It was a clear night along the skies of Baltigo and Hestia was still trying to get accustomed to the island she would begin her new life on. It had only been a week ago that she escaped her old life at the orphanage and decided to travel with a band of slave traders for work. Most people would be scared of trusting people in such a line of work but Hestia was not worried, it was not like she had much to lose anyways. All of Hestia allies and fellow orphans had been sent away to naval bases to be trained as marines, for all she knew they were dead.

Looking out over the night sky of Balitgo from the roof of the Slave Company's headquarters, Hestia watched as people below bustled around the Pleasure District of the Black Market. Usually at night towns and islands would be dead quiet but not here, many people in Balitgo only came out at night as they preferred to hide in the shadows and save themselves from exposure. The slave trading and prostitution business was a risky game to be caught in and many people in high power position were involved. Mayors, royalty, even higher ranking members of the marines all came here for one reason: to get off. Lights were strung up along the streets to guide people to auction houses and bars, and gave the entire district a soft amber glow. It was somewhat beautiful, a bustling city at night, ya know besides all the collared slaves being beaten or crying.

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The soft glow of the street lights below caused Hestia's own bright amber eyes to brighten in the night sky, as if she were some malevolent black cat stalking around in the dead of night. A soft breeze blew by causing Hestia's skirt to blow up slightly to reveal her black shorts underneath. Her short hair to blew in the wind like bellowing dark ash. Hestia was dressed in her usual attire for this time in her life, a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck minidress with yellow designs patterning it.Not yet accompanied with the eccentric blue feather-like accessory usually worn on her right hip at the top of an open portion of her dress. At the time, the dress had separated sleeves but they still ended in a triangle shape and were tied around her middle finger, with the gold designs along them taking over at the wrists. The dress ended in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees. Her dress was of a cheaper material, held up in the back by a simple straps tied in a bow. She still possessed the same baseball diamond-shaped keyhole on the dress' upper back at the same height as her chest, which showed off her disgusting brand mark given to her by her late mother. Sometimes at night Hestia could still feel the burning sensation of the branding on her skin, though she enjoy the sensation. The coolness of the night air, mixing with the burning sensation she still felt from her branding gave her peach-pale skin goosebumps.

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Came a voice from behind. Standing behind her was a man belonging to the winged race. Raven, a man hailing directly from Skypiea, cast out by his people for crimes against humanity, fluffed his majestic black wings once. He almost looked human at this moment, his winged nearly blending in completely with night sky. Raven was one of the head members of slave trading company and was on the board of directors. He was in charge of training recruits in the fighting style of slave traders: chi blocking. He was a somewhat short man with pale skin and dark spikey hair that helped to fram his permanently scowling face. Unlike others of the company, Raven was not particularly fond of Hestia. She guessed it was because the first slave she brought it had also been a member of his winged race, Roman.

Hestia had captured Roman when she fled Baltigo in order to impress the members of the company and show she belonged here. By the time she reached Baltigo, Hestia had destroyed Roman mentally and turned him into an obedient and humiliated slave. Her work had impressed most of the members but she knew that, despite being abandoned by his own people, Raven did not enjoy members of the winged race being enslaved and sold. Having a strong resentment to authority, Hestia enjoyed getting on Raven's nerves and use any opportunity to do so. She was awarded Roman as a gift by the company, and made sure to humiliate and abuse him whenever Raven was around to see. Of course by now Roman enjoyed the experience but Hestia knew that Raven could not stand to watch because deep down Raven still had some form of humanity, a fatal weakness in an organization such as this.

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Hestia looked at the short little man and gave a soft smile. "Of course, I will be right there....oh would you be a dear and fetch Roman for me though. I sent him on a task a little bit ago to lick the grime off one of the pairs of heels I had been wearing before, he must be done by now."

Raven said nothing but visibly twitched, the feathers on his wings slightly standing up like an angry peacock. Hestia gave a soft laugh and walked past him, taking the long winding staircase which led to the roof down to the base floor of the slave company's headquarters. Almost all of the members were gathered downstairs all murmuring among one another about merchandise sold and current pay outs by customers. Even her slave Roman had been brought down, his black wings tucked behind him as he sat in the corner. He was still working on the task Hestia had given him hours ago, cleaning every inch of her heels with his tongue and inhaling the smell. It was comical really, Roman's large muscular fram was packed in to a short and tight french maids outfit, equipped with black fishnets and heels. Hestia walked over to her slave and gave him a quick kick with her heeled toe causing him to yelp and moan. By now, the heels he had been licking were spotless and a large erection was protruding from his skirt, covered only by a set of black lace panties. "Stand up shithead a meeting is happening, you are done for now." she spoke sternly. Roman jumped to his feet instantly and stood at attention as if he were a solder, landing on his heels surprisingly gracefully.

As Roman landed, a line of people walked to the front of the group. There were about six in total and Raven was one of them, someone whispered behind her that they were all the six main executives of the Company.

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The crowd grew quiet and Raven began speaking to the crowd, "Due to the recent influx of new recruits to the company, the boss has decided we are overstaffed." Nervous murmurs could be heard through the crowd. "In order to decide who we keep on staff the boss has decided to stage an event at the Colosseum in one hour. You all must attend, if someone is unaccounted for they will be branded a traitor to the Company and you know what we do to traitors around here." The crowd went silent. Hestia had only joined recently but even she knew what happened. Members caught betraying the Company were either killed on sight or sold to the more satanic customers as slaves. Known family members suffered the same fate unless they were also members of the Company. What the executives were really saying was show up or die, or show up or wish you had died.

The executives began to leave just as Raven spoke again, "Oh and one more thing, currently owned slaves who are considered members do not apply to this event. If their owner becomes a traitor or fails the event their slaves will be handed over to us for redistribution." Raven looked directly at Hestia while saying this, she knew it was directed solely at her. As the executives left, Hestia punched Roman in his balls out of frustration causing him to moan and dampen his panties a little. She hated being told what to do, and she especially hated it when it came from someone she did not respect like Raven. Whatever the event was, she would make sure to win.

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Spotlights shown down on the Colosseum, illuminating the entire structure of the first floor. Slaves belonging to members and five of the six executives sat in the stands observing Hestia and the other employees below. There were about nineteen employees in total standing around the battlefield with Raven in the center observing them. It seemed only newer employees were being subjected to this event.

"In order to see who will remain a member of the Company we will be hosting some one on one fights tonight." Raven called out. "Winners will remain employed and losers well be considered traitors and be subjected to the penalties." Hestia could tell her fellow new employees were scared to death but she felt no fear. She had been fighting her entire life and had already begun mastering the art of chi blocking, getting the basics and some higher level techniques down. Since her fight with the marines she no longer could use her old fighting style of ryusoken, as she had lost the ability to create Busoshoku Haki, but she could still apply her superior hand strength to chi blocking effortlessly giving her an edge over any possible competitor. Raven began to pair up people for the fights,  each one lasting only a few minutes and coming down to who was more advanced with chi blocking and any other abilities they had. As it came to Hestia's turn it dawned on her: there was an uneven number of people and she was the last one. "Well Hestia, looks like there is no one left for you to fight...do not worry we planned for this." Raven said with a sinister grin. At this moment one of the gates in the back of the Colosseum opened and out stepped Hestia's chosen opponent, a giant lion. It gave a screeching roar and charged towards her.

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Hestia immediately got into the basic chi blocking battle stance and waited for the lion to get closer in range. She had been practicing the fighting style obsessively since arriving to Balitgo, and while she had not mastered it, she still had the basic down flat. Chi blocking was all about reading your opponent's moves while at the same time being reading to obstruct their energy flow and redirect it. As the lion jumped up to pounce and brought up its left claw to slash at her torso. Hestia bobbed quickly out of the way to the left and jabbed the lion in its now extended left arm three times as it was coming down. While usually landing gracefully, the lion's left arm was now completely paralyzed and unusable causing it to fall onto its face hard which a huge thump. It attempted to stand, not yet realizing the situation it was now in, and began to flounder around the ground for a few moments before finally standing on its three good limbs and once again giving out a roar. It attempted to charge at Hestia once again as she was only a few feet away, but due to know only having three workable limbs, it moved at a far slower and uncoordinated pace. With only three working limbs, the lion attempted to instead bite Hestia which its menacing fangs but was far too slow to land any actual blows. With its reduced speed Hestia could move and jump around it effortlessly. To her, it was like fighting a small toddler at the orphanage, a toddler who could not understand how outmatched they truly were.

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Hestia continued to effortlessly dodge the now handicapped lion's attempts to maul and looked up towards the crowd of people watching. Most of her fellow employees were visibly shocked with the amount of skill she displayed for only having been apart of the Company for a week. Her acrobatic skills alone were on par with seasoned members, and her she had completely paralyzed the limb of the lion after only one basic assault. It takes a great deal of control in strength when striking to create the specific pressure needed to block a pressure point on the body, and even stronger control to amplify that pressure and chi to spread through the entire limb. Roman was visibly rubbing himself through his panties while watching and moaning as he watched his mistress's display on the battlefield. Even the executives were showing smirking and impressed, well all of them except Raven who was scowling more than ever. Hestia loved the attention and wanted to display even more talent for the Company. This was her moment to solidify her position in the Company as someone to not be messed with.

The lion was panting heavily by now and she knew that it would eventually pass out from exhaustion. The next time it charged at Hestia she crouched down and sprang up into the air, performing 3 back flips before landing flawlessly on the lions back. A visible gasp sounded through the audience as the lion fell to the ground, its 3 legs being unable to support the additional weight of a teenage girl. Before it could retaliate, Hestia deployed a dagger hidden in her left sleeve by applying pressure to a cable which was wrapped around her middle finger. The dagger deployed smoothly, fighting snugly in the space between Hestia's wrist and the sleeve.

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The lion struggled to its feet, causing Hestia to stumble slightly but still keep her balance and position. The beast's paralyzed left arm was beginning to gain feeling back. It seemed Hestia still had some ways to go before completely perfecting the paralyzing effects of her chi blocking strikes. As the lion attempted to rear its golden mane up and plunge its mighty fanged into Hestia's soft flesh, She brought down her hidden dagger into the beast's neck and slice straight across its thick neck. A stream of crimson burst out from the beast's neck and spewed across the Colosseum floor, causing many in the stands to applaud and cheer. The lion attempted to let our a roar of pain, but its throat was now filled with its own blood and all the came out was something resembling a gargled shriek. The crimson blood from the beast drenched Hestia's body, causing her skin to now resemble the shade of red that adorned her dress. At the moment in the stands the crowd had gone wild and even members of the executive board were clapping. Roman had soaked his panties and ejaculated all over himself from seeing the spectacle...grossing out many employees around him in the process. The Beast fell with a mighty thump which echoed throughout the entire Colosseum itself.

Hestia jumped off the beast elegantly and landed in front of it with her back turned. She licked some of the blood from the great lion off of her face and waves to the screaming crowd as if she were some sort of male pop stars and they were a group of annoying teenage girl fans with too many hormones. For some reason however, Raven had the biggest smile on his face and as Hestia listened to their cheers she realized they were screams telling her to turn around. But it was too late she had gravely miscalculated.

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Hestia would spin around just in time to see her wounded opponent somehow back on its feet and lunging at her. Blood still gushed from its neck wound onto the ground below, dying its fur a dark crimson and creating a puddle below it. The beast appeared more like a demon than the king of the jungle, even more so as it was now foaming at the mouth. It appeared Raven had forgotten to mention that he had infected the lion with rabies right before he set it lose to fight Hestia. The lion now had a crazed look in its eyes and Hestia's chi blocking had worn off completely, giving it the full capacity to move at its maximum speed towards her.

Hestia only had to time to jump back and avoid being completely mauled to death by the crazed monster and shredded into beautiful confetti. Instead the beast sunk its sharp claws into her legs and slice downwards, causing Hestia to cry out in pain. The mad king of the jungle began to treat her left leg as a scratching post, scratching and scratching. Hestia was barely able to save her left leg from being completely shredded by plunging her dagger into one of the lion's paws as it went in for another swipe, causing it to yelp and jump back.

Hestia's leg was a completely bloody mess and even worse her shoes were completely ruined...they had been Louis Vuittons. She collapsed on the ground, her leg was useless now, though thankfully she could feel the intense pain coursing through it so she knew she had not lost it forever. The lion began to circle around her like she was prey, still slowly losing blood from its neck as it did so. It would die from blood loss soon, but not before attempting to take Hestia with it. It was kind of an ironic situation, now she was the one with a paralyzed limb unable to move from her spot...a sitting duck waiting to be feasted on.

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Hestia looked up into the ground as the lion prepared to once again pounce on her. Was this how really how it was going to end for her? After all the suffering she bared losing her mother? After building a new life at the orphanage and becoming a leader to everyone around her?Getting through road block after road block just to have it end like this, killed by a disease ridden animal. People in the stands were eyeing the fight in suspense, it had been the most dramatic one of the night for sure. The executives watched with slight amusement wondering what she would do next. Roman was sobbing from his seat calling for his mistress to not give up. "What an embarrassing idiot." Hestia thought, she would have to punish him if she survived. Finally her amber eyes came to rest on Raven who was looking down at her with an arrogant grin on his face. Smugness was exuding from him at this moment, he had planned for her to be killed and now he was going to get his wish.



Hestia would not let it end this way, not with someone blatantly inferior with her believing they had won and killed her. She could not die here, she refused to die here tonight. She was above them all, above the lion, above Raven, hell even above all the other members of the executive board combined. She was meant for something great. As the lion jumped towards her through the air ready to pounce on its wounded prey and maul it to death, Hestia simply stared at it. There was no fear in her eyes, only anger, a refusal to die. Something inside her said she was not dying today and in that moment an incredible power burst forth from her body. The lion instantly dropped out of the sky onto the ground inches away from her belly up, being pinned down by some form of invisible pressure. At first, many in the stands thought the animal had simply bled out right at this moment, until they were hit by this enormous wave of pressure as well and pinned down into their seats. The pressure of Hestia's sheer willpower had become a physical force in the Colosseum. She had unlocked the gift of a conqueror...no..something even more rare.

Hestia crawled her way towards the king of the jungle who was now letting out soft distressed grumbles, similar to a common house cat. It was almost cute, except for the copious amounts of blood in its fur, the foaming mouth, and crazed eyes. Hestia brought her dagger down into the beast's neck once more and sliced through the bottom half this time, beheading it completely. She use the beast's corpse as leverage to help her stand up on one leg so she could overlook the still paralyzed audience. She held up the lion's dismembered head to the entire group and in that moment the field of pressure dissipated and everyone was freed. Hestia instantly fell back on the ground and passed out. The stands were completely silent, even the executive board was at a loss for words, including Raven. The only sound was that of sobbing happiness coming from Roman. The Queen of Queens had overthrown the king of the jungle.

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twc:3520

[EXIT flashback and end of training]