena slaves." She responded. "I don't really know much else. I was given a brief description of what is going on, but other than that I don't know. Master Quintit won me in a gambling match last week."

I took notice of her ears again then they twitched, noting that the handle-like piercing was gone. Her deep blue eyes traced over my form again, tail slowly moving back and forth. She reminded me of Holo from Spice and Wolf, with a slightly bigger bust and a brighter shade of red hair. She was shorter than me, standing at 5' 9", compared to my height, standing at around 6' 6". My half-Giant heritage seemed to be showing. If my human side affected my growth, then I will stop aging at 21, but this is One Piece. Logic doesn't apply here.

"So where are you staying?" I asked her, not letting the silence grow too uncomfortable. She pointed her thumb at the bed in the corner.

"I was assigned to be your caretaker until you heal. Once you fight a few matches and prove yourself, you will get your own room and a fuck toy." She stated, getting up from the chair. "I should let them know you're awake so they can get those chains off. Probably. You did kill a few of their friends soooo…"

"Yeah I'm not sorry. I hold no sympathy for these people." I stated, staring at the chains, perfectly aware I could break them off. Cherry let out a small chuckle as she walked to the door and knocked on it twice. The door swung open and she walked out as it slammed shut behind her. I could faintly make out the sounds of bolts sliding into place, followed by chains and a distinct click of a lock.

Nyx decided to chime in at this point. "I should mention, the skill scan finished while you were asleep, you just need to hit confirm and bada bing bada boom." Looks like she started acting more human-like finally. Guess she needed time to process. Mentally, I opened up the skill window, and confirmed the transfer of skills. One small headache later, and I had the skills I learned in my past life.

____________________________________________________________________________

Skills learned!

Marksmanship(Advanced)

Auto Mechanic(Advanced)

Carpentry(Novice)

Electrical engineering(Novice)

Drafting(Expert)

Welding(Advanced)

Drawing(Advanced)

Dancing(Absolute shit)

Driving(Expert)

Piloting(novice)

Tracking(Novice)

Cooking(Intermediate)

Hunting(Advanced)

Martial Arts

-Krav Maga(Novice)

-Karate(Intermediate)

-Kickboxing(Advanced)

-Judo(Novice)

Sailing(Novice)

Musical instruments

-piano(You're no Brook pal)

-trumpet(Novice)

Rope tying(Novice)

Various computer skills(Varying ranges of proficiency)

Photography(Novice)

Bartering(Novice)

Iron Stomach(Expert)

Various sports (Varying ranges of proficiency)

Diplomacy(Novice)

---Extend display---

____________________________________________________________________________

I sigh as I look at the full range of skills I have learnt over my past 25 years on earth. I didn't leave myself much time to relax. My parents wanted me to join the military, I wanted to be a mechanic, work on cars. In the end we compromised, I became a mechanic in the Army. Let me tell you, Military grade isn't what civilians think it is. They imagine that anything Military grade is flawless, bulletproof and shit. All it is is shit. 'Military Grade' just means it was made by the cheapest bidder.

"So what is your plan?" Nyx asked me as I read the skill list. "I know you plan to escape during God Island and all that, but that's 10 years from now. How are you going to survive?"

"I play their game. I get as strong as possible here, bide my time. And pray that this Quintit goes to God Island. If not, my plan is fucked, so plan B is to escape myself, either by stealth or force. Like hell am I waiting until Fisher Tiger comes here in 33 years." I Mentally tell Nyx. I opened up the shop as I was talking to her. A lot of Items were blacked out, needing level requirements and the likes There was one tab that caught my eye, all it said was 'owned items' that was a shade of gold, compared to the rest that were shaded out or blue.

I opened it up to discover it was a list of everything I had owned up until I died. Everything from furniture to clothing to vehicles. It even included the house I grew up in. wait. Wait. WAIT! I quickly scrolled through the list until I found it. Right there, my baby sat in all its glory. My 1969 Mustang Mach 1, painted in its crimson glory, racing stripes from fender to fender, my one true love.

[ERROR! Purchase unavailable]

What.

[ERROR! Purchase unavailable]

[Garage not unlocked]

FUCK! GOD DAMN MOTHER FUCKING SON OF A WHORE!

"Oi, calm down there man." Nyx said as I ranted on. "You can get her back."

"Fine. fine. This is fine." I mumbled as I laid back on the straw floor of my cell, chains clicking as I did so.

A few moments passed as I laid there, scrolling through various parts of the shop, skill tree, and inventory. I saw a bloodline refinement item in the store and groaned at how expensive it was. It wasn't locked, but it was 200 million Beri. I was about to fall back asleep when the locks on the door started opening. Cherry walked in, along with 5 other guards, who forced themselves in this room. They looked much stronger than the ones in the cell block, but you know what they say about assuming.

One of the guards walked forward and opened the cell, holding a key in his gauntlet.

"Stand up and face the wall, hands behind your back." another stated. Following orders, I did as I was told. The chains were removed from the wall, still attached to my wrist and ankles. A thud sounded behind me, as the chains attached to something else. The cell door closed again as the same guard spoke up. "Turn around."

Looking down, the chains were attached to a large iron ball, weighing roughly 25 pounds.

"You have a match, get moving." the same guard said, holding a pole that was attached to my collar. I was moved from the room, revealing a prison layout of similar rooms, however instead of the heavy metal door on mine, most had bar doors, allowing you to view inside. Most had one slave inside, others had two, often engaging in acts of pleasure. All were covered in wounds of various kinds that were in different stages of healing, mediocre bandages barely managing to do the job.

"Do you have a preferred weapon?" a Guard asked. I simply replied with polearms. We soon passed a room full of weapons, surrounded by guards. They pulled out a rack full of different kinds of polearms, and I pointed to a guandao that looked to be in the best shape, but that wasn't saying much. The guard carried it as we continued walking, soon coming to a room full of more guards. My cuffs were taken off, and the guards were on high alert. Seems they think I will go on a rampage again. I saw one of the escorting guards hand a remote to a woman in a green suit.

"You will be proving you can fight. Win this match and you can get an actual room. You lose? You die." The woman said as she took the guandao from the guards and inspected it. "You will be thrown your weapon after your opponent enters the arena."

I wasn't given a chance to respond as a trap door opened under my feet. I slid down a chute and tumbled into sand. I stood up as cheering resounded around me. I looked up to see a grand stadium with an open sky. The seats were full of people. It seems this is a favorite pastime for people here. I looked across the arena to see a large door slowly open up, revealing a Wotan that looked like a giant shark.

"The challenger! A new slave from the Grandline!" An announcer shouted. "THE CHAMPION! FORMER PIRATE WITH A BOUNTY OF 50 MILLION! "MEGALODON" JACK!"

"Fuck."