East, and keep on going east.
Days and nights. Months passed, and I can feel my sanity slowly waning away. Takao is being a mother hen, and absolutely horrified when he came to my rescue, only to find me standing in the middle of bodies and pool of blood.
Whose blood, not even I know.
All I know it's the pool of blood that belongs to those corrupted marines that brought the civilians miseries.
It's strange.
Playing around with the Marines is not enough.
It makes me stronger each time I fight them all, but it's not enough.
I make some of them bleed and it makes me stronger, but it's still not enough.
I kill one of them and it makes me stronger, but it's still not enough.
So I kill them all, and it's finally enough.
For a while.
It's strange. It's strange it's strange it's strange strangestrangestrangestrange e—
Digging into someone's chest and pulling out their still beating heart—
Ah, how lively this person is—
Wring it in my fists—
Trickling red and warm—
—Ah, I get it.
—A life, in exchange for power.
—Is that what you want?
— Ȃ̶̫̱̲̭̬ť̴̤̈́̉̎h̷̨̤͈̣̳͓͈͉̩̐̆̐̍͗̏͂̈́̀ã̵̢̡̹͉̣̠̇o̷͈̬͒̑̀̕̕t̶̨̝̳̱͇̹̜̪͛̓̕̕h̴̢̹̅̌̎̈́̾͌̆l̷̥̟̝͈̰̐͆̃'̷̖͔͍̪̩̺͑̏̍͂̐̆̅͌͝x̴̢̧̝̹̫̥̥̣̤͚̏̌͂̈́̿̈́́̇̕͠ͅͅe̷̙͉͉̯̹̞̩̠̹̩̍̿̀͐͜l̸̲̒̌͋̽̃͘ —
—Lives in exchange for power?—
—I suppose I'll take that offer—
—I have to get stronger—
—Stronger and stronger—
—So I can keep protecting those I care about.
With that, I can see that shrouded figure showing its toothy grin with a glint in its eyes.
["You're ready. Go east of the sea and shrouded in mist the island is tonight. Come to my temple, Little A."]
Hearing that, I turn around to the front exit, not minding Takao's troubled expression as I walk past him. Once I'm outside, I look up to the full moon and think to myself,
Oh, how deep have I fallen?
XXX
Going east to find this island shrouded in mist in the dark sea is pretty hard.
The silence is thick enough to cut with a knife, with only the wind and the moon accompanying us.
Takao didn't say much after he saw it, and my conscience is slowly returning that I kinda felt bad for making him feel troubled. But before I can apologize, Takao opens his beak.
"…I suppose it was a good thing they're not good people." Takao suddenly says, "To think they've been asking for extreme tax money toward those poor citizens, and even executing those who are unable to pay is unforgivable. So don't feel bad, Master Eris. To me, it's a justified act."
I blink at that statement. A justified act, huh.
To me, justice is just some bullshit human made up to condemn those not up to their standards. Crime and punishment. Justice and injustice. Hammer of justice, set of scales, blindfolds. Lady Justice. Rules and laws on papers, used to apply judgment to others in a black and white world.
"I'm not doing it for justice, just so you know." I calmly tell him, "I'm just doing it for my own selfishness for more power, so I can do my mission properly. I don't care about those shits."
Takao let out a breathy chuckle, "I know, Master Eris. That's just how you are." He says in finality. I didn't reply in return.
And as if on cue, mist starts to cover our vision. We're here.
"Be careful to not crash into anything, Takao." I tease him and he laughs a bit.
"I'll make sure to give you a smooth ride, Master Eris." He replies.
Navigating through the mist, I can see shadows of tall pillars or some kind of structures around, with some kind of complex designs and carvings. I watch them curiously and try my best to make them out, but for some reason the mist itself makes it harder for me to see well.
It was as if the mist itself was alive and aware of us, thus trying to hinder our vision to look closer at the structures.
And not only that, but I can feel eyes from beyond the mist.
They're…not exactly there, from what I can feel. It doesn't feel like any creature I encountered before, nor does it feel like human or even animalistic. It just feels…alien.
I shake my head and look to the front again. I'll deal with that later. I'll focus on this one first.
Eventually, Takao found the beach and we landed there as I felt the soft sand on my bare feet. It feels extremely nice, other than the fact that dried blood is still flaking my feet, but I ignore it as I walk on and watch my surroundings. I notice that the mist is actually moving away as we walk on, and that kinda confirms the thought of them being possibly sentient.
But I ignore it as I continue on. There is vegetation around, but no animals in the vicinity. Not even birds on the trees or fishes in the sea. There is just…nothing. It's as if the animals are all afraid or avoiding this very place. I was so busy watching my surroundings that I almost forgot about Takao, who firmly stays behind near the beach.
"I'm sorry, Master Eris. But something warns me to not go on, saying that I don't even have the invitation to even step a talon here, but I was tolerated because I'm your ride." Takao tells me, the slight paleness on his bird face is enough of an answer for me.
"It's okay, I'll be fine. Stay and wait for my return, okay?" He nods. I turn back forward and walk on, not noticing the mist is closing up behind me like a curtain in a theater stage and Takao's worry.
At first, I thought my destination would take a lot more walking, but a step forward and the mist suddenly cleared out, as if it just got blown over by a huge fan and revealing a huge temple-like structure in front of me. I widen my eyes when I see it and look around, only to realize that the mist from before has simply vanished, only leaving a thick curtain of mist behind me, acting as a separation between me and Takao.
Or maybe between me and the outside world.
I narrow my eyes into the mist, trying to detect Takao. He's still there, but for some reason he's really far away. He's still alive, so that's all that matters to me.
Facing the temple, I notice that the structure is made of smooth, shiny black stone, something like obsidian. It's a humongous-sized temple, and I can see that the said structure expands out and teasingly touches the curtain of mist and the clouds, or maybe even goes beyond it.
Said structure is visibly not human-made, or maybe it is, but it's very ancient and alien. It is exactly a hotspot for archeologists. If Robin is here, she'll go nuts and immediately want to explore this place.
I go up on the steps slowly and carefully, as they're slightly wet and slippery looking until I'm at the top of the steps and in front of the main entrance of the temple that it suddenly becomes dry as a desert. I look back to the steps and see that my footsteps left bloody tracks behind, thanks to the wet steps.
I stare at it indifferently as I look back forward and enter the temple, not noticing that the said bloody tracks slowly got absorbed into the obsidian steps.
I hold on to my weapons for my own assurance as I look at the dark shiny walls of the temple calmly, trying to forget the feel of flaky, dried blood on my hands. I can feel that there's not a single soul in this island, other than me and Takao, which makes it even weirder. But this is One Piece World; weird and unusual is the very essence of this world.
…If they consider that one movie with that stupid, smiling flower of an abomination canon, this is practically nothing compared to that nightmare fuel…
I quickly shake my head and shiver at remembering that damn movie's nightmarish images, deciding to just focus on the current moment.
The temple is dark, and not because it's nighttime. It's dark and there's a thickness in the air, but at least the bright moonlight illuminates in through the gaps of the structure. The air makes it a little hard to breathe in, but it's still bearable for me to go on.
I'm not that superstitious, but my homeland culture is and this absolutely doesn't scream logic. Then again, getting in contact with a sea god through dreams to meet it isn't exactly normal either. Still, while I don't really care for the supernatural, I know that I shouldn't mess with one.
As I get deeper into the temple, I can somehow hear…flute? And whispers?
I look around cautiously. I can feel…something, yet there's no living presence around. I quicken my steps as somehow the whispers and the flute get louder around me, but as I enter some kind of room, they suddenly stop. I look back at the dark hall I was in, and shiver a bit when I somehow can make out…shadows and glowing eyes in the darkness, but I ignore them and focus back on the room I just entered.
The room is…well, like a temple. It's a circular type of room, with carvings on the walls and the floor. I can see that the carvings are kinda telling some kind of a story. A huge creature of the sea, people facing the said creature, and…Earth? Or some kind of planet? There are carvings of stars and eyes, surrounding the said figures carvings that are oozing with black tar and into the engravings on the stone floor.
There's no roof, so the bright moonlight illuminates the whole room. There's a big stone table in the middle, with similar looking carvings on the big slab and the legs. And beyond the big stone table, there's some kind of opening, like a huge door without the door and into another dark hall.
Walking around the stone table, I continue on into the hall. There are more carvings and glyphs on the walls, seemingly delivering a continuous story as I keep on moving. I look at them curiously, but there's not enough light for me to really see what it's about, so I paid them no mind.
The hall is curving and slowly going up. There doesn't seem to be any other rooms other than the first one, or they're just hidden from me so I go straight into the end. Sometimes there are gaps and cracks on the walls, and I can kinda see the other parts of the island. It's no different than a normal, tropical island, other than there's a curtain of mist surrounding the island to cut it off from the rest of the world.
After what seems like forever, I can see that I'm finally at the top of the structure. There's a huge window (balcony?) that shows the expanse of the island. Just like what I saw from the cracks, thick mist covers the whole island, while the rest of the island is no different than a normal tropical island, if you consider humongous structures all over the island as a normal sight.
Beautifully mystical and out of this world. I don't have to be a good artist to know that the whole place is a work of art by itself.
And at the other side of it, stands a huge stone…door with some kind of mechanism on it? There are many obsidian layers, as if the door is not made of two huge slabs of stones, but rather many pillars of stone acting as a gate of some sort.
And from here, I know my final destination lies in the next room.
Approaching it, I can see that the mechanism is a rather simple one. There's a single circular cavity in the middle with muddy prints on it. I don't really know what kind of prints, but as I take a closer look, they look like handprints that got stacked on each other. Seeing it, something clicked in me.
There were previous ones before me.
Uncertainty fills me as I take a step back to rethink this. Sure, getting stronger to prepare for the future is a great chance and opportunity, but there must be a catch here. I've read stories about the supernatural taking advantage of the mortals, and whatever happens to me now is basically just like those protagonists of the stories.
The question is, am I willing to take this unknown chance for the sake of those two?
…Yes. Yes, I will. No questions about it.
Glancing at a sharp-looking rock near my feet, I grab it and press it on my left palm while my left hand encloses around it. Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling it, I quickly pull my right hand and hold back a grunt of pain as sharp pain cuts through my left palm and blood trickles out. Not having second thought, I press my bleeding palm onto the cavity, printing over the old handprints from who knows how long ago it was.
The blood trickles down and into the gaps of the cavity until I hear something clicks and thumping behind the mechanism. I can feel some kind of tremors from the door, before the mechanism starts to move and seemingly unlock the door.
Taking my hand away and taking steps back, I watch it in wonder and awe as the humongous pillars of the door slowly sliding down, revealing a room with literal galaxies on the walls and floor, or seemingly a reflection of one, as I can see it rippling like water from time to time.
Not only that, a single path leads to the middle of the room and there's some kind of altar at the end.
Holding my bleeding hand close to me and grip my pipe on the other, I slowly walk into the room. It's a very beautiful sight, but it's eerie at the same time. It's as if this place gives me the vibes that I don't belong here, that is if the sea god itself didn't give me the invitation itself.
I look down at the galaxy floor; I can see the reflection of myself, but sometimes I can see other figures when it ripples. Are those reflections in the ripples my alternate selves? Or am I just tired for the night?
Taking myself away from the edge of the path, I continue on until I'm in front of the altar. There's nothing but some kind of black ooze in it. Okay, so now what?
["Put your weapons in it, and offer your blood alongside them."]
…Right. Here goes nothing.
Putting my pipe and wooden sword into the black ooze, I clench my wounded hand above it and let droplets of my blood become one with it. As my blood lands into the goo, the galaxies suddenly begin to ripple around until a very familiar planet shows up in front of me, with a familiar country I was born in.
My homeland.
["Not the first time, but still fascinating, no? Now, pick up your new weapons. They are done."]
Looking back to my weapons, I realize that the goo is gone and my weapons are changed. They're not a normal pipe staff and a wooden sword anymore, but the pipe turns into a proper staff that's made of stone of some sort, while the sword turns into a familiar dagger with curved blade that seems to be made of the same substance as the staff.
Picking them up and looking closer, noticing they're heavier than before. Pulling out the blade from its sheath, I see that the blade has patterns, just like the ones I knew back in my homeland, Keris. It has 13 luk, dark emerald green handguard, and obsidian hilt with glyphs of the sea creature I saw before in gold linings and small galaxies inside it. Unlike the dagger, the sheath is dark red in color, similar to the color of blood.
The staff is like any other normal staff, but it has spirally glyphs instead, and this one is red in color and seemingly pulsating. Holding it up, it has almost the same height as me, maybe a little longer. But I'm still a growing child, so hopefully the staff can grow along with me because having a short staff doesn't seem fun.
["Geshishishi, don't worry, Little A. Those weapons of yours are literally you. You can bend their appearances at your will and will grow along with you. But can you tame them?"]
Gripping both weapons in my good hand, I look at them sharply.
"If they're me, they'll know our main mission in this universe. If we come to a disagreement over that, I will discard them." I sharply reply, and I hear it laugh.
["Don't worry. None of that ever happen in the sea of time."]
I nod, "Good. I can't just discard them after all of the shit I sacrificed to get them." I reply, and somehow I can feel both weapons thrumming in reply. "But still, having two weapons is great and all, but it'll be a pain to take them both at the same time. Can I combine them into one or something? So no double hard work?" with that question, the ancient sea god laughs.
["Why don't you find it out by yourself?"]
So I did. I press the hilt of the keris to one of the ends of the staff, and then the obsidian suddenly starts to mold around the end of the staff and attaches itself there, like an octopus attaching itself onto the reef while the sheath starts to melt away and into the red linings of the staff. I look closer in awe as I watch it happen. I can also see the obsidian kinda pulsates or something, but touching it only feels like a normal gemstone.
"Awesome! Now I don't have to worry about losing the sheath or even the dagger itself." I comment with a grin as I twirl the staff in my hand and tap it to my shoulder, "But what are they made of anyway? Seastone?"
["They are, but unlike those, this one is purely made of my blood. Twice the density and the hardness than those humans made. It's indestructible, unless you or I wanted it to be destructible."]
"Hoo, it's technically a legendary weapon then? But if it got stolen, what then?"
["It will return to you if you order it too. You can control it however you want, even remotely. You can even see what it sees. You change it sizes however you want."]
"Woah, that's pretty awesome then!" In fact, it's very awesome. I can just use it to do my job even easier! "Okay, so I get awesome legendary weapons, and so what now?" I ask seriously, "What do you gain from this?"
["Geshishishi, it's nothing you should be concerned of, Little A."]
"You say that, but I've read enough stories about this particular shit." I argue back, "Just tell me."
The voice is silent, but I can see it smiling widely with that mischievous glint in its glowing eyes.
["You will know in time. It's not fun to get spoiler, is it?"]
I narrowed my eyes on that and tapped the staff to my shoulder in annoyance. Fine, I'll let it go this time.
"Fine. Are we done here?"
["Yes. Now go and rest. Take your ride off this island. Your stay is done, for now. Until we meet again."]
And so I turn around and start to walk, exiting the room and I hear the door slide close and lock up again behind me, but I take no glance back as I keep on walking. I keep walking and walking, ignoring the whispers, the flute, and the darkness behind me as the moonlight accompanies me from each gaps and cracks of the structure until I finally reach the front of the curtain of mist.
And as I stop there, the mist suddenly blows away, just like before. And then revealing Takao still loyally waiting by the beach as the mist closes up behind me.
"Master Eris! You're okay." Takao says as he immediately approaches me, until he sees my bleeding hand and my new weapon in my good hand, "Well, mostly okay. I suppose something happened?" He asks curiously.
"Yeap!" I reply with the emphasis on the 'p', "But we'll talk later. Owner of the island wants us to immediately leave, so we better go rather than messing with the ancient sea god." I tell him and he nods at that.
I silently order my newest weapon to be as small as a toothpick so I can put it in my satchel. It slowly gets smaller and I see Takao is surprised, but he didn't say anything as I put it in. I was about to climb on his back, but he held me up in his arms and we immediately took off.
And as we leave the island, the mist engulfs the island whole before vanishing away, leaving only the calm sea water behind, with no traces of the island. Huh, that's interesting.
We fly to the nearest island and take a rest. Takao is tending to my wound after I clean myself up from the dried blood and mud by the nearest lake as I tell him about what happened and about the new weapon(s).
"I got awesome, custom-made legendary weapons from it! Now I can deal with those haughty dragons easier!" I tell him as I show him the weapons, in which he immediately winces aback.
"R-right. I suppose it has the same substance as something called 'Seastone'?" Takao asks, seemingly uncomfortable at the existence of it.
"Even better! It's twice the density and hardness, so it's basically indestructible." I tell him and he hums in return.
"I can feel my power draining away even at this distance, so I believe that." Oh yeah, DF users can feel Seastone imbued things. I guess the denser it is, the more they can feel it.
"Well, I think we have enough excitement for today. Let's just take a rest now and we're off to Sabaody Archipelago tomorrow." I tell him as I lay down, "We have things to do there, after all."
"Alright. Goodnight, Master Eris."
"Goodnight, Takao."
And with that, I drift off to sleep, for once not meeting that shrouded figure anymore in my dream, but the pained screams and the look of the dying people in my hands instead.
Gasping out awake, I notice that the sun is already rising. It's dawn already.
Sitting up, I hug myself to calm myself down.
It's alright. It's all gonna be okay.
Just a little more and I'll be home.
Back to Luffy and Ace; back to my sun and my stars.
(Posted on May 5th, 2022)
