Chapter 54: Seeds in the Dark
"No, it's nothing," Rayleigh said, the denial quick and firm. The hope that had flickered in his chest was now banked, hidden under layers of weary caution. Levi's reaction—that chilling, calculative smile—had been all wrong. Revealing the truth to a man who might be indifferent to it, or worse, complicit, was unthinkable. The safety of too many people depended on secrecy. Garp's ignorance was a shield. The fragile order of the Great Pirate Era, for all its chaos, was a necessary smokescreen.
"Perhaps I understand Roger's goal in starting this era," Levi said, his voice disturbingly calm. "But a righteous intention does not guarantee a righteous outcome."
Rayleigh nodded slowly, a flicker of surprise at the insight. "Sometimes the medicine is bitter, but the disease demands it. Some burdens must be carried, even if the path is unclear."
"And if I asked you directly," Levi continued, his gaze penetrating, "for the complete truth of what you learned at Laugh Tale, or on the road there… you would not tell me."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Rayleigh stated, his face settling into the placid mask of a harmless old man. He slumped against the wall, the chains clinking, exaggerating his exhaustion. The performance was masterful.
"CP0's methods are peculiar," Levi observed, ignoring the act. "No visible wounds, yet your life force is diminished to an ember."
"Physical pain is a minor inconvenience to men like us. Haki can numb the flesh. Only an attack on the spirit, on the will itself, can truly wound." It was a statement of fact, not a complaint.
"I see."
"Does the Admiral feel… remorse? Pity for an old man caught in the net?" Rayleigh prodded, a hint of his old roguishness returning.
"You misunderstand. You are a pirate. I am a Marine. If your execution were tomorrow, I would feel only the satisfaction of a job completed." Levi's words were cold, final.
"How cruel… ah."
"But you are not to die today."
Before Rayleigh could react, a silvery-gray wave of Reiatsu flowed from Levi, enveloping the cell. It was not an attack. It was a cocoon.
Rayleigh tensed, but did not resist. Resistance was futile, and this energy felt different—not invasive, but… corrective.
Outside, the other prisoners watched with morbid curiosity. "He's starting with Rayleigh…"
"Who's next? The waiting is the worst part…"
Levi focused, his Reiatsu Analysis mapping the damage CP0's spiritual torture had inflicted on Rayleigh's soul. It was like repairing frayed, vital threads. The process was delicate, far more complex than the brute-force modifications he'd performed on others. Rayleigh's soul was a fortress, even in its weakened state.
But with the prisoner's passive acceptance, Levi's energy wove through the tears, knitting the spiritual fabric back together. The draining fatigue receded. The hollowness in Rayleigh's chest filled with a steady, familiar warmth. His color returned, his breathing deepened.
Rayleigh's eyes widened in genuine shock. He's… healing me? Why?
"Live a while longer," Levi said simply, withdrawing the Reiatsu. He turned and walked away, his destination clear: Blackbeard's cell.
"NO! NOT AGAIN! IT WAS ME YESTERDAY! WHY?!" Blackbeard's despairing wail echoed down the corridor, a stark contrast to the profound silence in Rayleigh's cell.
Alone again, Rayleigh slowly, deliberately, reached for a specific stone in the wall. His fingers traced an almost imperceptible seam. Beneath it was a hollow, a secret left by a captain who believed in second chances, in hidden paths to redemption. Gol D. Roger had used fragments of Ancient Weapons not for conquest, but to carve possibilities into the world's most secure prison—a backdoor for the truly repentant, or the unjustly condemned.
Perhaps, Rayleigh thought, his hand resting on the stone, it won't be necessary now. Not for me. But for the boy… He glanced in the direction of Luffy's cell. The path was still there. A gamble left by a dead king.
Over the next several days, as the world outside hurtled towards war, Levi remained a fixture on Level 6. His experiments shifted subtly. No longer just testing somatic alterations, he began a more insidious project: the slow, meticulous erosion of will. He used fear, uncertainty, the anticipation of the unknown—psychological torture refined through spiritual pressure. He didn't break them physically; he made them question the integrity of their own minds.
It was difficult. These were men and women of titanic will. But Levi was patient. He was sowing seeds. In the entire world, the greatest concentration of unaffiliated, top-tier power was here, in this pit. If he could bend their broken wills to a singular purpose—not loyalty, but a shared, desperate need for a protector against a common, unimaginable enemy—he would have a force. A secret dagger to wield against the architects of the abyss he had witnessed.
No one could know. Not Sengoku, not the World Government. Telling Sengoku about the century-old slaughter at the Valley of the Gods would be met with disbelief, or worse, a sanctioned silencing. The old Admiral's faith in the system was too deep.
His ruminations were interrupted by the chirp of a Den Den Mushi. It was Sengoku.
"You brat! I told you to come back one of these days! Let Sakazuki cover for a bit. The Five Elders want an audience. Report to Headquarters immediately."
"Understood. I intended to regardless," Levi replied.
"Good. Also, intelligence places Boa Hancock, the Warlord, near your position. She's refused the compulsory summons. On your way back, 'invite' her. Politely. We need every piece on the board, even reluctant ones. It'll save Marine lives."
Levi considered for a moment. Hancock. The Pirate Empress. Another powerful variable.
"Understood," he said again, and ended the call.
He looked around the gloom of Eternal Hell, at the powerful, broken souls he was beginning to reshape. The meeting with the Five Elders was a step into the lion's den. Hancock was a potential complication, or a potential piece.
But he had a plan now. A dark, terrible, necessary plan. He would go to Mary Geoise. He would gain more power. And he would nurture the seeds he was planting here in the dark, until the day they might be needed to burn the garden down.
(End of Chapter)
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