Adam and Anna stepped inside the morgue of Sabaody, the place was busy but organized, several clerks moved between rows of covered corpses, and paperwork.
Adam's eyes scanned the rows of bodies, he strode up to a clerk moving a trolley.
"Excuse me," Adam said quietly, almost casually. "Where are you keeping the pirate that was brought in recently? Sawhand… Merlin?"
The clerk stopped, raising a brow. "Do you have permission?"
Anna stepped forward smoothly, her voice firm and confident. "Can't you see we're Marines? We're here to check on something we overlooked." She offered a smile, professional.
The clerk hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Of course, right this way."
Adam's gaze flicked back to Anna, a faint smirk forming. "Well played." he whispered.
Anna rolled her eyes lightly, a small blush rising on her cheeks. "I only did it because you can't lie at all."
Adam chuckled softly, teasing. "You're saying you are a good liar?"
Anna's blush deepened. "That's not what I.."
"Damn you," she muttered, flustered.
Adam laughed outright this time, amused, the sound echoing lightly. "Relax."
They followed the clerk through a narrow corridor, Finally, he stopped in front of a small door and indicated inside. "He's in there. Keep it quiet."
Adam stepped inside first, and immediately the place felt almost unnatural and it's not because of the corpses. His eyes scanned the room quickly. The pirate's body lay on a metal table, covered in a thin sheet. Adam's pulse quickened. His theory had been right.
He let the vision settle. Slowly, his eyes began to glow violet, a deep, unnatural hue.
Shadows flickered across the room. The corpses were no longer just inert forms of flesh and bone. Within them, Adam could see… shapes. Shadowy echoes, barely there but unmistakable, waiting for something. Waiting for him.
The light of the room itself had been drained by his presence, but only he could see this.
Anna froze mid-step, looking at him, her brows furrowed. "Are you okay? You… you trailed off for a minute there."
Adam's mind raced, but his voice remained unspoken. 'Of course she can't see it… damn it. I know what the devil fruit I ate was. I know this power very well… This is definitely the handiwork of that god.. Even though I was the one that ate it... willingly..'
His eyes swept across the room. Shadows layered over corpses, silent and dormant but alive in a way only he could perceive. He could feel their lingering will, their essence trapped in a form he could now call to him.
Adam swallowed slowly, his lips pressing together.
"Anna," he said, his tone suddenly firm, breaking the silence. "I want you to keep what you are about to see a secret, you can't tell anyone about this."
Anna tilted her head, confusion and a trace of fear flickering across her face. "Why? What are you about to do?"
Adam said nothing.
He raised his hand, palm open, toward the body of the dead pirate captain. His red eyes shifted to a deep, glowing violet. Anna noticed immediately, her hand instinctively hovering over her sword.
"What the…" she whispered.
Adam's voice cut through the room, low and commanding. "Arise."
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the corpse on the table trembled. The sheet shifted, and a dark, viscous shadow clawed its way out of the body, folding and stretching unnaturally. It rose, coalescing into the shape of the late Pirate, shadowed and formidable, kneeling before Adam. eyes were like pits of violet darkness, staring only at him.
Anna stumbled back a step, her mouth slightly open in disbelief. "W-what… is this…?" Her voice trembled, a mixture of fear and awe. Her sword wavered in her hand as she tried to steady herself.
Adam, standing before the shadow, didn't flinch. His gaze was locked, calm and intense. "How crazy is this.." he murmured to himself, though Anna couldn't hear it clearly.
Anna's eyes never left the kneeling shadow. Her breathing was rapid, shallow, and her cheeks flushed with a mix of shock and adrenaline. "Adam… this… this isn't normal… this isn't possible…"
He looked at her briefly, and then back at the shadow kneeling in perfect obedience.
"Not only is it possible," he whispered, almost to himself, "And I'm sure I'll be able to do more with time.."
"Adam… what have you done?" she finally asked, barely audible.
Adam's violet eyes glimmered faintly, he exhaled slowly, more to himself than anyone else.
'Let me see…' he murmured, taking a small step forward. The strange sensation in his chest pulsed, and he raised a hand subtly, trying to gauge the connection he now had with the shadows around him.
"Dismiss," he said quietly, almost experimentally.
In a fluid motion, the shadow recoiled, folding back into darkness as if sucked back by gravity, and merged seamlessly into Adam's own shadow at his feet. He bent slightly, examining it for a moment, then straightened.
"Alright… so that's how it's done," he murmured, a small smirk forming as understanding dawned.
He turned toward Anna, and for then he really noticed her. She was frozen in place, wide-eyed, her hands trembling slightly, her sword still clutched loosely as if ready to spring at any second. Her breathing was shallow, rapid, panicked.
"Oh, right…" Adam muttered under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. "…shit." He stepped closer, holding his hands out in a calming gesture. "Let me thoroughly explain… but first, remove your hand from your sword. I'm still me, you know, there is no monster around."
Anna hesitated, glancing between him and the faint remnant of the shadow that had just merged with his own shadow. Slowly, shakily, she relaxed her grip on her sword, letting it hang at her side.
"Right… I wasn't going to attack or anything," she said, her voice tight, wavering just slightly. "It's just… instincts, you know."
Adam's smirk broadened, genuine amusement flashing across his features. "Look, it's fine. I understand. But now you're calm, so I'll explain." He gestured toward the floor, where shadows pooled faintly around their feet. "This is my Devil Fruit power. I can command shadows, or rather… extract them from the dead. I'm still discovering the full extent of what I can do, so don't freak out too much."
Anna's eyes were still wide, her hand curling slightly around the hilt of her sword despite herself. "A Devil Fruit?" she whispered, "It… it looks so evil. Never heard of something like this… it looks darker than even Blackbeard's fruit... the one we saw in…" She hesitated, a small blush creeping over her cheeks as she realized he had been there that day. "…Oh, never mind. You were there, after all."
Then her gaze lingered for a moment on Adam. "Wait a minute… is this what you found on that ship? Because I'm sure as hell you didn't have any Devil Fruit powers before."
Adam's grin grew a little wider, and he raised both hands in a surrender. "You got me," he said. Then, with one finger, he pointed directly at her. "Now keep it a secret, or…" He let the sentence hang, then added with a chuckle, "I'll turn you into a shadow."
Anna swallowed hard. Her face went pale, and she instinctively took a small step back, her eyes flicking to the shadow at Adam's feet.
Adam laughed and it echoed softly in the quiet morgue. "Relax," he said, lowering his hands. "I'm messing around. Let's go now."
Anna exhaled, her shoulders finally releasing some of the tension they'd been holding, though her eyes still couldn't leave him. "You… you're ridiculous, hiding something like this.. You know you can't keep it a secret forever, right?" she muttered.
Adam winked at her, already moving toward the exit. "Maybe… but that's a problem for another day."
/-\
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