Chapter 70 Failure Of A Beast

"My lady, we've fed the flesh of all the soldiers to the plants and buried the bones within the trunk of a large enough tree." A black-robed man said, "There are no traces left behind."

"Cover those trees in such a way that it looks natural." Kekua Fornol said in all seriousness, "There are plenty of potent investigative abilities in the Fornol Empire. We shouldn't underestimate them. Triple check this place. Even a grass pointing at us shouldn't be left behind."

"Yes, my lady!" The black-robed back walked away, seriously doing as he was told.

As for her, she stared at the trunk before her, opening it to see exactly three hundred Devil Fruits within, grinning in response as she shouted, "We've hit it big this time!"

"Wow!" All the people under her cheered in response. They were a guerrilla force, bandits to be exact that had been living in hiding for more than a decade now, part of a Kingdom that was invaded and colonised by the Fornol Empire.

Kekua Fornol was the sole remaining of that Kingdom, one whose culture was entirely wiped out as the people there had been brainwashed into becoming loyal slaves to the Fornol Empire's crown.

Therefore, she resisted the Empire by proclaiming herself a legitimate heir to the crown, daughter of the late Emperor's older brother who had been assassinated by the late Emperor to gain the crown.

Her people were aware of her scheme, wholeheartedly supporting her, intending to replace the Fornol Empire's crown one day and alter the Fornol Empire into what was once their Kingdom.

And as their nature suggested, they all awakened to parasitic abilities. This wasn't the first time they were stealing a batch of Devil Fruits being secretly transported to other important locations. They had planted spies in many locations, loyal to their cause.

Their first battle to snatch the Devil Fruits resulted in a pyrrhic victory, leading to the deaths of many people. But following that, once they became Blight Humans, their rate of victories rose up at an alarming pace, allowing Kekua Fornol to become infamous in the Empire.

Her reputation became the de-facto ally to all Blight Humans with a parasitic ability. And as a result, many among the nobles of the Fornol Empire that awakened to parasitic abilities joined hands with her.

Surprisingly, she had great charisma, automatically making them follow her. And thanks to her superior fighting strength, they followed her.

But most of all, as Blight Humans, they were invested in her potential, for the shade of her hair was almost on par with the Fornol Empress herself. This meant that her ability was inferior only to Fornol Sunflower.

This was the reason why everyone that joined her bought the lie that she hailed from the Fornol Empire's royalty. After all, only the current Empress and her descendants possessed the power of Fornol Sunflower.

So, it could be argued that the past family line might have had an affinity to other powers, just that it could never be verified.

"This is our greatest victory to date." Kekua Fornol smiled, locking the trunk as she kept it in the turnip safely, personally checking the battle ground to ensure that they had indeed wiped out all traces of battle.

Following that, she motioned for everyone to enter the turnip as she too entered it. The space within was mildly cramped, but none minded that as the turnip began to run through the forest, soon arriving at the shores as it entered the sea, paddling its way through the turbulent waters.

The turnip travelled twenty kilometres in such a fashion before arriving at a large island, one that spanned a radius of around five kilometres. Currently, a small town had been established here, one where all the residents harboured some king of resentment against the Fornol Empire.

And shockingly, there were more than fifty Blight Humans patrolling the place against any attacks. Thankfully, the rough sea currents surrounding the island acted as natural protections for their island, making it hard for any ships of the Empire from reaching it.

That was why it worked perfectly as their base of operations. But, this also meant that they were also isolated, for only Kekua Fornol had the capability to traverse the waters.

The moment she arrived on the island, before she could announce their victory, Kekua Fornol noticed that the atmosphere was grim, approaching the crowd huddled on the beach, surrounding something.

"What happened?" She arrived at the scene, frowning to see the solemn faces of the people among the crowd.

"My lady, you've returned." The crowd parted way for her, allowing her to see what was up.

Laying in the centre was a whale, spanning a whopping length of twenty metres, sporting a large flower on its head. The roots of the flower had burrowed into his brain, controlling it through them.

It was a parasitic flower with basic mind control properties, something that could only be applied on creatures with lacking intelligence.

The one in the two with this ability was the sole other Stage 2 Blight Human, acting as the temporary leader in her absence. He was only able to create two such flowers and hence had to use them strategically.

He first applied it on a whale that they had captured through great trouble, using it to capture fish to feed the townsfolk daily.

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The people were able to capture fish by relying upon their means, but the truly valuable and nutritious fish schools were only available deep underwater. And for that, the whale was necessary.

After all, these fishes had already formed large Blight Cores in their bodies, the consumption of which greatly assisted their growth, many times better than the Blight Cores present in the fishes they captured at the surface level.

The second in command Blight Human was called Himsha, a runaway noble of the Fornol Empire, someone labelled an illegitimate son after awakening to an ability different from the rest of his family.

As it was this town that welcomed him with open arms, he treated it as his home and oversaw most of its development using his knowledge gained as a noble hailing from a powerful family.

And now, his expression was solemn, staring at one of the two whales he controlled, currently laying before him, dead.

The reason for his expression was the massive bite-shaped wound on the whale's stomach, one whose width spanned at least five metres. This meant that there existed a predator in the deep seas, capable of eating even whales, as indicated by the size of their jaws.

It meant that if their numbers were to increase in the future, not to mention fishing, their very lives would be in danger, unable to swim to the mainland anymore, completely isolated on this island.

As the whale only captured fish within a kilometre from the island, it meant that danger lurked alarmingly close. At worse, this predator could aim for Kekua Fornol when she makes a trip between the island and the mainland in the future.

The death of Fornol Kekua meant their end, for she didn't even have an heir. It would mean that their island had no future. That was why their expression was so grim.

Himsha explained everything to Kekua Fornol, extracting whatever information the flower had collected from the whale's brain before its death. His ability worked by instilling a set of commands in the creature he controlled.

And when in contact, through its stamen, he was able to extract information, understanding what the controlled creature experienced. This was one of the reason his ability was so valued.

Through the whale, he had indeed obtained some info regarding the predator, finally revealing details regarding it, "It's a type of killer whale, one that has mutated. It's at least twice faster than what I've witnessed in the fast and deadlier. My whale didn't even know what hit it before a piece of its flesh was ripped apart. It took it everything to arrive at the shore before its life ran out. If it wasn't because the killer whale was chasing after something else, my whale wouldn't have made it ashore."

"Then, we only need to capture it." Kekua Fornol said, staring ta Himsha, "Once it's under your control, we'll have gained a strong ally to gain dominance over the sea."

"But how?" He expressed his worry, "Unless we manage to lure it closer to the surface, there's nothing we can do against it. And worst of all, considering its speed, it can outmanoeuvre whatever we throw at it."

He sighed, staring at the corpse of the whale, "This is a failure of a beast when faced against a true monster."

"You needn't worry about that. There might still be a solution." Xuna said, causing the turnip to arrive as she picked the trunk from it, opening it to reveal the three hundred Devil Fruits, "With this, we have hope."

She then looked around the group, "I'll be selecting three hundred of us that express the most potential. Your aim is to awaken to the powers of an aquatic plant. Only then can we achieve dominance over the sea and ensure our survival."

"There are plenty of uninhabited large islands that we can take over in the future to establish an island nation of our own. But for that, and for our plans against the Fornol Empire, we need to gain marine dominance first." She announced, "And for that, I'm counting on the lot of you."