CHAPTER 17:
Blue Moon
John inhaled deeply and exhaled a long sigh of exhaustion as he decided to stop under a tree to sit down. There was barely any sunlight left and the orange-colored sky was slowly dimming. When the old man described the walk to Blue Town, John imagined that it would only take a few minutes to get there, but it had been more than an hour already and they hadn't reached it yet. Broll must have moved the ship to the north-west part of the island already, waiting for them to arrive. After he finished resting, they continued walking, following the road signs.
Should I buy a horse or something? That's like, the staple for travelers right? John thought. He had been getting so used to traveling by ship that his legs were starting to have trouble walking long distances. He sighed as he looked at his companions, walking without breaking a sweat at all. Come to think of it, didn't smoker have a motorcycle? Where can I get one of those? His mind continued to think of different transportation ideas as the group walked on.
—
It has completely turned into night now but the moon was shining brightly above them, illuminating their path. Silk looked up to see a beautiful full moon, unobstructed by any clouds. The others wondered what she was staring at and also looked up to see the perfectly round moon above them. Looking at the full moon seemed to fill them with a strange feeling of calmness, like there wasn't anything to worry about in the world.
As they walked further they noticed that the area ahead of them seemed to be emitting a strange blue light, fluctuating in brightness every second.
"Is that Blue Town?" Vien asked, squinting his eyes because of the brightness. "Maybe it's called that because they use blue lights in their homes." Broll commented.
"Maybe…" John answered, uncertain. He looked towards Baba, who, judging by her demeanor in the previous islands they've been to, seemed to have visited a whole lot of places. But the older woman just shook her head and frowned, indicating that she has never been to Blue Town yet, and had no idea what lies ahead of them.
As they walked towards the source of the blue light, a strong gust of wind blew in their direction, coming from the area in front of them. It was a bit different from a normal gust of wind because instead of being refreshingly cool, it was uncomfortably hot instead. It felt as though they were blasted by steam from boiling water and it alarmed them as to what was ahead.
As they got even closer, they couldn't deny the strangeness of the situation anymore as sweat started dripping from their foreheads. Their hair and clothes were also slowly getting drenched from sweat. The heat can be felt even in the outskirts of the town and it proved to them one thing, Blue town was currently ON FIRE!
"What should we do, captain?!" Silk cried out in distress, Vien and Baba also looked at John for instructions. The light of the moon combined with the bright blue flames actually made for a beautiful scene, but John quickly snapped out of it.
QUEST UPDATED!
Blue Moon, Blue Town
Reach Blue Town
Look for survivors
?
Rewards: 500 exp, ?, ?
"Search for survivors!" John commanded. If they can find one, they can get an answer as to why something like this has happened to Blue Town. "Don't get near those weird flames though. We don't know what kind of damage it can do."
Whatever those blue flames were, they were definitely what the perpetrator used to burn this town to the ground. Is it a devil fruit's power?
One thing they realized once they had entered the town was, it wasn't ON FIRE. It was already BURNT. The buildings had been turned to ash and cinder, the ground was black and the people, their corpses might have been ash as well, one turned into dust when John touched it. The blue flames weren't even burning anymore. They were only tufts of fire on the ground or on the buildings, small, but strangely still burning brightly and still extremely hot.
"Guys!" They heard a voice shout from the other side of the town. "Come over here!"
"Is that-" Silk began but, "BROLL, IS THAT YOU?" Vien yelled out. They jogged over to where they heard the voice and found the youngest member of their crew holding on to a person who they assumed was a victim of the attack, her body covered in third degree burns.
John approached his deckhand and put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey Broll, what happened here?" The young man seemed shaken as his body trembled. Beads of tears were forming in the corners of his eyes as he tried to inhale the snot coming out his nose. The young man tried to answer with his trembling mouth but a hand suddenly shot out from below and gripped John's hand. He looked down to see the woman, barely conscious, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.
"H-help." She choked out, clearly having trouble breathing. John, knowing that there was nothing they could do to save the woman, decided to hear out what probably would be her last wish. He held her hand with both of his hands and looked into her eyes. "We'll help you. Tell me what we can do for you." He said seriously.
"My, m-my d-daughter, please…" tears started flowing from her eyes as the whole crew listened attentively. "S-she's was taken- Cough, Cough!" The woman started coughing and wheezing and John worried that she might be having a convulsion. She suddenly turned to the side and spat out a big glob of blood, staining the ground red. This seemed to give her the air she needed as she was able to finish her sentence. "She was taken by a-a Warlock. Please save her! She's t-the only o-one-guh!" The woman suddenly started gasping for air, trying to reach for something in front of her.
"We'll find her, don't worry!" John shouted in her ear. He knew that the woman was about to pass away any second now. "What's her name? What does she look like?" He asked. He knew it wasn't nice, but he had to at least get some information about the woman's daughter before she passed away.
"She's……Blue……" was her last words as her arm dropped lifelessly and her eyes lost its light. John closed her eyelids with his hand and told his crewmen to help him dig a grave for the woman. As he shoveled the dirt, he thought about what the woman had said.
She's blue? Is her skin blue? John knew it wasn't really impossible for a person to have blue skin in this world. After all, Moria, who is completely human, looked very much like a monster. Also, she said a 'Warlock' abducted her daughter. Were there any magic-users in One piece?
It seemed as if his crewmates were thinking the same thing as one of them asked, "did she say a warlock attacked this town?"
Broll, whose face was still puffed up from crying, answered. "She told me that a pirate crew ransacked the town looking for something. Their captain apparently can shoot fire from his hands. He destroyed the town then took away her daughter. That's all she was able to tell me before she…"
They fell into a state of silence as they continued digging. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Broll spoke up again. "By the way…what's a warlock?"
"Somebody who can shoot fire from their hands?" Vien answered, but he wasn't convinced. "Couldn't the person just have a devil fruit? Why'd she call them a Warlock?"
"I don't know." John replied, stroking his growing chin hairs. He was thinking of the reason why she might have said that. "Maybe she saw him do something that made it clear that it wasn't from a devil fruit…"
"Ah! She also said that he was riding a broom!" Broll exclaimed. The three looked at him, waiting for an explanation as they didn't know what he was implying, but John instantly knew what he meant. "In the sky! He was flying in the sky! On a broom!" The young deckhand swore.
—
They finished the resting place for the woman relatively quickly as Broll had added that the woman told him earlier it hasn't been a day since the town was attacked. They hurried to the ship and surveyed the horizon for any pirate ships sailing away from the town. Broll told them that he didn't see any when he arrived there earlier.
"How are we supposed to find that pirate ship then?" Silk asked. She was worried that they might not find the pirates in time and fail to honor the woman's last wish. John was also racking his brains hard trying to determine the direction the enemy might have taken, when…
QUEST UPDATED!
Blue Moon, Blue Town
Reach Blue Town
Look for survivors
Defeat the 'Warlock'
Rewards: 500 exp, ?, ?
Track this Quest?
Yes No
John looked at the window and saw that it was just an update, but something below it caught his eye.
Is this what I think it is?
John turned with his back to his crewmates and touched the confirmation button. His [World Map] suddenly opened and he saw the icon representing himself, an arrow pointing to the direction he was facing, and a dotted line stretching from his icon to a symbol all the way near Gecko Islands, an exclamation point.
Tracking Quest:
Defeat the 'Warlock' (0/1)
"FULL SPEED AHEAD!"
John suddenly yelled ws he steered the wheel to the direction the marker was pointing to. His deckhands looked at him in confusion but he just looked at them and said. "Trust me." Just like that, they started unfurling the sails, preparing the ship for voyage. They left the island at full speed as John tracked the pirate ship on his [World Map].
Even at full speed, the reality of ship travel was evident. It wasn't as quick as the anime made it out to be. They set out from Organ Islands at night and the sun was almost about to set again as they neared the target, which was moving slower than them.
"I see something!" Silk yelled from the bow of the ship. They looked to where she was pointing and saw a speck in the distance shaped like a ship. It was a few kilometers to their right. John purposely sailed a few degrees off from the quest marker so as not to appear suspicious to his crewmates. If they asked, he would just tell them that he had a hunch about the direction the pirate ship went. He steered the G.O.A.T towards the speck as his crew prepared for a confrontation. He slowed the ship down to not alert the enemy ship of their presence. He wanted to sneak up on them, pretend they were friendly, and then spring on them at the last moment, ensuring their victory.
"PAAN…!" A weird sound from the air. The darkening sky made it hard to discern, but John could've sworn he saw a panda with wings flying above the ship.
Out of nowhere, a sound familiar to John rang out. It sounded just like his rifle when he fired it, but it was muted, like it was coming from further away. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard impacting the bow of the ship, and the voice of Silk shouted, calling for him. "Captain! Come take a look at this!"
John ran over and saw a fairly large, black and white creature embedded on the wood, moving its legs back and forth trying to get out. "What is that thing?" Vien asked. "It's some kind of bird…" Silk answered. "It just suddenly dropped down in front of me. I almost cut it down!"
"Let's get it out of there first." John said. He pulled on its left leg while Vien pulled on the right. With some effort, they were able to take it out of the hole it made. Looking at it closely, it was a large, round bird with white feathers on its body and tail, while the feathers on its wings and legs were black. The unique features of this bird was the black spot around its eyes and its black round ears like a panda. "What's it doing here?" Broll wondered as it approached the creature. The bird tried to fly away but it was only able to get a few feet in the air, when it fell to its side, writhing in pain. "Gwak! Gwak!"
John examined the bird and found a gunshot wound on the side of its stomach, blood coming out of it. That sound from earlier was definitely from a rifle…so it was shot down? He looked at the direction where he heard the shot from. Who would do that?
"Balloon! Run away!"
A high-pitched voice shouted. A shadow suddenly covered the already darkened sky as a ship twice the size of the G.O.A.T in length and width loomed in front of them.
"What?! Where did that come from?!" Vien shouted as he fell on his butt, his eyes were wide in surprise from the gigantic ship that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Now, John knew that his ship, the G.O.A.T, was already a bit bigger than the Going Merry, the Strawhats' first ship, but this was the first time he's seen such a ship of this size. It was towering in front of them.
"It's a brig…" Baba shuddered. There weren't many pirates who owned a brig, much less in East Blue. She only knew of one, a pirate with a fleet of fifty ships. The Admiral, Don Krieg, but she didn't know that the pirate was currently coming back from the Grand Line with not even a tenth of his forces remaining.
"Hurry Balloon! Fly away from here!" The voice shouted again, and the bird once again tried to fly but only got a few feet in the air before falling on the deck. "What's happening here?" Silk looked up fearfully. The sky was fully dark now and lightning started coming out from the clouds along with the sounds of thunder.
"Hello there, youngsters." A shadow emerged from the large ship. The figure was covered in darkness but his silhouette can be seen because of the lightning strikes behind him. It was a tall and lanky figure with six pointy things sticking out of his head, like a hexagon. He slowly came out of the shadows and it was revealed that it was an older man with rainbow-colored hair that was tied into six short ponytails, two of which were sticking out of his tricorne. He wore a striped shirt, black shorts and an open vest. "Would you be kind and bring that bird over here?" He said to them in an indifferent tone.
"Don't! Please don't hand Balloon over to him! He's all I've got left!" The female voice coming from the brig pleaded with them. The three couldn't see her, so they weren't sure if she was the daughter of the woman that they were looking for, but John was sure it was her, as the quest marker was visibly bobbing up and down, above the head of the peculiar pirate in front of them.
Defeat the 'Warlock' (0/1)
John closed his eyes to think for a minute before coming over to whisper something in Silk's ear. "We're coming over to give you the bird!" He yelled a few seconds later, surprising the rest of his crew and the girl tied to the mast on the brig.
"Very good." The six-sided pirate stated, before turning back and going inside the captain's quarters.
—
"How dare you?! Why did you bring Balloon?!" A voice shouted at John and Silk as they carried the bird up the gangway towards a cage on the deck of the brig. He looked to the side and saw a young girl tied to one of the ship's mast, looking angrily at them with tears in her eyes. She looked to be Silk's age but was a bit shorter. Her hair was a vibrant blue and was quite short in length. She wore a white shirt with blue stripes and a blue skirt. Her eyes were also blue.
"She's…blue?" Silk uttered, remembering the poor woman's last words.
"That's her." John whispered in her ear. "You remember what I told you?" Silk nodded and they both looked straight ahead. John peaked to the side to look at her status.
Ann
Lvl. 7
Age 17
HP - 160
AP - 34
She's pretty weak. What about the bird?
Balloon
Lvl. 9
Age 14
HP - 305
AP - 41
This bird's pretty tough. I wonder why the pirates want it?
The pirates loaded the bird into the cage as John and Silk looked around. They estimated that there were about forty pirates on the deck alone but there could be more below. As instructed, Silk stealthily moved to the captured girl as John chatted up the pirates, pretending to be a pirate himself.
"Forgive me for the trouble." The captain of the pirate ship said neutrally as he came out of his quarters. John noticed that he only had two large teeth in his mouth, like a hippopotamus. And he wasn't really that old either, he just had his eyebrows raised constantly that the lines on his forehead became permanent. "Thank you for bringing me the Mythical Bird Roc. You don't know how valuable it is…" His eyes darted over to their captive and saw a young woman wearing leather armor with a sword on her waist near her. He inspected the swordswoman but saw that she wasn't making any moves to free the girl, so he turned his back on her and addressed the other visitor on his ship. "I heard you say that you are a pirate earlier, am I right to assume you are expecting a reward of some sort?" He asked, smiling.
'Six-Sided' Spiel
Lvl. 19
Age 44
HP - 250
AP - 51
"You're right." Answered John with a friendly smile as he checked the enemy's status.
Spiel's smile dropped as he looked at John for a few seconds before speaking. "Alright, come with me. Let's talk numbers." John followed him inside the Captain's quarters but not before sparing a look at Silk, who he nodded at subtly.
—
"So, what are you planning?" Ann asked the blonde-haired swordswoman quietly. She was much calmer now after watching how the two of them were acting in front of Spiel. Ann was someone who had never trained her body but she was regarded as a genius back in Blue Town. She was especially adept at reading people's emotions from subtle facial cues, specifically their eyes. She knows that someone's eyes can tell you a lot, and why they call it the windows to the soul.
Silk regarded her for a bit. She then subtly looked around to see if someone was watching them. After confirming that they were busy with the bird, she got closer to Ann before saying, "we're here to rescue you." The blue-haired girl nodded as she had already discerned their intentions a while ago. "We met your mom in Blue Town and she asked to save you before she…" Silk wasn't sure if she should tell the younger girl what happened for now but Ann just smiled weakly. She knows what happened because she had witnessed how Spiel destroyed her Town.
Blue Town, two days earlier…
A cart being pulled by a horse was on its way towards Blue Town. Riding it was a reliable trader, who always brings fruits and vegetables to trade with the citizens of Blue Town. The township had never been able to produce enough food for its population, ever since it was established hundreds of years ago. It was because the dirt around the town was different from that of Orange Town. If you dig the ground in Blue Town, you would notice blue specks mixed with the brown dirt. These blue crystals are what is known as azurite, and it is the main ingredient of Blue Town's special export, Blue charcoal.
Blue charcoal was a nifty little rock that burned brighter, longer and hotter than normal charcoal, and it produced a beautiful blue flame. The citizens of Blue Town sold it to Orange Town at an affordable price every time they were able to make some. But it wasn't often, as the azurite that they were able to find in the ground was gradually becoming less and less as the decades passed by. Still, it was what Blue Town was named after. It provided the town with an identity, and they were proud of it. Lately though, the trader had noticed that the town was producing more blue charcoal than the previous years. He chalked it up to them finding an untouched deposit of azurite somewhere.
He finally reached Blue Town and the town guard gave him a friendly greeting. Inside the town he was also greeted by the residents. They were always happy to see him as he had always sold his goods to them at a fair price.
"GWAK GWAK!"
Looking up, he also saw another of Blue Town's unique attractions, Balloon the Panda-Bird, or so he had been told. Riding on top of it was the ever lively young girl, Ann.
"Hello, Mr. Trader!" She waved at him from atop the large bird. He always enjoyed visiting the Town because of their warm welcome.
—
"Balloon! This is the place! Are you ready?" Ann exclaimed as she jumped down from her seat on top of the large bird. They landed near a dug up patch of dirt behind the woods.
"Kwaak!" Balloon saluted with its wings. "You ate a lot of bananas right?" The young girl asked and the bird nodded its head. "Now, do it!"
The bird then proceeded to squat and clenched its beak as something started to pour out from its butthole. A smooth blue paste plopped on the ground and continued until there was a large mound of vibrant blue bird poop. They then proceeded to cover it up with dirt, smiling happily all the while.
The people of Blue Town had a lot of theories as to where the azurite came from. From being an alien meteorite that crashed on the land a million years ago, to being the remains of a legendary crystal dragon. What they didn't know was that azurite did come from a legendary creature, specifically the long-extinct Monster Bird Roc, who populated Blue Town's forests two hundred years ago. A special chemical in their stomachs broke down food and imbued them with flammable properties while also turning it blue. The Roc's poop eventually hardened and took on a form akin to crystals after some time. It's what is known nowadays as azurite.
Ann pulled out a metal rod from her bag. It was about two feet long with its lower half covered in thick leather. At the bottom of the rod, there was a glass beaker attached with shiny blue liquid inside. The young woman pointed it at the dirt covered mound and pressed a button on its side. Suddenly, a stream of blue fire erupted from the rod. She had to turn her head away to avoid being blinded by the bright light it emitted. Ann was using the heat to speed up the hardening process of the Roc poop. During the process, she had to turn it off a few times to cool down the metal rod. But eventually, after fifteen minutes, it was ready. The young chemist wiped the sweat on her forehead and stood up, looking proudly at her handiwork. She grabbed the rod and smacked the top of the mound, revealing a slightly shiny blue ore. Smiling with pride, she hugged Balloon, who squawked in joy as well. "I'm sure they'll find this after a few days. Let's fly by the ocean to cool down Balloon!" The young girl then rode the bird and headed for the ocean.
Meanwhile, approaching from the west towards Blue Town was a ship twice the size of a caravel. It had a black flag flying from its mast depicting a six-sided star, each side a different color of the rainbow and inside the star was a skull with its mouth open. A tall and lanky man in the middle of the ship whipped his head as a large, black and white bird flew past him.