Cotton sacks dropped from tired shoulders.
Hoes froze halfway through the soil.
Even the overseer forgot to shout for a moment.
The giant stepped down from the wagon, and the wooden boards creaked loudly under his weight.
One of the traders cleared his throat and forced a laugh, trying to make the moment feel normal.
He said this man was strong enough to pull a plow alone.
He said the plantation owner had just bought the most valuable worker in the entire state.
But the laughter did not spread.
Instead, the yard grew quiet.
Cunte stood there slowly looking at each face around him.
His eyes were deep and calm, but they held something powerful behind them.
An old enslaved man later said that when Cunte looked at you, it felt like he could see every lie you had ever told.
The plantation owner stepped forward.
A thin man named Caleb Turner, known for his cruel temper and love of control.
Turner walked around Cunte slowly, examining him the way a butcher examines a large animal before slaughter.
He touched the giant’s arm, then his shoulder, and then looked up with a smile that was both proud and nervous.
Turner believed power came from breaking strong men, and standing in front of him now was the strongest man he had ever seen.
The first weeks passed in a strange silence.
Cunte worked harder than anyone in the fields, but he rarely spoke.
From sunrise until nightfall, he lifted cotton sacks that two men normally carried together.