Chapter 1: Fisherman.
Note: Alright my doods! Here is another story for y'all and this sort of idea was made out of a trope I found online along with looking for specific items for a Naruto story I'll be doing soon.
This trope is called 'The Rings of the Hero' which is essentially a set of Ten Rings forged by a person of great importance of either extraterrestrial origin, royalty, magic etc and so forth.
This story is about two sets of ten rings forged during the First Humanity and Era of Magic.
The first set is the Set of rings called the Rings of the Hero King also known as the Rings of Ideals.
while the second set was forged by the King's Brother called the Rings of the Protector also known as the Rings of Truth.
The Rings of Ideals were imbued with the essence of the Hero King and as such only a warrior with a pure heart and desire of a hero and protector will be able to wield the magical power imbued into the rings.
The Rings of Truth however anyone can wield them as the truth of the world, only those with power can change the world so these rings don't possess the requirement that the Rings of Ideals has.
This is essentially a way to give Jaune a proper challenge since he's designated to be 'OP' in terms of character development since he wields all ten rings of the Hero King and wields all of their powers.
These ten rings were heavily inspired by the Devil Fruits from the One Piece Anime and several One Piece Characters will also be taking a rather important places in the series.
This idea was made by me and my co author unlimitedblades and is beta read by my boy ZergPsycho.
And for the first time ever! I got this chapter critiqued by another friend so show some love to Messorom_Dust as he took the time out of day to do this for me.
Show this story some love because we work hard to bring you guys content.
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Within a stone brick tower built within what appeared to be a refurbished castle from ancient times but remodeled to be an academy that teaches the future of the world.
Inside the stone tower where the office takes the appearance of numerous cogs and clockwork that gave the appearance that time is of no construct to the owner of the office.
The owner was a silver haired man with a unique pair of black shades, he was wearing a full piece green suit with a handle of memory lane on his hip.
The silver haired man was named Ozpin, he was the headmaster of Beacon Academy which was an academy that produced Huntsman and Huntress, defenders of the world of remnant which protects the light from the growing darkness that are creatures of Grimm.
Ozpin groaned so loudly as he slammed his head into the glass desk in front of him muttering "I thought they were gone, god dammit your majesty…" this was rather suspicious and curious.
Another figure in the room was a grey shirted man with a slightly tattered red cape and dress pants with an inactive great sword on his back belt, the man had slicked back black hair and crimson eyes "Something wrong Ozzy?" The man asked as his eyes looked down on his right hand where a unique white ring was located with a wavy line design.
It was a uniquely crafted ring that the red eyed man had found in decaying ruins within the Kingdom of Vale, near a small settlement close to the walls that leads outside of the kingdom.
"Yes, something is wrong Qrow…I thought these rings had been destroyed along with all remnants of the first humanity! I did not, not once!, expect these rings to still exist! And now we are all screwed!" Ozpin shouted as he jumped up from his seat with a mixture of facial expression of worry and fear, with bits of anger.
The man named Qrow flinched at his boss as he had never seen such a face being made, Ozpin was always known for his calmness in all manors, along with parts politeness and tactically smart but to see Ozpin looking extremely worried and fearful really brought to light just how dangerous these 'Rings' were, much more on the fact that the black shades headmaster thought they were screwed more then the likes of the queen of Grimm.
Two more figures were in the room that were also worried about what was happening which the two had similar looking white suits though the man didn't look like he carried a weapon but had a pistol holstered underneath his suit jacket, the man had nearly combed blackish silver hair and had sharp midnight black eyes that seemed to be piecing into the souls of others.
His name was James Ironwood and he commanded the sole standing military presence on the planet which was the Atlasian Military which is the only military left in the world and the most technologically superior in the world since they wielded robot infantry and superior tech, their airships
The woman standing beside the white suited man was an equal white suited young woman in her early twenties and has Snow White hair tied into a bun with her bangs loose, her icy blue eyes examined the expression of the headmaster then down to her left hand where a light golden ring was located on her ring finger and concluded that these 'Rings' must be far more powerful than even the headmaster is facially expressive of.
She was Winter Schnee, the eldest child and daughter of the illustrious Schnee Family who are the owners of the Schnee Dust Company which held an undoubted monopoly on dust in the four kingdoms of the world, however Winter was claimed to be the Heiress of the company but she threw away her claim to the highly profitable company by joining the Atlas Military and becoming a rather influential and powerful huntress, but in Atlas, Huntresses and Huntsman that works for the military are called Specialists instead.
"Ozpin, explain what the rings are because you're causing Qrow to freak out" James Ironwood said as his eyes landed on the black haired huntsman who is chugging his flask like there is no tomorrow which technically may be since these magic rings are an unknown element.
The Military General didn't actually blame the red eyed swordsman at all since drinking was an appropriate response to the information that magic rings existed in the modern era and the general population has absolutely no idea these powers exist, something the Soldier was glad for because that would cause a panic to the population.
The silver haired headmaster groaned as he sat down on his chair running a hand over his face "Yes, I know the rings…technically 26 of them exists but ten of them were forged by the First King of Mankind during the Era of Magic, also known by the people as the Hero King."
Ozpin opened his eyes after taking his hand off his face looking serious "During my…" Ozpin stopped as his eyes landed on Winter who looked incredibly enraptured with the beginning of his story "Excuse me but…" The man started to say as his eyes landed on James who gave a nod.
"I told her everything, I trust her with this information so no need to hold back Ozpin" The soldier man said as it did allow the old Wizard to feel relieved as he worked hard to keep his circle very close and the information he has is kept into this circle.
Ozpin sighed in relief then continued with his explanation of the rings origins "During my first life, I heard stories of the Hero King known as Zangetsu Arc, a man who would lead his troops from the front and fight alongside his men on the battlefield, he desired peace in the world through Unity.
"I met his Majesty once when he came to my town to rest from an extensive battle a few hours prior, he was laying on a stone boulder resting upright with his sword on his shoulder like a real soldier but as I got close, his men sprang up and tried to cut me down, even gotten a nick on my neck from the closest soldier but King Zangetsu stopped them by simply raising his hand, showing just how much respect he has got from his men." The Headmaster stopped his explanation as he looked upwards as a kind smile grew on his face as he fondly remembered the time.
"He ordered them to stop, then asked for my name, I told him and these are the words he had said to me while exposing all ten rings on both of his hands. He said 'Young Ozpin, the true way to bring peace into the world is to allow everyone to unify together, under anything that can bring the people together, be it a concept or a banner. So long as they can unite together then they can truly understand one another and work for a better, peaceful world. That is the world I seek in my life, when you grow up Young Ozpin, work for this very world as well" and since then, I kept those words close to my heart even till this day because in truth, His Majesty is correct but uniting the people in times like these is still tough and it's no wonder it took the man as long as he did to realize the world he envisioned"
Ozpin finished his reminiscing before looking down to see everyone looking completely annoyed of his old man moment and remembered that the story didn't answer the question on the rings, the silver haired headmaster coughed into his hand then took a sip of coffee that was on the glass desk "Well, from what I heard from His Majesty, the rings he made converted magical energy into solid form but that's all I heard about his set of rings since I heard during my adolescence was more stories on the Kings sibling, the Brother Prince.
"The Brother Prince used the Hero King's idea of forging magical energy into rings but unlike the Hero Kings idealism for unity, the Prince believed power to be the absolute truth of the world and forged a set of Ten Rings that unlike the Rings of the King where one's heart had to be closely aligned to the Kingdoms desire of peace and unity.
"The rings forged by the Brother Prince can be wielded by anyone that desires the power the rings exude. So Qrow, " The old Wizard exclaimed as he pointed at the two of them with his index and middle fingers "I believe the rings you have in your possession now may in fact be one or two rings of the Brother Prince because I know you Qrow, are very much not align into the ideals of the Hero King and whatever issues that plague you, they aren't aligned to the King"
James remained quiet for sometime to fully listen into the 'Story' Ozpin said then went deeper into the rings, but he wasn't interested with the history lesson nor did he care much for this 'King' and his Brother.
What the General did care about was if these rings posed a threat to Atlas and the other three kingdoms and more specifically, can these rings be collected and used for the good of remnant "Can these rings be collected Ozpin and used for the good of remnant?"
Ozpin took a sip out of his coffee mug once more as he thought about collecting these rings too if he had learned of them much sooner than now, at one point, the eldest of the Arc Family, Roland Arc, came to him trying to authenticate a case of ten specific rings which the old Wizard did in fact say the time of the rings he was shown was indeed beyond the modern age and wondered what the old man wanted to do with them after getting that knowledge.
Ozpin however did not realize those rings were the same magic rings that Qrow and Winter were wearing, more specifically they had a different design to them then the rings.
"I would suggest this to you, James, to keep the information about this Magic Rings as top secret because these rings are incredibly powerful and even one of these rings being weaker in power can still be extremely deadly with an intelligent mind, and I should say that the general public has absolutely no idea that these powerful artifacts exist and in doing so will cause everyone to go into a panic. If you desire to collect these rings James then that's on you however" Ozpin started to say as he looked at Qrow's white ring again, getting a clearer look on the design.
"I should also inform you that putting these rings on will permanently bind you to it as such, you can't remove the artifacts from your body with nothing less than bodily mutilation" The Silver Haired Fox exclaimed.
Qrow had his eyes bulged from their sockets and started coughing out the stream of liquid that the bird man was chugging down his throat.
Winter however looked extremely pale as she fearfully looked down on her left hand as she did NOT know that the ring would be cursed to remain on her body until her death and wouldn't be able to remove it unless she chops off the finger, something that made the white haired military woman deeply nauseous and something her father would be less pleased about.
James groaned deeply as he ran his gloved right hand over his face as he figured Ozpin would say something like this primarily because this information would've been deeply valuable days to weeks prior when finding these magic rings "I'll keep my sources open in case I get reports of people displaying secondary semblance uses and or wearing oddly designed rings."
Ozpin gave a nod at this as this was indeed a useful thing to keep an eye out for as he feared the enemies located in the darkness finding one of these rings and using it in the destruction of the four kingdoms, The silver man gave a grunt as he sipped his cup before realizing his was empty.
"Anyway, Ozpin, I hear you've decided to experiment with your curriculum this year by including recommendation spots" The military general informed as he also was toying with the exact concept, extending potential spots to exceptionally skilled youth in their respective kingdoms as a way legal way to bypass the legal requirement for potential students to have attended one of the kingdoms respective combat schools and needed transcripts to enter Beacon or Atlas Academy.
Ironwood fully supported this method of transition as it helped cultivate talent and skills from essentially anyone who studies in one of the Atlasian Combat Schools.
Ozpin however viewed this method of gaining Warriors from Vale as a failure because while yes, Signal is a rather popular school in the valean kingdom to learn how to fight and does produce rather exceptional warriors, the fact that the silver haired man could only accept 20-30 students each year due to budgetary and dormitory restraints, it ticked the silver haired Wizard off.
If it was up to the old Wizard then he would be accepting every applicant that is submitted into the school to help produce as many huntsman and huntresses as possible however Beacon was still a government arm and was under the scrutiny of the kingdom council despite the headmaster having a permanent seat on it due to being the head of Huntsman & Huntress Activities.
The silver haired man had to fight the council to even implement these recommendation spots as a way for the silver haired man to extend spots to specifically talented individuals in vale, legally too as Ozpin didn't need to sneak in people like he did for the Branwen Twins over 20 years ago.
However Ozpin was only allowed to extend 10 entry spots into initiation regardless of combat school transcripts and give these respective recommended warriors a chance to fight on the same field as those legally submitted applications for his school.
The green suited huntsman gave a nod as he took an absentee sip of his cup not realizing it was already finished sometime ago "Yes, I wanted to extend a potential spot for warriors in the kingdom but the council continuously irritates me on the fact that it would be a waste of taxpayer money, if I had it my way, budget be damned, I'll take any every applicant who wants to attend but unfortunately money and space are a constant problem and I don't have the budget to expand anymore then I already did."
This catches the military generals attention as if he wanted to go beyond his own schools student restraints then he could loan out rooms on the military base located next to Atlas Academy since the Huntsman and Huntress Program was mixed with the Military so the space on the academy could easily be supplemented with space on the adjacent base.
Though Ironwood was more curious on what Ozpin had included to his academy other than the included recommendations "What else did you add?" He said curiously, Qrow who finally stopped coughing out his alcohol took a swig again but stopped mid drink as he too was curious on what the silver haired Wizard did.
Winter was also curious as she already know of the constant headache that came from talking to the council constantly, every year, about the next school year student roster and curriculum.
Ozpin looked up at the occupants of his office then said to them "Glynda had informed me several months ago at the end of the previous school year that we had some money left over from the previous school years budget so I decided to keep that money on the side without informing the council and built more housing within the academy so we can manage to include more students this year"
"So, you built another wing on the dorms?" Qrow asked as he put away his flask as this was more interesting than his desire to destroy his liver.
Ozpin shook his head at the question "No, Glynda wanted the first year students, in the next school year, to experience life living like an adult so we built 6 Full houses in the back stretch of the academy with each housing given to one team"
Winter looked slightly annoyed as while she was all form students to experience life early on to be an adult, to live like one as such give them the required space and money so they can live and make mistakes then learn from it but what everyone knows that putting a bunch of hormonal teens close together in a living space separate from everyone else will bring a lot of bad "Headmaster, if I may, is that a good idea? General Ironwood does support such an idea as experiencing adulthood early on will allow them to develop more maturely but putting students together without supervision will entail…unsavory results" The snow haired woman exclaimed as they all thought of the same thing.
Qrow Branwen was up for scaring and possibly stringing up whatever poor bastard that ended up sleeping with either of his two nieces, more on his youngest niece then the eldest, but even he knows coed housing away from everyone else will bring some sexual things into the equation, but the red eyed huntsman didn't voice any opinion as he didn't want to be seen agreeing with the Ice Queen.
"Winter is correct Ozpin, while yes, space is indeed a constant issue when regarding the student roster for the next year. You should know your giving complete reigns to children who are just entering sexual maturity. At Least take my thoughts into consideration and put one of staff into each of the house so they can watch over the students or at least provide an ear and shoulder encase teenage drama sets in" Ironwood gave his thoughts as he seen hijinks regarding his own students first hand and it basically was a tv drama that Winter liked watching when off the clock.
Ozpin gave a nod as he already taken account of everyone's worries, or in Qrows case silent worry, but he said "You needn't be so worrisome everyone, i've already moved the staff here into those houses to ensure they keep a watchful eye on the students in the next school year. I've accounted for the possibilities that you've informed me"
The Military General and The Lieutenant Specialist to both nod as Ozpin would immediately get to these problems quickly and diffuse them "Very well, I'll keep an eye out on these 'Magic Rings' of yours Ozpin, see you during the vytal festival" James Ironwood said as he turned but stopped momentarily then turned back around to face the black shade man "One last thing Ozpin, how many recommendation spots did you give away?"
Ozpin raised an eyebrow as that was a rather odd question to ask to him "Six for now, I plan on spending the next three weeks looking for the last four, I also plan to extend a spot to one of the Arc Family, Roland's grandchildren should be around the academies age"
James seemed to nod at this "If you wish, I DO have someone who hails from Atlas that is incredibly skilled and possessing a rather powerful semblance too but she had committed several crimes within Atlas years prior."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow as while he does not mind allowing people with rather checkered past into his academy halls though under a watchful hawks eye, for James to recommend someone with that sort of past instead of placing them under maximum security meant they were indeed very powerful if they could be better used for the good of all "What's their name?"
"Nico Robins, she's from the old Robin Family, a family of ruin explorers and said to have known the history of Remnant dating back to 500 Years. She's the only one in the world capable of reading Hieroglyphs" Ironwood described the woman he wanted to be a huntress.
Ozpin's eyebrows show up immediately under the fact that he knows of the Robin Family, knows they were wiped out mysteriously 10 years ago and they were the only family known to read Hieroglyphs, a form of alphabet and writing hailing directly from the first humanity, an era of magic, though hardly anyone could read the writings of that time so having a woman who could read Hieroglyphs would be a deeply good boon for the Beacon Academy Headmaster "Very Well, give me her number and I'll extend a spot to her."
James Ironwood gave a nod to the man "I'll text it to you later" and starts walking away with winter who bowed slightly then quickly followed suit on the General.
Qrow remained in the office and was about to say something but Ozpin beats him "No Qrow, you must allow your nieces to formulate their own relationships and you shouldn't be overshadowing them if such relationships turn physical, I remember numerous times where you'd sneak into the female dorms after hours" The silver haired man exclaimed with a smirk while watching the red eyed huntsman drop his raised finger like he was caught in the cookie jar.
Qrow groaned slightly and quickly takes out his flask "I know ozzy but you know how being an uncle is plus I don't want whatever poor bastard ends up knocking one of them up to meet Tai because we both know that he'd kill him or her, he's all about that equal rights nonsense"
The headmaster gave a knowing nod as he too had been a father several times during his reincarnation "Of course, but it's also a parent, or uncles, job to watch over the children and help guide them through their mistakes but allow them to make it because they will not learn if they don't make those mistakes. It's how we grow as people" The silver man gave his thoughts which made the huntsman sigh and started walking towards the doors.
"Yeah yeah Ozzy, I got it. I won't be too harsh for the boy that tries to bed Ruby" Qrow said then left the room, leaving the silver haired man to sigh as well, swirling around to face the windows of his office, looking deep into thought.
'Something odd is happening, the sudden spike of Grimm Activity, the numerous dust robberies committed by Roman Torchwick, the sudden movement of the Vale Sect of the White Fang, Amber getting attacked and now the Rings of the Hero King and Brother Prince suddenly showing up? Everything is happening too close to each other and it's starting to worry me…Hmmm' Ozpin quickly figured out that the Vytal Festival was involved since all of these problems occurred in vale specifically but he would do something about it later on, but first.
The Headmaster turned back around grabbing the scroll off his desk and settled on a contact labeled 'Roland Arc' then pressed it hoping the old man would answer 'I sincerely hope Roland has grandchildren that's 17 years of age, it's been almost a century since an Arc Warrior had been produced since Rolands efforts in both the Great War and the Human-Faunus war' Ozpin thought to himself as he kept looking down at the screen until a familiar face appeared.
"Hey Ozpin! How ya going son?" The man simply named Roland greeted the old Wizard which made the man smile.
"Hello Roland, I have a proposition to extend to one of your grandchildren, how would they like a potential spot in Beacon Academy" The Old Wizard said which made the man named Roland gasp.
-One Week Later-
On the open ocean located in the Valean controlled waters on the eastern seaboard, where hardly any seafaring Grimm could appear due to the sighting of the kingdom's defense navy.
A crafted-like fisherman's boat was floating gently on the blue water while the sail was furled downwards while the engine on the back of the boat while numerous sacks and boxes scattered close to the engine as well on the small boat suited for one person, on the front of the vessel was a wooden fishing rod with its line and lure out on the waters as to catch fish.
Overall the boat appears to be large enough for a fisherman's boat, large enough for a man to sleep and eat on it without needing to stick close to the shore.
There was a man on the boat as well who was resting on the ground with a fisherman's hat covering the blonde haired man's face.
The man was wearing the oddest outfit even for a common fisherman.
The man was wearing a pair of stretchable cargo shorts which didn't seem all that uncommon for those who worked out in the open sun for long periods of the day.
The man also wore a pair of sandals that looked far more durable then a common store variety pair of footwear, the sandals were located next to the fishing rod leaving the current wearer barefooted.
The blonde man was wearing a floral pattern button up shirt which was left unbuttoned exposing the man's rather muscular and toned chest and abs with a rather painful looking deep slash scar that horizontal from the right chest plate down to the left of the abs, it looked deep enough that it could have slashed through the organs yet the blonde man looked fine and healthy.
However the oddest thing about the man was the fact he was wearing a set of ten golden rings on each of the finger, each of the broad looking ring was housing a different colored gem.
Right Thumb Midnight Black Gem.
Right Index Sapphire Blue Gem.
Right Middle Cyan Blue Gem.
Right Ring Emerald Green Gem.
Right Pinky Diamond White Gem.
Left Thumb Ruby Red Gem.
Left Index Lime Green Gem.
Left Middle Banana Yellow Gem.
Left Ring Metallic Silver Gem.
Left Pinky Midnight Black mixed with some Crimson Red.
Some may think this is fashionable jewelry and that a man, since it's odd for men to wear jewelry of any kind outside of wedding rings, would wear ten of them.
But in truth, these rings were not any ordinary rings one would find at one of the more expensive places.
These were magic rings from a forgotten era of the planet.
The blonde man who was named Jaune Miles Arc was the eldest and only son of the Arc Family and the middle child of eight siblings along with being a twin brother to the middle daughter of the family by the name of Joan.
Jaune, despite having left a week after his birthday, three years prior, and went on to achieve his desire of being a fisherman, the blonde man kept in contact with his family while being rather cagey about his whereabouts since Mama and Papa Arc were both understandingly worried about their only son.
Anyway, Joan has told her twin that she had gotten her application into Beacon approved and had left towards vale.
The magic ring wielder was understandingly happy about his twin getting accepted into a famous place like beacon academy.
Joan was the second top student for Sanctum, a combat school within the kingdom of Mistral so it was understandable that the blonde twin woman was an exceptional person to consider on the huntsman schools student roster.
The open shirt fisherman felt vibrations on the wooden boat indicating either a fish jumped out of the water and landed in his boat or someone had mysteriously gotten into his vessel without him noticing.
"Afternoon Babe, been up drinking I see?" A feminine voice called out which held a slighter deeper tone but it was an unmistakable voice to the blonde fisherman.
Jaune gave a smile even if such a thing couldn't be seen since the hat that the man was wearing is covering his face "More like sleeping off a hangover, so love, What are you doing in the calm waters of Vale? Didn't you tell me you were exploring a set of ruins up north?"
The woman who was sitting on the railing of the boy smiled.
She was wearing a pair of shoes that looked recently new, she was wearing some short shorts that is basically common when it came to woman who constantly worked or traveled under the sun as to travel light, she was also wearing a low crop basic black t-shirt that looked more akin to a sports bra then anything and lastly she was wearing a white cowboy hat.
Nico Robins was her name and she was an explorer of ancient lost ruins and learner of ancient history, plus a specialist trained by James Ironwood himself, the General of the Atlasian Military and considered the strongest huntsman in Atlas.
Nico smiled gently at the blonde man as she truly did love Jaune Arc since they've been together for about a year, they did their own things but they shared a deep love regardless of what they did "I did but I was informed by that he gotten me a recommendation spot to Beacon Academies possible roster. I wanted to know if you'd want to try and come with me"
Jaune smiled even more as he absolutely loved to go with Nico to beacon because a day ago, the blonde had gotten a call from Roland Arc, the young man's grandfather, and informed the boy that he had also gotten him a recommendation spot into beacon "That's odd, I was also informed that I had gotten a recommendation spot by my grandfather… So yeah! We can go to beacon together"
The blonde fisher said as he raised his right hand up and picks up the hand exposing a three claw scar that is going horizontally right the right temple down to the left side jawbone, it is becoming exceedingly clear that the young man Jaune Arc had been in a major battle couple years prior given the heal time of the scar on his face and the scar on his chest.
Robin gave a loving smile to the man "Yeah, I think that would be best for us" she said cryptically while Jaune gave a big grin.
Love was certain between them and such love will be tested by the ravages of the Huntsman and Huntress Field.