Saga 1 – East Blue Saga

Arc 1 – Romance Dawn Arc

Chapter 1 – Blackout

Flames illuminated the mahogany colored night sky. Shadow of the soldiers fell upon the ground as the Vyrajan troops marched through the war torn lands. Leading them was the most powerful devil in history. The steady march of foot soldiers echoed, the troops clad in armors felt no urgency. All that remained was to cut down the ones that would soon wake up to their worst nightmare. The march to the village continued.

The battle that would shake Thanatos was about to take place.

A boy tossed and turned in his bed, the small flicker of the candle flame kept his attention. He just couldn't calm down. His golden yellow eyes reflected the fear in his mind; another town was turned into rubble yesterday.

Apolion's forces weren't showing any signs of stopping.

He wasn't scared of Apolion, or his army. He wasn't scared for himself. He was afraid for the ones he knew would fight. He'd see them off in the morning along with the rest of the civilians in the village, but… he needed the comfort of one person he trusted the most.

A bit uncertain of his decision he stood up and put the oversized jacket on; it was that devil's jacket. He was a bit scared as he walked through the corridor; even if the devil in question was in the room only ten meters away. He took a deep breath to calm down and pluck up the courage as he faced the doors. Finally, he turned the doorknob. Slowly he pushed the wooden doors open and his eyes widened.

The devil inside was standing. His bright yellow eyes shone as he put the gloves on. He was wearing the regular battle attire, black armor vest, long sleeved dark gray shirt, black trousers, combat boots and belt with a machete and a gladius strapped to it.

"Hey, had a bad dream?" the devil turned to look at him. The old lightning shaped scar on the right side of his face was as prominent as always. But so was his messy, somewhat spiky white hair.

"No, I, I wanted to see you," the boy admitted uncertainly. He looked to the side, trying to deny what was obvious. The devil in front of him was going alone…

"Take a seat," his voice was calm and even as the devil motioned to the table in his room.

Yet the boy remained stuck at the doorstep. Perhaps believing that him staying there would prolong the devil's time with him.

Yellow eyes softened a bit as the older male observed the boy. "Felan," it wasn't often but every now and then there was unmistakable softness in his voice, the vocal proof of how much he cared.

A crack of thunder in the distance mixed with his voice and the two looked outside the window.

"A storm?" Felan asked as he relented and walked up to the chair to sit down.

"Look like I'll have some luck on my side after all," the devil smirked confidently and electric blue sparks crackled around his hand.

Felan watched the devil effortlessly produce electricity to heat up the tea pot. He fidgeted with the rim of his shirt just to try calming his nerves. "Vergil," Felan began timidly.

"Hm?" Vergil didn't look at him; instead he just pulled two cups out of the small cupboard and poured the tea into them.

"Why do you have tea in your room?" Felan inquired curiously.

Vergil looked at Felan and raised an eyebrow, clearly asking the boy 'Are you kidding me'. "I felt like it. Well I also figured someone nervous could pay me a visit," Vergil teased with a good-natured grin on his face. He set the cups down and joined Felan at the table. "Is anything bothering you?" he knew the answer, but he still wanted to hear it from the boy.

"You're heading out, to fight them?" Felan cut to the point as another lightning hit the ground somewhere in the distance.

The softness in Vergil's eyes diminished greatly. The devil was aware of his strength and his eyes showed the confidence he had. "I'll have an advantage in the dark, especially against Apolion."

Felan looked at the bed; Vergil didn't even sit on it tonight. The devil didn't look tired though, he looked calm, relaxed, as if he was going for a walk. And it infuriated the boy. "You're lying," he retorted bluntly.

Vergil halted for a moment, realizing the boy took too many of his traits to heart. Still, he remained silent, allowing the boy to vent out his frustration.

"You want to keep the battle away from the village and protect the troops!" he claimed fiercely, completely certain that he was right, and for the most part, he was.

Vergil sighed. "That's the way our society works," he made a small pause, reigning in the anger he felt. Felan wasn't the one provoking his anger, thus there was no need for the boy to see him enraged. More importantly, there was no need for Felan to know that the troops had fled. The citizens had been abandoned by Nawian military.

"I know, I just don't want you to die," Felan mumbled, his frustration and anger vanishing slowly but surely at the thought of what was to come.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to die," Vergil assured him as he reached over the table and ruffled Felan's black hair.

Felan looked ready to burst into tears "Promise me," he whispered pleadingly.

"I promise. I'll get whoever I come across on my way there to fight as well," he knew he wouldn't find a competent fighter, not with the route he'd take, but Felan didn't need to know that. Vergil smirked at the boy, "quit mopping around, I'm strong, remember?"

"I know; you're the strongest," Felan had to grin weakly, hoping against hope that the devil was telling the truth. And so he chose to lie to himself, to force himself to be optimistic. "And when you come back you're going to teach me how to fight. And you're going to perfect Storm Hazard and teach me," he sounded excited; thrilled by the plans he made for Vergil.

The white haired male drank the remains of his tea, his eyes wandered to the locked drawer by his bed. Vergil stood up and took the key. "Catch," he tossed it to Felan.

"This key," the boy recognized it immediately; it was an old fashioned key, a bit rusty and a bit heavier than it was supposed to be. It was meant to unlock the binds placed on one thing Vergil was overprotective of, Parzifal Grom's Demon Forged.

"Go and take it, it's yours now," he made a small pause at the utterly surprised look on the boy's face. "I'll teach you how to fight when you master the basics with it," with that he began walking toward the doors.

"Vergil!" Felan quickly stood up, his eyes widened in surprise. The brief moment they created, the sense of normality was gone. Well, it was gone the moment Vergil gave him the key.

"I'm going. Drink your tea and go to sleep; you can sleep here if you want to as well," the devil turned around. The grin on his face, the unwavering confidence and the subtle gesture of hand, casual salute-like goodbye, Felan knew he would come back. He had to. "Later."

"Yeah!" Felan grinned as much as he could as the white haired devil turned once again and left.

The Sun slowly began rising, the light dispersed the darkness, took its power away and replaced it. At the same time the black sparks discharged all around Vergil. They perished and the white haired devil dropped to his knees, panting, trying to at the very least breathe.

His body was shaking. He wasn't even that wounded, just a few cuts and bruises here and there; he wasn't suffering from a blood loss either. And on any normal occasion he could keep fighting, but it was gone, all of his power was gone. Into thin air; it all just vanished. His body, so used to the massive power he had, couldn't adjust to the sudden blackout properly.

"Y-You… What have you done?" Vergil's voice came out hoarse. He couldn't muster up strength to even kneel; he just fell to the ground face first.

Apolion walked up to him, he had a psychotic smirk on his face and even as blurry as his vision was Vergil could still see it.

"You sure did a number on my troops. Most of them are dead," it almost sounded like he was praising Vergil and that only added salt to the wound. "Why did you turn against me? You could have had everything, if only you were a bit smarter."

"Who'd pick a losing side?" the cheeky words earned him a kick so powerful it cracked his armor and sent him crashing into the mountain. He blacked out for a moment, the sheer impact made the crater in the mountain. He coughed up blood; his senses were overcome with pain. Whatever Apolion did it dropped his power to a zero, there was simply nothing.

"I have to be careful now," Apolion fretted mockingly. The devil walked up to Vergil, the black hair danced in the wind as his yellow eyes fixated on Vergil's defeated form. "If I slip just a bit, like I did now, you'll fly off too far away."

"Sick bastard," Vergil wheezed, his blood boiling from anger held within his heart, but his body remained powerless.

"You'll have to try better than that. That one is getting repetitive," Apolion advised as he smirked once again. He formed a layer of light behind Vergil, to make sure the devil wouldn't move away from him. He slammed his fist right into Vergil's guts, shattering the armor completely, the white haired devil felt the blood filling his mouth and his body trying to double over, only it couldn't. Apolion bound him to the layer of light.

With every punch he felt his bones cracking, his flesh tearing due to the force behind the punches. The skin ripped across his upper body, letting the blood spill and splash over Apolion's body drop by drop. Every new punch made his body jerk at the violent jolts of pain coursing through his body.

In the nothingness of the area the punches echoed. The red sky above them seemed even lighter than ever before, the Sun shone even brighter. Lifeless ground swallowed the blood that dripped down. Broken buildings in the distance, the mountain cracked in half… This would be his grave.

"You still in there, Leonidas?" Apolion suddenly called out to him, his tone still as mocking as always. He slammed his fist into Vergil's chest, devil's lung suffered severe damage and his heart nearly stopped. A few drops of blood reached Apolion's face, he wiped them off with the back of his hand, only to leave an even bigger mess behind. His hands were completely covered in Vergil's blood. "You've been giving me trouble for over a decade now. I have to say I hoped for a better ending. I'll let you live though, in the mid-dimension."

Vergil didn't even react to that, mid-dimension, the place where no living creature could survive. He was an exception.

"You see, I need this power of yours, and as long as you're alive, I can use it," the devil explained as the bindings disappeared and Vergil's body began falling, almost as if in slow motion. And the one who caught him was Apolion. "I commend you, for not screaming even once. Such a shame you chose this path," for once there was truth in what he said; for once he was honest in addressing the white haired male. No matter what, he didn't wish for Vergil to be against him, even if such wishes had nothing to do with Vergil himself.

Black and red mixed together, forming a portal between Demon World, Thanatos, and Human World. It was incomplete though, made to push Vergil into the mid-dimension.

The next day newspapers headline all over the Demon World had the same gist to it. 'Black Thunder killed'.

"It's not true! They're lying! All of them!" Felan cried out, he couldn't tear his eyes off the headlines, his faith cracking and falling apart, held merely by a small thread of disbelief. He screamed at the woman that gave him the newspapers.

"Why isn't he back yet then?" the woman glared at him, hurt by the news as well, perhaps not as much as the boy but hurt nonetheless. "The battle is over, Vergil is gone. The fact that his presence vanished is enough of a proof."

"He's alive!" Felan cried out yet again, his mind racing, there was no way Vergil died, there was no way he'd lose a battle.

"He was utterly defeated. The Demon Monarch didn't even suffer a scratch."

Just another reason why he couldn't believe it. Vergil Leonidas, the Black Thunder, isn't someone who'd lose so badly, even against Apolion. Tears formed in his eyes as he griped the key Vergil left him. "He's alive, Vergil is alive," the whisper barely left his lips as the first drops of rain began falling.

The sky was cloudy, it was raining throughout the next three days, but not a single lightning flashed.

There was no such thing as weight, gravity or life in the mid-dimension, only the souls… Souls that eat away at the flesh of anything that comes into the contact with them, but he was always an exception.

The souls were merely lured by his presence; they passed through his wounds, through his broken body, slowly, but surely, piecing it back together. Healing him, his body, but not his mind.

'Don't close your eyes.'

A female voice… Too late for that now, they were already closed from the moment she died.

'Don't close your eyes.'

It was a male voice this time. What good would it do to keep them open anyways? It's not like he had anything left to do.

He was giving up.

'Verge.'

A female one; different from the first one. She'd never forgive him if he died like this, if he just abandoned everything, his goal, the memories of them and his life that they protected…

He forced his eyes open. The irises rapidly switched between yellow and blood red. His slit shaped pupils narrowed until they completely vanished and his sclera blended with the iris. The eyes finally stopped flashing between the two colors and remained blood red. The pupils reappeared and he let out a primal growl.

"No way in hell!" his voice was disembodied and he knew, it may have been a blackout, but he could slowly get his power back, step by step.

Vergil forced the portal to the Human World to open. Going back to Thanatos would be a suicide. There wasn't a single place he'd be able to recover properly over there and he needed somewhat of a chance at survival, and that slim chance was in the Human World.

The air was quite humid in the mountains. The sky didn't offer a hint on what occurred last night, it was as clear as always and the Sun shone brightly. Yet the forest showed signs of a disaster hitting it. There were numerous trees that had been struck by lightning; some had even fallen to the ground. The ground was muddy and there were puddles all over the road. The storm last night was anything but ordinary, yet hours after it ended the birds chirped in the trees as if nothing had happened.

Monkey D. Luffy was 17 years old boy with messy, short black hair and a scar under his left eye. He was dressed in a rather simple and casual way; a red sleeveless vest, short blue trousers with cuffs, sandals on his feet and a straw hat on his head.

He walked through the forest pulling a big bear he caught behind him, his intention were to get the meat ready and eat. A person lying on the ground in the middle of the forest, up in the mountain where only the mountain bandits lived certainly wasn't what he expected to pass by. Especially after a night as stormy as the last one was.

"Hm? A person?" he approached the man and his eyes widened, there was blood everywhere. "Hey! What happened?! Were you attacked by an animal?" he shook the white haired male but got no response. "Hold on, I'm going to get you help," he informed the unconscious male and, as if pulling a bear multiple times bigger than his body wasn't a proof of his strength, he effortlessly put the larger man over his back and began running, while still pulling the bear.

Loud… Whoever was around him was just that, loud. He couldn't really say he remembered much of his time in the Human World; mostly because of being unconscious, but that's beside the point.

The only vision burnt into his mind was that of the sky, clear blue sky. So calming, pure, breathtaking… It left his already jumbled mind in a state of contradiction. The sky was no longer red; it was no longer the color of blood. A small, meaningless comfort found in that overwhelming evidence of his location was supposed to offer him relief. Yet he could only feel an overwhelming, unyielding rage, at himself, at Apolion, at everything and anything… At his own survival and escape.

As powerless as he was there was no meaning in living; so why did he even fight?!

Why keep going when there's nothing left?!

Why did he, in that stupid moment of weakness, find a way to keep living?

"Now, now, he was in a very bad state when you brought him; chances of him waking up after just two days are very slim," the muffled sounds coming from outside the room brought him out of his thoughts and made him sit up. There wasn't much pain but he still felt uncomfortable. He guessed some humans were approaching him. He concentrated on the sounds. Two? No three people if the sounds of footsteps were anything to go by. His body wasn't completely ready for combat and the bandages tightly wrapped around most of his body clearly weren't making moving easier.

At least his machete and gladius were still there, though the gladius was missing half of its blade.

"Furthermore Luffy, we don't know who he is. Someone as wounded as him in the middle of a forest without signs of battle anywhere near is suspicious. And right after that storm as well, I can't remember the last time we had such a thunderstorm here," another male voice said, it sounded annoyed, perhaps because of him.

"It'll be fine," the voice belonged to the third male; he was pretty damn sure he was right. Absolutely certain that what he said was a fact.

"You can't know that!" the other two yelled together.

Well their concern was justified, but Vergil knew it was unnecessary. He couldn't do much in his current state. Or in the relatively small room with wooden walls and floor.

The doors opened, just as Vergil suspected there were only three men. Still, an annoyed dwarf, a worried looking chicken-like human? And a boy he somewhat remembered.

Immediately the boy grinned widely. "See, he's awake!" the boy exclaimed upon seeing that Vergil was looking at them.

"Yellow eyes…?" the short guy realized, his eyes widened as fear snuck into him.

The chicken man crouched down next to the smaller man and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Now, now, maybe it's just a coincidence," he turned and looked at Vergil. "You aren't a demon, are you?" there was a hint of worry in his voice.

"A demon?!" the boy marveled. "That's so cool!"

Vergil's eyes widened at the strange reaction. "Cool?" he repeated, astounded by the human in front of him.

Boy grinned widely as he nodded. "Shishishi!" and he had a bit of a strange laugh. "Are you? A demon?"

"I am. A devil to be precise," Vergil replied, still slightly confused by the initial reaction, eventually he smirked slightly. "And you are a human," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Yep, I'm Luffy," Luffy introduced himself.

"Leonidas Vergil," he offered Luffy a handshake, something that the young male accepted without a hint of caution. "You shouldn't be so trusting of devils," Vergil warned him with a slight barely noticeable frown on his face when he realized just how easily Luffy accepted his hand. There was something in Luffy's eyes, something the devil couldn't explain.

"You're not going to hurt me, besides I'm strong," Luffy was completely sure of it.

"Interesting," indeed, the straw hat wearing teen piqued Vergil's interest, there was something about him. The confidence, the lack of fear, certainty that despite being in a presence of a devil he will not be hurt. The mistake not many make, the mistake she made; mistake she died for.

"What is a demon doing around here anyway?" the smaller of the other two demanded a bit too boldly, perhaps hoping to intimidate the already vulnerable devil.

By the way Vergil's eyes narrowed, it was clear he didn't like the tone or the question asked. It is an unwritten rule; do not intentionally go out of your way to somehow irritate an already wounded creature. "Mostly dying," he growled, effectively making the small man take a step back.

Luffy on the other hand observed Vergil carefully.

"Now, now, I'm Magra and this is Dogra," the chicken man quickly tried to defuse the tension. "We don't mean you any harm."

The white haired devil's posture relaxed a bit, he lowered his guard and the tension in the room slowly disappeared. "I got into a fight and lost, upon defeat I managed to reach this world. That's how I ended up in the forest, considering my state I could have ended up anywhere," he explained. "To be frank I was mostly dying," there was a clear emphasis on the word 'was' as he said that. "So I thank you for saving my life."

Luffy grinned once again. "Shishishi!"

Vergil closed his eyes; the small grin on his face spoke of his resignation. He felt his consciousness slipping once again. "Looks like I'm ending the conversation," he muttered weakly the subtle grin disappeared as his voice turned into barely a whisper. He fell back, unconscious.

Next time he woke up it was tomorrow night. The feeling of weakness had disappeared; the pain was gone. His body made a near complete recovery. And he was pleased, very pleased with that. There was no problem whatsoever when he moved to sit and then stand up, his muscles didn't object when he stretched them either.

Still, he was weak. Yes, he could feel darkness and electricity coursing through his body, but for all it was worth, it barely put him at a level above regular devil. Considering how powerful he was roughly a week ago it was humiliating.

Might as well see where my limits are. He decided as he opened the window and jumped out. Well, at least he had no problem moving.

Immediately he was faced with a surrounding he wasn't familiar with in any way. The polar opposite of his home. Sure, the basics were the same, there were trees and grass and all that but there was a difference between the floras of the worlds.

He had to admit though; the Human World was magnificent, the forest surrounding the house, the grass, the night sky and stars. But it was different in other ways as well. The gravity was weaker, nothing too significant but it was weaker and the air was denser. On the other hand, xenon, neon and krypton, gasses essential to demons weren't exactly dominating the air; the rate of his recovery was the proof of that.

He walked about quarter of a mile away from the house, just enough to make some distance. Concentrating on the electricity in his body, he tried to call forth the power of lightning. He tried, and failed. Whatever Apolion did to him, it wasn't going to be overcome that easily. Perhaps he would even have to start from the very bottom.

He let out a sigh of resignation, approached a tree and punched it, a crack. Nothing more, just a mere crack appeared. He lost most of his strength and speed as well; damn, this wasn't going to be easy. The familiar feeling of warmth traveling down from his knuckles really put the emphasis on his weakness. Yellow eyes grew colder as thin trails of blood trailed down.

Half an hour later he was in the process of doing push-ups, a simple exercise, but it would have to do.

"VERGIL!"

A loud yell made him drop to the ground and cover his ears. Luffy. How and why did the human yell so suddenly? It completely caught him off guard.

"Quit shouting!" Vergil retaliated nearly as loudly.

"But you're shouting as well!" Luffy shouted as he approached, finally he reached the white haired male and found himself the target of a rather blank stare. Almost as if the devil was processing the words Luffy just uttered.

Suddenly Vergil chuckled. "Got me there, I'll give you that."

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed and sat down cross-legged near Vergil who returned back to doing push-ups.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Vergil asked as the Sun slowly began rising.

"I was hungry," Luffy explained, his eyes fell onto Vergil's knuckles, still bloodied from the punching.

Vergil nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence.

"Be my nakama," Luffy suddenly suggested with a grin, no, at that moment Vergil was pretty sure it was an order. It's not an invitation, or a suggestion, 'Be my nakama' was the very first order.

Still the weakened fighter was headstrong. "Your nakama?" he would not relent that quickly.

"Yeah! My first mate," the boy grinned as Vergil kept doing push-ups.

Vergil remained silent for a few minutes, his mind in complete turmoil he couldn't properly understand. Lightning was not influenced by emotion, if he surrendered to any emotion he could lose the absolute control he had over it. So it stands to reason that the devil himself wasn't easily influenced by emotions. Experience taught him that humans he loved ended up dead. It was one person, to be frank, but he'd rather not raise the count ever again.

"Find someone else. I've had it with companions," he was being honest. Too tired of others having power over him, damn fools that left a civilians to die at the hand of the enemy. Tired of those that took the lead and backed away at the sight of danger. He jumped to his feet and glared at Luffy, an innocent child, with the eyes that spoke of willpower he rarely had the opportunity to see. "If I'm ever going to follow someone, that someone better be able to fight on the frontline."

Black and yellow eyes met, determination on both sides and it infuriated Vergil. The boy had the audacity to accept the challenge. Luffy's attitude was only partially to blame for the devil's anger. It was the Sun that shone brightly and the itch to trust that crept into his heart.

Luffy tipped his straw hat forward a bit. "Sure. I'll prove it to you," he grinned confidently.

Vergil tilted his head a bit, studied the boy for a few moments and finally smirked. "Go ahead and try."

While Luffy and the bandits did provide him with a place to recover at Vergil figured he'd need to start pulling his weight. A part of the meal for the humans and some meat to sell and get some money would be a good start. Especially since longer interactions with humans would most likely end up in said humans being scared out of their mind upon figuring out what he was.

That idea was the sole reason why he was waiting in the tree next to three dead rabbits. He needed something bigger, a bear for example; the same one that had a basic understanding of danger, if sniffing the air was anything to go by.

The devil jumped down and landed a kick on its head, a single slice with the machete through the neck and the animal fell down. Blood gushed out of the body as he began cutting the animal in half, one half for the bandits along with the rabbits, the other to sell.

Most of the times, merchants sold things, however, products like bear meat or demon forged weapons weren't exactly something they actively went to obtain. So when a bandaged white haired male walked in with half a bear and broken demon forged blade the merchant was in for a surprise.

"Let's cut to the point, how much would you give me for this?" Vergil questioned immediately upon entering the shop.

"A… A demon," merchant whispered fearfully, probably considering just making a run for it if the fear in his eyes was anything to go by.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just here to sell these. No need to have a heart attack," he tried, key word tried, to seem like less of a threat.

"Uh, well, for the meat… How does twenty five thousand sound?" the merchant's question came of as timid.

"Sure. And the weapon?" the devil was fine with pretty much any price, but the merchant didn't need to know that.

Said merchant got a bit more confident. "Well, it is broken, but I could make a decent profit out of it. Let's say another twenty five thousand beri."

"Sounds good," Vergil accepted as he handed over the broken gladius.

The merchant placed the money on the counter and Vergil took the money leaving the still frightened merchant to let out a sigh of relief at the money he just made, the gladius, even broken would fetch him at least two hundred thousand, if not even more.

Buying clothes was much easier, the clerk didn't realize he was a devil which really helped him out, he went through the shop and picked out a few articles.

"This seems right," the devil murmured as he glanced over his attire. A black sleeveless uwagi tied with a cobalt blue sash at his waist. A simple form-fitting crimson red T-shirt, black pants and boots. The clothes were comfortable and after kicking a few times he decided that they were suitable for combat.

Next night, the devil woke up for the second time. He grew used to this sleeping pattern over the years. An hour, two if he was lucky, of sleep followed by being awake for some time. Most days he didn't need much sleep so this didn't really bother him. When his body did need sleep it usually meant he wouldn't wake up that easily; such were the traits of the devil kind.

In addition, he was a darkness devil; night gave him strength.

Being outside felt like a good idea, the night was pleasant, not too warm or too cold. So why not, he jumped to his feet, put on his black combat boots and went outside. The sky was clear, probably not a single cloud anywhere nearby.

"Good, you're awake," Dadan's voice made him turn back to the house. "Luffy is too trusting; too young. He has no idea what your kind is capable of," she cut to the point; a strange sense of courage in her eyes did intrigue the white haired male.

"You're right. Humans who were never involved with our society can never know that. So while you may know bits and pieces, you don't know it either," Vergil stated casually. "My words won't reach you. But go ahead; make the big threat you had on your mind."

Dadan stopped for a moment, surprised at the devil's words. She regained her composure, now even more motivated, for who was he to act as if he was giving her a permission to threaten him. "Mark my words, if you betray Luffy, I will make sure you pay," she warned him, hissed at him, she acted like a mother would when her child was in danger and perhaps she wasn't even aware of that.

Vergil's eyes softened at that and a smile threatened to tug at the corners of his lips as the thoughts of his own mother came to his mind. He pushed them back though, it happened too long ago and the memories were filled with too much guilt for him to think about that now. "I see. You seem to believe I will join him," Vergil raised an eyebrow at that. He expected that the woman will tell him to leave or something along those lines. Not assume that he'd join the boy.

"You will. You don't know him yet," Dadan frowned, not expecting this kind of reaction and the slight change in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by her.

That was also true and Vergil really had no need to disagree. "Feel free to think that," Vergil leaned against the wall, seemingly unaffected by the statement.

"What's with that attitude?! You damn demon!" Dadan snapped at him causing a small grin to appear on the devil's face.

"You really do care about Luffy," he smiled, honestly happy for Luffy.

Dadan went completely red and marched back into her house, grumbling and mumbling something about 'stupid demon'.

Vergil sighed as he slid to the ground, he looked at the Moon, at the black sky and for the first time in years he felt so lost. Like he was a step away from finding something, whatever that something was, yet at the same time a step away from losing it for good.

And that's it. Uwagi is a kimono-like Japanese jacket. As for bear meat price, I'm assuming it would weight about eight hundred pounds, so Vergil brings roughly four hundred pounds, minus bones, fur and stuff I'd say he'd have about two hundred fifty pounds left, give or take a few dozens. Cabbage loaf is 150 beri, so a pound of bear meat, low-balling it, at 400 and the merchant buys it for quarter that price since it can spoil and stuff. Meaning 25000 beri.

Next Chapter – Thor Pistol