Chapter the Sixth- They called it Paradise-
The world holds its breath as Logue Town meets its second King. They note his eyes; void of pupils and empty as though his mind was not his own. Someone murmurs to his neighbour as the gold-armoured Marines brandishing spears pass them by, pointing to the Seastone laced within the cuffs around the King's arms. Perhaps that was the source of his untimely pacifism.
People bow their heads from fear and reverence as he passes, some whispering the names of people who dared to oppose him, may they rest in peace. A woman with a lighter violet shade of hair pushes her way through the crowd and screams through angry tears at him for stealing her husband some two years ago. The people who know who the Don was hastily move away from her, knowing that any woman who married Don Krieg must have been insane for a large portion of her life. Three Mermen spit at him as he passes by; it burns on his cheek, but he does not feel it through the base pain of moving while held down by Seastone.
Lost in the crowd, unnoticed, a Shichibukai watches his brother proceed to his death. He cries warm tears for the first time in his life, hot and salty spots of wetness that could do nothing to counteract the consuming burning within him because of his strange Demon-given ability. His thirst has never and will never be satiated.
He
could not have it end this way. Ignoring the mass of bodies around
him, he raises one hand and opens his mouth.
'Hik-'
A
tall woman with cascading locks the colour of cloudless sky and royal
garb touches him lightly on the arm, startling him. They lock eyes
and the princess of a desert country who has travelled so far to see
her nakama die nods to him. It takes him a moment to realize who she
is.
He is twenty-two, she is eighteen. Her head fits perfectly under his chin as they watch Luffy's procession with tears in their eyes. His arms work around her, under her arms; she notes scars that were not there before. There is not much that can make a man a Shichibukai; killing a man by the name of Blackbeard was one of them.
A scream surfaces as someone hits the ground in a cloud of dust. The procession of the Pirate King to his grave stops as five hundred thousand people simultaneously turn their heads to the source of the sound. An older Marine's eyes go wide and he falls to the ground in a faint as Dragon explodes into the crowd. There is no mistaking for who he is once he is disrobed with his famous grin lighting up his face; even those under the age of twenty-four recognize him.
The King is momentarily forgotten for the former King. Pandemonium breaks loose as some people move as far away as they can and others try to push in close. Shots are fired in the air and towards the now-aged Roger, whose body isn't keeping up with him as well as he would have liked it to. He knows his son is counting on him to get him out alive, despite whatever the cursed One Piece said to his head.
Holding her hand, Ace runs through the panicked crowd to get a glimpse of him just as someone brandishes a weapon with Seastone on its edge. The Marine screams for the memory of her old captain, a man killed by Monkey D. Luffy; with the Seastone guaranteeing her victory against Gold Roger, Tashigi plunges it straight through his chest.
Silence. The shocked populace watches Gold Roger cough crimson syrum onto the startled Marine captain. She twists the weapon around in a circle, placing a foot on Gold Roger's chest and pulling it out with a splash of blood on her face and clothes.
His body is thrown aside as the silent procession continues. There is only a stunned silence as people the world over gain a new fear of the Marines, the message of the old King's death and the new King's imminent death reaching out through Den Den like a web spun of horror.
Ace and Vivi push their way to the front as the men in gold lead Luffy up to the place where he was almost killed two years ago. To the horde, he is their King; to Ace, he is a brother that will never smile again. A desperate want, a desperate need to see him smile once more takes over his mind until there is nothing but the base desire. The Princess feels the exact same way. Tears run down her eyes as she watches the man who saved her country as he is placed on the edge of the platform exactly like his predecessor; the Marines begin the countdown that reverberates around the world.
The
One Piece needs fresh blood. A man in the crowd suddenly finds his
will not his own. He cries out to the King atop the platform.
"Oi!"
A
startled mass turns towards him.
"Did
you see it? Did you see Gold Roger's treasure, the One Piece?"
Like
his father, Luffy smiles a grin that could not be bested the entire
world over. Ace notes the sadness behind it but does not appreciate
the fight his brother is putting up to resist the arcane treasure.
"The
One Piece?" Two hundred and fifty million people the world over
listen closely as he laughs, tears rolling down his unusually wide
eyes. "I searched my whole life for the One Piece and finally found
it." The sound of the entire population of the Earth holding its
breath at once became a deafening roar of silence.
"Go search for it. The One Piece is waiting for you."
Spears flash through the thick air.
The Second Pirate Age is born.
Contented by killing two birds with one stone, the One Piece decides against the equally entertaining murder of the new King's brother. It sits back and nods to the Tree of Demons, which rustles its leaves in the silverfish breeze from its sister treasure and returns to its perpetual task of sucking moisture from the ground.
The One Piece, however, is not finished. Its promise to grant the child both his choices, thus denying him a peaceful death, requires the extrapolation of timelines. A tedious task that would require some time; thankfully, this provides ample amusement. The last week has shown more than enough activity considering the pair of decades of ample boredom leading up to it.
Drawing out the threads of possibility, he notes where each thread of each of his nakama meets up with his and draws towards the centre, the birth of the King. It needs to create a line of time in which the King becomes the Pirate of the Straw Hat (denying people their basic desires was never a good thing, as it has discovered) but does not meet up with his nakama and therefore does not complete his course to Raftel, the Island of Broken Dreams. He never becomes the King.
Perhaps things would be different if the Merman had never invaded the young thief's island, meaning she would have no reason to betray her nakama and he would never get his first bounty. Only that would mean that the thief would have no reason to join up with him if she even was at the same island as him when he fought the strange man with a- oh lordy, lordy- rubber nose.
Even meeting up with one of his nakama is dangerous. Perhaps he could have Roronoa Zoro never jailed by the Marines. No, that would only increase the child's chances of meeting the swordsman.
Back further.
He played out the events leading up to the meeting between him and his first mate. The ship, the seafaring serpent to whom he delivered its rightful punishment for stealing the arm of a man who never deserved it. A whirlpool; this caused him to land on the ship of a woman pirate which led him to a young boy who showed him to the island in which Roronoa Zoro almost lost his life unjustly.
Ah, a whirlpool. Without which he would never have met the young child with periwinkle locks who showed him to the Marine base. And, without his beloved swordsman, would never have attempted to snatch a bird in flight and therefore would not meet up with his navigator. A perfect plan.
The One Piece drew out the lifeline and noticed a small problem concerning the death of his nakama. No, more deaths. There was a small desert country near Reverse Mountain (relatively, of course) in which two million lives depended on him saving its princess. Not that the One Piece truly cared, but perhaps some of them would be more entertaining in life then death.
And, it seemed, in death there were more truths than life.
He had spent two long years looking for it, yet the whole time dreading its coming, for he would have to leave his nakama. Nakama were treasures more important than anything. Even the silver orb that laughed in his head was worthless to him.
Raftel, the Island of Broken Dreams. He had reached it, he had found the One Piece and he did not regret it but wished the journey could have been longer, for it was truly not the destination but the journey that he had enjoyed more.
There was no contest, no competition. The One Piece was a dream outside itself- the Pirate King was not a man who had an object, but a man who had nakama.
The sun sets on Raftel, tingeing the violet sky with crimson and silver streaks; as though the dying sun is bleeding its last onto its home, the heavens. A different sort of wind chortles through the aqua-coloured trees. The disturbed Kuja fruit rattle like men bound in chains, sending a cry for their ripe pods to be cracked open. Soon, the crisp smell of night whispers tiredly into the landscape; it murmurs over the now-still water, silent as a snowfall in the darkest of nights.
The First Age has come and gone with the sound of books being closed and pens poised over fresh pages. Men and women connected to the six pirates that rattled the world to its core wipe their eyes dry and return to their respective lives.
Zoro's picture finds a way next to the girl who pushed him forewords, his gravestone marked with the names of swordsmen who thought they were better than him.
Nami's name is written on five thousand mikan, a job that takes the village the entire night. Someone raises a wooden cross next to her mother's.
Usopp's love, Kaya, returns to her bed as her two years of health wane like a drying well. She will not survive to see the sun rise again.
Sanji's father wonders why he never told him so; after all, dreams of the All Blue don't come from just anywhere. He hums an old lullaby about fish from four oceans that converge into one.
Chopper's herd climbs up to the peaks of the snowy mountains of Drum, the ailing doctor quickly accepting their company.
Time comes and goes, nodding its head and tipping its hat politely. They put his picture in their new but rather dusty tomes entitled "The Second Age of Pirates", ready to write about the next man to fall for the One Piece's song of greatness.
Life, death, the eternal struggle in between.
The One Piece waits for its next King.
/kanthia writes-
the end.
