A/N:
" ": Dialogue,
' ': Thought,
[ ]: System, Akasha, Minerva,
"Italicized text": Telepathy,
| |: Artificial Intelligence,
"Bold text": Deathborns.
———————————————————
Narrator POV
Location: The Red Line, Twin Cape, Reverse Mountain
Quite some time had passed since Crocus and Laboon had gotten any visitors, with Luffy and his crew members being the last ones that they could even call pleasant. But it seemed that it would change today.
While lounging on a chair and reading the paper from the News Coo that had flown by some hours ago, Crocus saw people off the corner of his eye. To be sure, he put away the newspaper, and just as he saw, there were three people, a dark-skinned man, a pale skinned woman, and a pale-skinned young girl, all with white hair. This was of course, Dante and Shiraori, who had brought Saya along with them.
"Hey! What're ya doing here?!" He shouts at the trio. "Don't worry your old bones, Crocus. We're only here for the little guy." Dante said to him. Crocus squinted in suspicion, as to his knowledge, he hadn't ever met any of these three. "C'mon out, Laboon." Dante said, and Crocus scoffed, believing that Dante was simply going to make a fool of himself.
That changed when he felt the familiar rumbling that indicated the Island Whale's movement. A few seconds later, Laboon emerged from the waters, curious as to who had called him. "Hey, there, little guy. You wanna see your friends again, right?" Dante said, and much to Crocus' surprise, Laboon let out a whine that sounded like acknowledgment.
He couldn't bring himself to believe that any one could so freely communicate with Laboon. "I can help you with that. Just say yes or no." Dante said with his hand out. Crocus, although he'd had his skepticism disproven mere moments earlier, let out another scoff at Dante, not believing that Dante could do anything to get Laboon away from Reverse Mountain, let alone beyond Paradise.
After Laboon let out a loud whine, a sight that caused Crocus' eyes to pop out comedically took place. Laboon, a juvenile Island Whale, easily larger than most ships, began to shrink dramatically, until he was only the size of an average goldfish. He was then placed into a fishbowl of all things. "So, still think I can't take him from here, Crocus?" Crocus flinched at Dante's words, surprised that he could tell what he was thinking.
Sighing, Crocus threw his hands up in resignation. "Why do I even bother? I better find somewhere else to stay so you young'uns can't give me a heart attack." He said as he collapsed into the chair. "Now, now, Crocus. There's no need to beat yourself up like that. I can assure you that no one can even claim to have been able to successfully take care of an Island Whale for as long as you have. An impressive feat, regardless of your age." Dante said, genuinely impressed with Crocus' pharmacological prowess.
"Bah, take your praise somewhere else, young'un. I'm too old to be taking part in the pirate life." Crocus said with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry, I won't trouble an oldie like you." Dante said, then snapped his fingers. Multiple metal panels and pipes appeared afterwards, suspiciously familiar to Crocus. As he looked closer, he recognized the pieces of metal; they were the very same panels and pipes that he surgically installed in Laboon's body over the years.
Worry filled his face as he turned to look at Laboon, but contrary to his expectations, Laboon was fine. In fact, he was better than fine. He seemed to be recovering from, well, everything. The scars that Laboon had incurred from slamming into the Reverse Mountain were slowly being replaced with new healthy flesh. But Crocus also noticed that the scrawled on painting of the Straw Hat Pirates' insignia was left intact.
"W…You. Just who are you?" He asked Dante. "We're just some adventurers passing by." Dante said with a smile, but Crocus called bullshit. As far as he knew, there wasn't a fruit that allowed someone to shrink other things, nor one that could rejuvenate someone in the way that Laboon was. Not to mention, Dante had removed all the surgical installations he had given Laboon with just a snap of his fingers. Whoever these people were, Crocus knew that they weren't your average people by a long shot.
"Well, since Laboon isn't gonna be keeping you company anymore, you wanna go visit an old friend or something?" Dante asked Crocus, which just left him speechless. "You said you weren't going to bother an old man, and now you're saying this. Do you lie because it pleases you?" Crocus finally said after a few seconds.
"Hey, geezer." Crocus heard Saya speak, then looked down at her. "You take that back. My daddy is no liar." Crocus had a chill run up his spine as he looked at the young girl's red eyes. "C'mon, Saya. There's no need to be mad at Crocus. His mind is just limited by his experiences." Dante said as he patted his daughter's head. Crocus felt relief as Saya's aura stopped bearing down on him.
"And besides, I have lied a few times." Dante said as Saya leaned into his hand. "But you only did it because they wouldn't understand the true scale of things." She said. "But I still lied, Saya. Understand?" He said, and she nodded, accepting the truth, albeit reluctantly. "But I didn't lie to you, Crocus. I merely asked you if you wanted to leave here and have some old friends' company. I never said you had to exert yourself to go there." Dante said.
"Huh, what are you…?" Crocus began speaking, then caught himself. His mind went back to the different things he saw Dante do, trying to see if he could link his question to one of those abilities. Eventually, he landed on the only ability that he hadn't been able to get to thinking about, his ability that helped him remove the surgical installations in an instant.
"Hey, Earth to Crocus." Dante said, snapping Crocus out of his thoughts. "So?" Dante asked him. "*Sigh.* Fine. It's not like I'm expecting anyone back here anyways." Crocus said, then began packing up his bag and the few pieces of furniture he was using. After he finished, he looked at Dante. "So, what now?"
Before he finished speaking, a portal opened up, with the destination on the other side showing through it. On the other side of the portal was Sabaody Archipelago, which despite its name, was actually a massive mangrove forest made up of 79 Yarukiman Mangrove trees that grew from the ocean floor.
Looking closely, Crocus saw the number 13 on one of the trees, signifying that it was Grove 13, one of the more peaceful areas of Sabaody. But what he didn't understand was why the closest building to the portal was what looked like a bar of sorts. "All you've gotta do is walk into the bar. Tell the owner that you're old friends of the old man, and she'll understand." Dante said.
Crocus wanted to ask how he knew this, how he was capable of all the things he had done. But, against that nagging feeling to know, the feeling to listen to his words without questioning him took far greater priority in his mind. This was of course, Dante's CHR stat at play, but Crocus had no idea.
As he walked through the portal, Crocus suddenly felt the back pain he was used to living with disappear, and he could swear that his bones grew stronger. "If those fuckers are allowed to remain alive, then there's no reason why you and others like you should ever be forced to walk with hunched backs. So stand proud, Crocus." Crocus heard in his mind as the portal closed behind him.
"So, where to now, daddy?" Saya asked as she tugged on Dante's jacket. "Now, we head to Little Garden." Dante said as he teleported all of them away. As they left, some rocks began to converge, taking a humanoid shape. Purple glyphs lit up on the rocks as they began to meld together, and eventually, in the place of once inanimate rocks stood a golem, which went into the lighthouse that Crocus usually manned.
…
Location: Grand Line, Paradise, Little Garden
Dante, Shiraori and Saya appeared on the island, with Saya holding Laboon's fishbowl and dropping small pieces of dragon meat from Maera into it. The jungle on the island felt their presence and stilled. Predatory animals went silent as they stopped their hunts, prey animals silently skulked away from their predators, as if trying to hide away entirely.
"Welcome to Little Garden. Basically Jurassic Park, if nature decided to run it instead of a greedy old man." Dante said. Little Garden was one of the many islands that existed on the Grand Line, with it being one of the more unique islands, in that it was quite possibly the only island to hold prehistoric life.
Of course, due to the activities of the Straw Hat Pirates from a while back, some species were now extinct. Compound that with the incessant consumption of the wildlife by the two natives of Elbaf that resided on the island, Dorry and Brogy, and it was clear that many of these prehistoric animals were headed for their own extinction.
"This place is like a snapshot of the earliest annals of the world, but no one cares for that. They only kill these guys because it's convenient for them." Dante said, then lightly waved his hand. A mind-boggling scene took place, as bones that had been scattered all over the island levitated and started growing muscle, nerves, skin and other bodily tissues. A minute later, a multitude of dinosaurs, pterosaurs and other prehistoric life were brought back from the dead.
On another part of the island, a similar scene took place, greatly confusing the two Giants, Dorry and Brogy, who were sure that they had killed all these creatures. However, instead of fear setting in, excitement bloomed within the two as they began laughing. "Gabababababa!!" "Gegyagyagyagya!!" Their laughter spread through the jungle as they prepared to hunt down the newly resurrected fauna.
But before they could even begin moving, an irresistible pressure fell upon them, pushing them down to their knees. Normally, if they were faced with such, they would push against it with everything they had, but this, this was different. Their souls urged them not to even attempt such foolishness as it would only result in their existence ending. Their souls made them not even dare to raise their heads, not without the permission of the source of this pressure.
"And what do you two idiots think you're doing?" Dante asked the Giants. The pressure they had felt was from Dante ever so slightly loosening the seal he had placed on his Emperor's Haki, which was worlds beyond anything that anyone in this universe could ever achieve. "Look at me." He said, and the two Giants turned their heads forward, looking at Dante with trepidation.
"I understand that you guys have been using the wildlife here for food, but don't you think you're being a bit extreme?" He said. "Look at all the species that you drove to extinction. Did being even slightly considerate for the animals on the island entirely skip your minds because you were fighting?" He said, calmly spreading his arms out.
"But don't worry, I'm not here to punish you for doing what you had to do to survive. Just try to take it easy on them. This is the only place in the world where they still exist freely, so don't kill them too eagerly." Dante said, then snapped his fingers. A large magic circle was then imprinted onto the island. One that would resurrect animals from the remains on the island after 30 days, except for the skulls of the two titanic Sea Kings that were killed by the pair of Giants 100 years ago.
Dorry struggled to open his mouth, and eventually, his voice came through. "Who are you?" He asked. "Just a man adventuring with his family." Dante said, then teleported back to Shiraori and Saya. The Giants were immediately alleviated of the pressure as soon as he left, causing them to collapse to their butts in relief.
Dorry and Brogy sighed in relief, then looked at each other and laughed heartily. "Man, it looks like this era is only going to get much wilder, don't you think, Dorry?" Brogy said with a wide grin. "Yeah. It looks like we'll have to get back to the seas ourselves, Brogy." Dorry replied with a similar grin. "Yeah. But the question now, is how we're gonna do that." Brogy said as he looked towards the island's shores.
Meanwhile, Dante was currently trying to pacify a pouting Saya. "I wanted us to go on a ship." She says with a grumble. "Don't worry, Saya. You and your sisters will go with us on a ship. Aurora just needs to finish putting it together." Dante said as he gently patted his daughter's head. "Speaking of which, Aurora. How's that going?" Dante telepathically reached out to Aurora.
…
Location: Outer Space, Moon, Birka.
Aurora roamed the automaton civilization which had been stuck on the moon of the Blue Planet that Dante and Shiraori were currently on, while in an auxiliary body. Many of the automata that remained on the celestial body greeted her with respect and awe, marveling at how much more advanced she was when compared to them.
The automata had been deactivated for a long time, mainly due to a lack of power, but Dante fixed that before going down to the Blue Planet, which was also called Earth or Vearth in some parts of the world. The Domina hovered over the moon in stealth, and in one of its many large holds, Aurora remained in her main android body, overseeing the construction of the ship that Dante, Shiraori and her sisters would use while on the Blue Planet.
She heard Dante's telepathic message, then looked over the completion progress of the ship, which was now at 98%. |It's almost done. But what do you want its name to be?| She asked him. Back on the Blue Planet, Dante created a hologram of the ship, then looked to Saya. "What do you want the ship's name to be, princess?" He asked her.
"Leviathan! Because it'll be the true ruler of all the seas!" She responded without delay. "Well, you heard the lady." Dante told Aurora, who then made its figurehead that of a draconic Leviathan, the strongest subspecies of leviathan to exist. Forty-five seconds later, she teleported the Leviathan to the shores of the island.
The Leviathan was a sleek, black ship that was easily over ten times larger than an oil tanker, with a deck width of 1.5km and length of 4.3km. It was modeled to look like a combination of a regular aircraft carrier and SHIELD's Helicarrier from Marvel. It had multiple large rooms in it that were all spatially expanded, allowing each of them to have as much space as an American Amazon warehouse.
Its navigation systems were synchronized with Dante and Shiraori's mini-maps, essentially giving it a fully charted world map and the ability to move around the world with unmatched clarity, all while not having a Log Pose, which was normally required to traverse the Grand Line. It was armed with an array of cannons that shot out blasts of concentrated energy, which at full power, could decimate a landmass the size of Uganda in a single volley.
Although they were powerful, they were in no way there for defense, as its crew were already more than powerful enough to defend themselves. Rather, the cannons were there as entertainment for the girls, and as a point of intimidation, so that other ships, be they Marines or pirates, wouldn't make the poor decision to attack them.
For its movement, it had thrusters that were able to propel it to speeds that were over 500km/h, and allowed it to fly at even faster speeds. Despite all of this, the ship was also quite maneuverable, thanks to the layout of the multiple smaller thrusters that it had.
Its body was like all of Dante's mechanical creations, made of Dynamium, making it strong, light and capable of absorbing energy from attacks, which made it so that it didn't need armaments of any sort for defense. Dante bestowed immutability onto the ship, essentially making it immune to abilities like forced transformation, spatial attack and the like. The figure head also had a cannon in its mouth, just to fully capture the whole 'draconian king of the seas' motif.
To say that Saya was pleased with the ship would be a serious understatement. She teleported from the island's jungle onto the ship, zipping around with a beaming smile on her face, and giddy laughter sounding out. As she did so, some of her sisters also teleported onto the ship from the Domina, looking to also explore their transport for their time on the Blue Planet.
Dante and Shiraori smiled as they watched their daughters run and scurry all over the ship, then teleported onto the ship as well. Right as they did that, Dante reached out to the members of the now disbanded Giant Warrior Pirate crew across the world, reminding them of Dorry and Brogy's presence on Little Garden, so that they could get their captains back home to Elbaf.
The two Giants on the island saw the ship appear, and shortly after, the man that threatened? them, as well as multiple white-haired figures moving up and down the ship. Seeing that Dante knew of the effects of their presence on the ecosystem of Little Garden, they assumed that he knew they were pirates – albeit of a disbanded crew. And since he wasn't trying to arrest them, they came to the conclusion that he was probably a pirate that cared for animals, and not a Marine.
But no pirate they knew of had the resources to make a ship like the Leviathan, so they came to a conclusion – a new player had entered the game of dominance over the seas, and they were going to overturn the board with overwhelming power.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 3,054
🧷Cover Art Submissions🧷
Thanks for reading!