Chapter 6

"I think I have a plan to escape."

While everyone else processed Sho's words, Lucien focused on his observation haki, and observed Sho's colour, which was green. It was solid and calm, which showed Lucien that he was confident in what he was saying.

Lucien had gotten a lot better at observation haki over his time in The Tower of Heaven. Right now, he could see the area around him in his mind as colours. The floor was brown, the walls were grey, the air was a clear, nearly see-through, blue that added a tint to everything, and people were different colours. The other kids in the cell were green, so was Uncle Rob, and the other adults were blue.

Lucien had thought that the colours he could see represented people's emotions, but realised that he was wrong after they didn't change with their emotions. He then realised that the colours represented the type of person they were, though what they specifically meant was still unclear to him. But he had some ideas. Based on what he could see from how the people acted, blue people had given up hope for the future, while green people were the opposite. Red, which was the guards, were most likely evil, based on how the guards acted, and that, well, evil is usually represented by red. Those were the only colours he had seen so far, and this place didn't exactly give people the chance to grow and change. People who had hope, people who didn't, and the guards. That pretty much summed up the people in The Tower of Heaven.

Their emotions, on the other hand, were like different effects. When Jellal was around Erza, his colour would turn a lighter shade and move around a little, in a way that Lucien instinctively recognised as happiness, and it tinted a shade of pink and shook when he noticed the knowing look in Lucien's eyes, which he knew represented embarrassment. He wasn't sure how he knew what emotions they were representing, he just somehow did.

And at first, Lucien was confused as to why he could see solid objects with his haki, since in One Piece they could only see a black world and people. It took him a while before he realised why it was like that, and he felt like he was an idiot for not realising it sooner.

In the One Piece world, the only energy, other than whatever devil fruits were, was haki. So, observation haki could only sense other people, since the earth and most other solid objects didn't contain haki. But this was a different world. One where magic, or ethernano, was present in all things. It saturated the earth, the air, people, everything. This was the energy that Lucien's observation haki was picking up.

It was after figuring this out that Lucien started to ponder on his abilities. He had wished for Marco's abilities, but what did that mean exactly?

He technically never ate a devil fruit, so would he have a weakness to the sea?

And haki didn't actually exist in this world, since Lucien was sensing ethernano, so how could he use it?

It took Lucien a little bit longer before he started to develop a theory about this. He had wished for Marco's abilities, and that is what he got, but not a devil fruit or haki. He merely had a type of magic that gave him the same abilities as Marco's devil fruit, or as the types of haki in the One Piece world. It was like how if he had wished for the ability to control fire, he could've been granted fire magic, or a fire devil fruit, or even a quirk like Endeavor's.

Lucien, in a sense, had created his own magic. The first, a type of magic that allowed him to take on the properties of the Tori Tori no Mi: Model Phoenix. And the second - or second, third, and fourth, depending on how you look at it - allowed him to use the abilities of haki. Which would also sort out the issue of why he could use observation haki while not being calm. He had managed to gain a calm state of mind now - sort of - after practising for a while, but when he started his mind was a mess. It had confused him at first that he could use it without being calm.

The more he thought about it, the more confused he got. Eventually, he just stopped thinking about it and gave up. He figured that he had those abilities, and that the way they worked didn't matter to him all that much, seeing as he was currently still a slave. He could find out if he was weak to the sea if he ever got out of this place, which would hopefully be soon if Sho's words were anything to go by. Though there was something in his memories about an escape plan, he couldn't quite remember what. But seeing as Erza managed to join Fairy Tail in the end, he assumed that it succeeded. [A.N. For those who think he should remember what happened, it makes sense that he couldn't. If you look it up, you'll see that torture affects the hippocampus and the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which controls memory recall and higher-level decision making.]

After everyone had processed Sho's words, and discreetly(not even slightly) looked around to make sure no one else had heard them, they looked at him with eyes that clearly conveyed their burning curiosity, as well as their hope.

"I accidentally overheard some of the guards talking, they probably didn't even care that I was there since they think of us as nothing more than ants," he explained, angrily at that last part, "and they talked about receiving some ships. The same ones that were used to bring us here. Apparently, they are going to arrive tomorrow with food and new slaves."

"You want us to take the boats and escape?" Jellal asked, coming to the same conclusion as everyone else.

"What about the guards?" Lucien asked.

Sho seemed unsure, his colours moved nervously, like he hadn't thought this far ahead. Luckily, Jellal jumped in and answered for him, a plan already forming inside his head, "The guards said that there will be new slaves arriving, right? That means that most of the guards should be busy keeping them under control, since they wouldn't expect us to do anything, and we should have enough time to sneak our way towards one of the boats so that we can take it out of here."

"Do you think it could work, Big Sis?" Milliana asked nervously.

"Maybe. But what should we do afterwards?" Erza answered.

"Whatever we want," Milliana answered excitedly.

Lucien was excited about the thought of being free, but had learned not to get his hopes up. "How is it that you plan to get to the ships? They won't just let you walk past them."

"We can go through a secret passage I found. I had to go through that area, and found it. We swim out of the trapdoor, head to the ships through the sea, and no one will notice us 'till it's too late."

Everyone thought about it. It was a great plan, and it really had a chance to work. Everyone was excited, their colours were vibrant and jumping up and down. Well, everyone but Lucien, though he hid his mood well. The sea. They would have to go through the sea, there was no other way they could escape. But Lucien wasn't sure if he was weak to the sea or not. He didn't know if he had the devil fruit's weakness or not, since he never actually ate a devil fruit. And there was only one way to find out.

"How long will the ships be staying here?" Erza asked.

"I'm not sure, uh, a week, I think," Sho stammered out nervously.

"Then we have a week to prepare," Simon said confidently. After all, they came up with a seemingly good plan so quickly, with a week's preparation they would be golden.

""No,"" both Jellal and Lucien said at the same time. He nodded at Jellal, motioning for him to continue the explanation. "The guards will have escorted the new slaves by then, and we will have lost our window of opportunity. No, if we want to escape, we will have to do it in the next two or three days."

Everyone looked shocked. It made sense, that wasn't nearly enough time to prepare to escape. But they all understood that they didn't have a choice, this could be their only opportunity.

"I'm with you," Erza spoke solemnly, breaking through the heavy atmosphere.

'Heh, of course she would be on Jellal's side,' Lucien thought with a mental smirk. "Same here," he added, aloud this time.

"Thanks, Erza, Luce," he said, before looking at the rest.

"I'm in," Simon agreed.

"I'll follow you, Big Sis" Milliana followed.

"It's probably our only chance, so of course I'll go," Wally added.

"I mean, it was my plan to begin with, so it would be kind of strange if I didn't agree," Sho added with a smile, but there was no hiding the shaking in his hands. He was scared, they all were. They knew what happened to those who got caught trying to break out, but they also knew that this was their only chance of freedom. And no one here would be willing to give up a shot at being able to wake up when they wanted, to eat what they want, and to have control over their own lives once again.

"Then I promise that I will get our freedom back," Jellal said, staring determinately at each of them. Lucien noticed a small blush on Erza's face when Jellal looked at her, and her colours did a little dance.

Despite his fear, anxiousness and worry, Lucien couldn't help but feel that their plan would work. Jellal just gave off that kind of a feeling, even to Lucien, who could see how his colours moved around nervously. Whether he would be going with them, however, wasn't something they needed to worry about. Everyone was feeling nervous, their colours were practically jumping out of their bodies. But after all this time in the Tower, they were able to sleep on time, even with their nerves.

And, like always, Jellal and Lucien were still awake. Lucien could see that everyone else was asleep by the soft humming of their colours, matching their slow, steady breaths. He could also tell that Jellal wanted to talk to him, not just by his colours, but also because of how well he knew him.

"What?" Lucien asked.

"That's what I want to know," Jellal replied. Upon noticing Lucien's confused expression, he explained, "When we talked about the plan, you seemed scared and nervous, more than just because of what could happen if they catch us."

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing," he replied dismissively.

"How can I not worry when my best friend is keeping things from me," Jellal whispered angrily. They locked eyes for a couple of seconds, before Lucien sighed and looked away first.

Deciding to be honest, he answered, " I'm not sure, but I might not be able to swim in the sea."

"You can't swim?" Jellal asked, confused. He had assumed Lucien could swim, and that if he couldn't, he would have mentioned it.

"Not exactly," Lucien hesitated, feeling something in him that was telling him not to give Jellal this information for some reason, but he ignored it. " There's a chance that the sea will sap the strength from my body. Literally. I might not even have the energy to move."

"What do you mean 'a chance'?"

"I'm not sure, and I can't tell you more, but it's a possibility."

"Then I'll carry you," Jellal stated calmly.

Lucien couldn't help but smile at that. "My knight in shining armour," he teased.

"You know I don't swing that way," he scoffed.

"Of course, Erza would be upset if you did."

He didn't reply, only turned around to hide his blush. That couldn't hide his embarrassment from Lucien, who could actually see his emotions, but he was tired and simply decided to head off to sleep anyway.