Review:

Guest: Thanks for your review, greatly appreciated it. Honestly, the betrayal stories are some of the ones I hate the most as well, as the stories that treat Issei as just a moron. Half of the reason of the existence of this fic is how annoyed I am by how the DxD crossover section is horrible, especially on Naruto's part.

Yeah, obviously DxD has weak parts and things I think the author could have done better, but in general I enjoy the characters. Honestly, all my problems with DxD are not even character related, but only narrative decisions Ishibumi took. And I agree with you on regards to DxD lightheartness. I am tired of stories that are just grim and depressing, DxD's lightheartness is great for me, is something I didn't realize I was missing so much before DxD. I am mostly done with depressing, grim and tense stories really.

Once more thanks, I tried to make last chapter a homage to canon Issei, so I am glad that at least you think it worked. Thanks for the review!


Going forward

"Goddamn."

Zoro's reaction was a decent summary of the crew's overall reactions. After leaving the mental space they found Hyoudou and Ur in, they called the Straw Hats to grab them. Those, in turn, were surprised to be called so early and figured something had happened, they just didn't imagine the scale of the event. It was quite a surprise to see the desolation of a vast region that was once covered by forests and mountains.

Issei had finished explaining the rundown of their encounter, with Cynthia in his lap. After a moment of silence, the green-haired swordsman was the first to verbally demonstrate his reaction.

"Are you okay, Ise?"

Paison, the eldest Hancock son, asks his younger brother, who nods in response.

"I don't know... I kind of watched myself die... it's kind of confusing, I'm still swallowing it."

The sekiryuutei replied with crossed arms as he had a thoughtful expression. He was trying to mentally organize the latest events he had just been a part of.

"I think this goes to the top of the list of strange things that happened to someone in the crew. In the top ten, maybe as number six?"

Frank said, bringing a little humor to lighten the situation.

"Hmm, meh, I'd say it's just the seven."

Usopp replied, joining in on the joke. Although they were really speaking their minds.

At least it got some laughs out of some of the members.

"Ise, you intend to go, right?"

Luffy asked, looking into his son's eyes. But of course, even if he was asking that both already knew the answer.

"For sure!"

The brunette replied determinedly, putting a smile on his father's face.

That was the obvious answer they both knew Issei would give, after all, there was no way he could go back on his word.

"But baby! Alone? In another world? Without us? Without me?"

Hancock, on the other hand, was… reacting as she obviously would. She looked like she was ready to pin Issei to the chair at any moment.

"Don't worry auntie, he won't be alone."

Cynthia said, putting her arm around Issei's neck. It was an attempt to calm Hancock down, but it quickly got out of hand.

"WHAT? OF COURSE, HE WILL BE ALONE! MY LITTLE GIRL-"

Sanji wanted to start, but Pudding didn't give him a chance to finish, tugging at his ear with an annoyed look.

"Sorry about that. And darling, don't worry, he'll accept that soon enough, so do as you please."

The three-eyes said, smiling at her daughter, and twisting Sanji's ear a little more when she realized that he was going to complain more.

"But-"

Before Hancock finished, Luffy placed one of his hands on her right shoulder, drawing her attention to him.

"Han, come on. It's not the first time kids have gone on their own adventures. They will be fine. Ise is our son, you know you have nothing to worry about."

Luffy spoke, with his beaming smile, which seemed to shine like the sun. The fact that he was the god of said star probably helped.

Hancock wanted to say something, but she stopped and was quiet for a few moments, clearly in a thoughtful mood. Then she turned to Issei and Cynthia.

"Cyn-chan! I will want constant reports. Two, no, at least three every other day. What are you doing, eating, who are you talking to. About any girl who shows interest or joins the harem especially. I'll want a detailed description of them, down to the last point. Did you understand?"

Issei and Cynthia glared at each other and then glared at Luffy who had a smirk on his face, clearly having fun with the situation. And if the two looked at the rest of the crew they would notice that the members were either sighing or laughing. And obviously, no one was surprised that this attitude came from Hancock.

"Okay, auntie, you can count on me."

Cynthia said, smiling and giving her mother-in-law a thumbs-up.

The blonde and Issei thought the same thing at that moment.

'I thought it would be more difficult.'

"But do you have any plans?"

Robin asked with a hand on her chin, already predicting the answer.

Cynthia smiled blandly, but Issei had a confident expression.

"None."

He answered without a hint of embarrassment, making everyone sigh. Except for Luffy, who chuckled proudly.

"I expected this." Marianne commented, finishing her cup of tea. "Fortunately, I have an idea and resources for this. Let's call Susanoo."

Issei's eyes lit up at the mention of his uncle by consideration.

"Oh, it's been a while since we saw Uncle Susanoo, right? I think it was last year."

Cynthia commented with a smile, also happy to see the god of storms.

"While Mari-chan is going to call Susanoo-san, could you come with me, Issei? I think it's wise to run some tests on you."

Vegapunk spoke, already walking to his lab. Issei signed to his girlfriend, who nodded and got up from his lap, allowing him to go after the old genius. Truth be told, he was curious too.

...

"Hoo! So the two little brats are coming to stay?"

Susanoo was in his office when he received the call. It was a vast office as he needed to fit there. But the lack of paperwork or anything resembling a work or professional environment would make one think that this was more of a bedroom than an office per se.

"Yes. You being who you are, and with your connections, I figured it would be easy to get them a place to live and at a school. Besides, you've never touched the money my manga made, have you?"

Susanoo gave a light laugh.

"Yeah, I never needed it and I wouldn't feel good using your money either. But now that it goes to the brats, hehe, finally a good use to it."

It was obvious that he was in a great mood at the news.

"Great, we'll be counting on you then."

"You can leave it to me!"

And just like that, the call ended. Susanoo leaned further back in his chair, with a mischievous smile on his face.

"I think I'll put them in Kuoh. It's going to be easier and, hehehe, it's going to be fucking interesting."

...

"Fascinating."

Vegapunk whispered staring at the Devouring Gear on Issei's right arm. That's not just because Issei now has a second dragon Longinus on his other arm, but because of the state of the gear itself.

The gear had the same shape and markings as the Boosted Gear, the difference was only in the coloring, which for the Devouring Gear was black, with the jewel in the center being purple. But other than that, the two couldn't be compared anymore at the moment. While the Boosted Gear was always in pristine condition, with any damage taken being quickly recovered, the Devouring Gear was in pieces. The gear was covered in cracks, the pieces of it barely seeming to attach or hold together, not falling off purely because the gear itself was unbreakable. The gear's purple crystal was broken as well, looking like just a broken shard.

That said, none of these elements pointed to or meant that the gear would be forever unusable, as even at an oddly slow speed, you could see the cracks slowly closing. It would just take time for the gear to recover.

"Ddraig, can you tell me if these are the normal consequences of a Sacred Gear being transferred?"

Vegapunk asked, looking at the gauntlet on Issei's left arm.

[Honestly, I have no idea. I didn't even think that Gears could be transferred, as so, this is all uncharted territory.]

The words made Vegapunk even more curious, his eyes gleaming with the prospect of the mysteries ahead of him.

"And Ur didn't get in touch anymore, correct?"

Issei nodded in confirmation.

"I feel his presence like I feel Ddraig's, but he is much more... empty? I think that's the word. Anyway, I don't blame the guy for not wanting to talk to me, he needs as much time as he sees fit. Even if he chooses never to talk to me, that's fair too. Although, I would like to help him if possible."

The sekiryuutei explained. He felt bad for Ur, who was put in this situation out of obligation. Also, if he could help his former counterpart's best friend, he sure would.

[I don't see him either, or feel his presence. But since I don't know how things would work out or what would change in Issei's soul plane, I can't say whether or not this is a normal development.]

Ddraig's speech made Vegapunk sigh. They were having to work with a lot of assumptions and guesses, and almost no concrete information.

"Very well, you can go. You guys should get ready to leave soon since Susanoo-san shouldn't take long to arrange something. If there's anything out of the ordinary in the readings we've done, I'll let you and your parents know."

"Alright old man, thanks for the help."

The brunette said, leaving the lab after putting on his t-shirt.

Once Issei left, Shaka approached the original Vegapunk.

"Do you think his exponential growth will affect anything? Or will it be modified by this new gear?"

To his clone's question, Vegapunk was thoughtful, remembering something they discovered years ago.

"These readings..."

Shaka was in disbelief, staring at the large computer screen in front of him. It had only been a few days since they had placed the More More fruit in the Boosted Gear, with constant tests being done to understand the results of such a feat. And now one of those results left Shaka speechless.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

"Curious, very curious."

Vegapunk and Edison commented, seeing the same readings.

What they were doing is looking at a number.

0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000...00001.

Countless zeros followed by a single one. It seemed completely irrelevant and almost meaningless, but it was closely tied to Issei's situation.

"Is this one of the side effects of putting the Boosted Gear and the More More fruit together?"

Edison asked.

"Indeed, it seems so. Amazing, isn't it? It's such a minuscule number that both practically and mathematically, it will never make a difference. And yet, Issei's strength is constantly being increased by this factor. It will probably take years for us to even notice this making any difference, but I wonder... can this number be increased?"

They all had to hold back the urge to gulp at that thought. They could only imagine what kind of monster this boy would eventually become.

"Should we inform him or his parents?"

Shaka questioned.

"We can talk to Luffy and the others, but to Issei? Do you think he would even understand what we're talking about?"

The doctor returned, asking with a raised eyebrow.

"Right."

Vegapunk finished his cup of coffee, as he finished remembering his discovery years ago.

"Come to think of it, we never reevaluated to see if his exponential growth factor increased. Oh well, I believe that will have to be a surprise for another day."

...

"You're taking this better than I thought."

It was just Issei and Sanji in the kitchen, preparing dinner, probably the last dinner the Straw Hats would taste from the Sekiryuutei in a long time.

"What? Did you want me to tell you that it's taking all my willpower not to stab you with this knife?"

Issei stopped what he was doing for a moment.

"A little bit."

His honest answer made Sanji roll his eyes.

"We're past that phase... although sometimes it's tempting... But no, that time, on the island, I decided to fully trust her and you, so... as much as I hate the idea, just... I don't know, have fun and take care."

Issei stared at the blonde for a while, before giving him a wide grin.

"You are the best sensei!"

Being called sensei nearly made Sanji choke.

...

"Do you have everything prepared? Ro-"

"Han, you know they're ready, shishishi."

Before Hancock could pepper the two with a series of questions, Luffy intervened. Issei whispered "Thanks dad", without his mother being able to hear.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Issei doesn't cause too much damage."

Cynthia said, trying to sound assured.

"As if that ever worked before."

Nami, however, could only sigh. The ability to cause big trouble ran in the family.

"Shishishi, anyway, you already know, right?"

"Chichichi, of course, let's have fun."

Issei said to his father, slamming his fists together.

Luffy then ruffled his son's hair.

"I'm glad you know."

Issei then stretched his arm, and then with one hand picked up the bags with the things they would be taking together.

"We are going."

The sekiryuutei spoke, holding Cynthia's hand. Both looked back smiling as they passed through the portal.

And so, the Red Dragon Emperor returns to Draconic Deus.


This is only a transitional chapter, so not a lot happened. We are reaching DxD in next chapter, but still a bit far from actually starting the canon timeline. So I think some reminders are fair.

As I mentioned on the first chapter, this whole fic runs around DxD and its world. If you think certain characters or so that came from the other series are being portrayed as weaker than what you think they should be, not sorry, the focus is DxD.

There will be a few original elements of my own, but only one that is truly major, the rest is more of details or making use of the world building or concepts that I thought to be fit.

And lastly, there will be quite a lot of slice of life elements, of course there is the plot and everything that will be followed, but to give time to see Issei interacting with the girls, there might be a lot of chapters of just that.

That's it for anything I wanted to let you know before hand.

Reviews are appreciated.