[POV: MARC & THE CREW] The Discovery
We spent the evening at Crocus's lighthouse. The old doctor gave us a Log Pose – a special compass that pointed to Grand Line's next island.
"Without it, you'll die at sea," he explained. "Grand Line doesn't follow normal navigation rules."
Nami took the Log Pose seriously. "I understand. Thank you."
The next morning, we were ready to set sail.
Then Sanji froze.
His sixth sense – the one that always detected women – had just activated.
"WAIT!" he cried, panicked. "WHERE'S THE YOUNG LADY?!"
"Huh?" Usopp blinked. "Oh yeah, there was also a guy with a crown and a weird duck."
Nami hit him. "PERVERT! YOU ONLY THINK ABOUT THAT!"
"NO! THEY'VE DISAPPEARED!" Sanji looked everywhere, searching desperately.
Everyone stopped. Luffy came down from the mast. Zoro opened his eyes. Even Mr. Fish came out of the kitchen.
Me? I whistled while looking at the sky, trying to go unnoticed.
Sanji stared at me intensely. Then he approached.
"Marc. Where are they?"
I sighed. "I imprisoned them in my Foundation."
"WHAT?!"
"They tried to kill Laboon. So I locked them up."
Luffy nodded. "Yeah, that's normal. Laboon is our friend."
Nami shivered. She remembered her first visit to the Foundation. The darkness. The cold. The decompression room where she'd almost suffocated.
Sanji grabbed me by the collar. "YOU BASTARD THIEF! YOU CAN'T KIDNAP PEOPLE LIKE THAT!"
Then Usopp asked THE question. The one everyone had been wondering for a long time.
"Marc... what really is the Foundation? And what's an SCP?"
Silence fell.
I freed myself from Sanji's hands and clapped mine to get attention.
"Before we go to sea, I'll invite you into the Foundation. Show you how it works. And show you what SCPs are."
The door materialized. Opened.
"Enter. Everyone."
Luffy was first. "YEAH! THE MAGIC DOOR! IS THERE FOOD IN THERE?!"
Zoro followed without a word.
Usopp took Walter on his shoulder and passed through.
Sanji stopped in front of the door. He turned to Nami.
"Marc... why is Nami trembling?"
I looked. He was right. She had goosebumps. Her hands trembled slightly.
I approached her and gently took her hand.
"It was an accident. I'm sorry. After the visit, you can take all the gold you want from the vault."
She stared at me, surprised. Then she slowly nodded and passed through the door.
Sanji gave me a dark look – as if I'd done something shady with her – then entered too.
I passed through last and closed the door.
[POV: CLASS-D - CAFETERIA]
Vivi was sitting at a table, alone with Mr. 9.
Arlong, Kuroobi, and Chew were at another table, talking quietly.
Mr. 9 had been looking at her for several minutes.
"Miss Wednesday..."
"Call me Vivi. It doesn't matter anymore."
"Vivi... are you really a princess?"
She nodded, tears in her eyes. "Yes. Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta. I infiltrated Baroque Works to discover who was trying to destroy my kingdom."
"That's... incredible."
"And now, I'm trapped here. Alabasta will fall. My father... my people..." Her voice broke.
Mr. 9 clenched his fist. "I'll help you. I promise. We'll get out of here."
"How?!" she sobbed. "There's no way out!"
Then something happened.
WIIIIIII! WIIIIIII! WIIIIIII!
A deafening alarm sounded. The lights flashed red and white.
The robotic voice echoed, urgent:
ALERT! THE FOUNDATION DIRECTOR IS VISITING! SECURITY LEVEL IS AT MAXIMUM! ALL ONGOING RESEARCH MUST BE STOPPED! ALL CLASS-D MUST BE IN CELLS!
Guards – twenty, thirty, maybe more – poured from the walkways.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Vivi cried.
"ON THE GROUND! NOW!"
They slammed them down violently. Face against concrete. Handcuffs on wrists. Handcuffs on ankles.
Then they dragged them. Literally dragged through the corridors while the siren wailed and hundreds of guards ran in perfect formation.
It was spectacular. Terrifying. A military machine in action.
Vivi was thrown into her cell.
CLANG.
The door closed.
Silence.
She sat on her bed, trembling, eyes wide.
What is this place... what kind of organization is this...
[POV: MARC]
I walked through the corridors, hands behind my back, head high.
On each side, guards stood at attention, saluting silently.
Behind me, the crew followed, jaws dropped.
"It's... impressive..." Sanji murmured.
"HOW MANY GUYS ARE HERE?!" Luffy exclaimed.
"A hundred," I answered simply.
I led them to a projection room. Red foam seats. A large screen. Like a cinema.
"Sit down."
They obeyed – except Luffy who was bouncing on his seat.
I took out a rope and tied him. "Stay still."
"AWWW!"
The lights went out.
The Foundation logo appeared.
Then an electronic voice:
"Operating clandestinely and on a global scale, the Foundation is above the law, entrusted by all nations with the task of containing anomalous objects, entities, and phenomena. These anomalies pose a significant threat to world security, both physically and psychologically."
"The Foundation maintains normalcy so that the world's population can live each day free from fear, mistrust, and doubt, and to preserve humanity's independence from any extraterrestrial, extradimensional, or extranormal force."
"Our mission is threefold:"
"SECURE: The Foundation secures anomalies to prevent them from falling into civilian or adversarial hands."
"CONTAIN: The Foundation contains anomalies to prevent their influence or effects from spreading."
"PROTECT: The Foundation protects humanity from the effects of these anomalies as much as from the anomalies themselves."
"SO COOL!" Luffy and Usopp shouted with stars in their eyes.
Sanji smoked, thoughtful. Zoro was already snoring. Nami just waited for the moment to take her gold.
"Now," I said, standing up, "I'll show you one of the most famous SCPs. The Magnificent Peanut."
SCP-173: The Sculpture
The screen lit up.
An image appeared. A statue. Humanoid. Made of concrete and iron bars. With some kind of red paint on the face.
SCP-173
CLASS: EUCLID
A video started. View from a security camera above.
The statue was in a corner. Dirty. Covered in organic waste.
A large steel double door slowly opened.
Four Class-D entered, dressed in orange with numbers on their backs. They carried cleaning equipment.
Two of them began cleaning the statue.
The other two stared at it. Without blinking. Without looking away.
"Why are they looking at it like that?" Luffy asked.
"Watch."
The Class-D talked to each other about trivial things. "This statue is ugly." "Yeah, and annoying to have to clean it almost every day."
"TOO UGLY ALSO!" Luffy agreed.
Zoro half-opened his eyes. His hunter's instinct told him to keep his eyes open.
Sanji frowned. "Scientifically, why must they stare at it like that?"
Nami began to feel sick.
Then...
The lights went out.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
Sounds. Loud. Disgusting. Of bones breaking.
Everyone went silent.
The emergency lights came back on.
Three Class-D lay on the ground. Their heads turned backward. The fourth was huddled in a corner, staring at the statue standing right above him.
"WHY DID THE STATUE MOVE?!" Luffy exclaimed.
Usopp hid under his seat, terrified.
Zoro drew his saber by reflex.
Sanji had a look of horror.
Nami was already hiding behind Zoro.
The security door reopened. Guards shouted at the surviving Class-D to back up while staring at it.
He panicked. Ran.
The statue teleported onto him.
CRACK.
His neck broke.
Then it teleported into the security room.
Gunfire. Screams. Researchers shouting "LOOK AT IT!"
The camera cut out.
SCP-173 BREACHED CONTAINMENT. 7 DEAD. SUCCESSFULLY RECONTAINED.
Explanations
I clapped my hands.
Nami and Usopp jumped.
"There you go, friends. The anomalies I'm searching for in the world to contain and protect humanity. Know that SCPs are categorized by danger level: Safe, Euclid, Keter, Thaumiel."
"What you saw was just Euclid. There's much worse in the world."
Leaving the cinema, Luffy wanted to see 173. "HE'S FUNNY!"
Nami and Usopp's faces were colorless.
Zoro was thinking. "To become the best swordsman, I'll probably fight anomalies."
Sanji promised quietly. "I'll protect Nami."
Sanji's Request
We left the Foundation.
Sanji came to me. "Marc. At least free the woman. She doesn't deserve such a horrible fate."
Everyone looked at me.
I turned to Luffy. "Do you want me to free the two people who tried to kill your new friend Laboon?"
Luffy stared at me for a long time. Then he looked at Sanji. He saw it mattered a lot to him.
"Free them."
"Okay."
[POV: VIVI]
After what seemed like an hour locked up, watched by guards who stared at them ready to react to the slightest movement...
The alarms stopped.
THE DIRECTOR HAS LEFT.
All the Class-D sighed. The pressure had been unbearable.
Vivi was both relieved and angry. She had wanted to find the director, talk to him. But it was impossible.
She resigned herself to her fate.
Then footsteps.
Guards positioned themselves in front of her cell. And Mr. 9's.
The doors opened.
"NO!" Mr. 9 struggled. "IT'S OVER FOR US!"
They were tranquilized.
Vivi fell asleep, terrified.
The Awakening
She woke under the sunlight.
Warm. Soothing. Real.
She was on the Merry's deck, completely drugged by tranquilizers.
Voices were arguing.
"YOU MISTREATED THE WOMAN!" Sanji shouted.
"My guards just dropped them off," Marc answered calmly.
"THEY THREW THEM LIKE TRASH!"
Vivi regained her vision. She saw Mr. 9 beside her. Karoo too.
They were free.
She cried with joy. "We... we got out..."
Then she stared at Marc.
With horror.
It was him. The source of everything. The one who had kidnapped her. Imprisoned her. Terrorized her.
"You..." she murmured, trembling.
Marc looked at her. Without remorse. Without regret.
Just... neutral.
"Welcome aboard, princess."
[END OF CHAPTER 21]
[VIVI: FREED (TRAUMATIZED)]
[MR. 9: FREED]
[KAROO: FREED]
[CREW: INFORMED ABOUT THE FOUNDATION]
[REACTION: VARIABLE (FASCINATION / TERROR)]
[REMAINING CLASS-D: 4 (ARLONG, KUROOBI, CHEW, HATCHAN)]
[NEXT DESTINATION: WHISKEY PEAK]