…
Hunger gnawed at my insides like a rabid animal. How long had it been since I washed up on the shores of this freakish island? Three days? Five? After a while, time seemed to lose all meaning. There was only the constant struggle to survive.
My makeshift spear had long since broken, leaving me weaponless save for jagged shards of metal that littered the beach. I fashioned them into crude knives, sawing away at spiky iron vines in search of anything edible. But the metallic flora and fauna seemed just as hellbent on starving me out.
By what must have been the second week, feverish dreams plagued my restless attempts at sleep. I tossed and turned on the cold, rusty sand, visions of glistening banquet tables piled high with meat and fruit haunting me. But no matter how much dream-food I devoured, the hunger pangs would return.
In one nightmare, I sat chained at Cawthburn's table back on Kai Cove, watching in tortured frustration as the glutton and his men gorged themselves. I pleaded and begged for a single scrap as their raucous laughter echoed in my pounding head. Dark shadows encroached on my vision, heralding my descent into delirious unconsciousness.
When I jerked awake, eyes wildly scanning for food that wasn't there, desperate frustration boiled over into enraged screams. I hurled myself against iron trees and bashed metallic boulders with my bleeding fists, howling obscenities at the Universe that damned me to this fate. Tears carved grimy trails down my sunken cheeks at the injustice, the helplessness of it all.
Fate, it seemed, remained deaf to my cries. So I wandered on, my quest for survival an endless repetition of fruitless days. The gnawing in my gut grew sharper, more insistent, echoing the hollowness in my chest.
Surely death would claim me soon...yet some defiant ember still smoldered in my soul. I would not meekly accept my end on this Twilight Zone island! But my rapidly fading strength said otherwise. Each iron-willed step became more labored as I dragged myself up the craggy slope, darkness creeping into my vision once more.
Just when oblivion's siren song became almost irresistible, a shock of color flashed at the edge of my sight. I blinked slowly, unsure if this vivid azure was just another hunger-fueled hallucination. But as I staggered closer, details emerged through the fog in my brain.
A fruit! Here!? Azure-skinned with odd spiral patterns, it seemed to almost glow atop the dark metallic foliage. I briefly wondered if it was some poisonous tropical plant...before deciding I no longer cared. Food was food, and if it killed me, so be it. At least it would end this wretched ordeal!
I lurched forward and snatched up the exotic prize, blinded by salivating hunger. It seemed Firm yet soft, its odd bumpy texture almost pulsating in my hand. Had I been in a more lucid state, alarm bells would have gone off. But conscious thought was drowned out by starvation, so I crammed the fruit into my mouth with ravenous speed.
For all its unearthly appearance, it tasted surprisingly bland, sickeningly so, with faint hints of cigarettes, vanilla and old cinnamon, like a store-bought pastry, left in the sun. The fibrous azure flesh gave way under my teeth as I tore into it almost animalistically. I barely chewed, gulping desperately until nothing remained but juices dripping down my chin and a few indigestible seeds. The aftertaste of mold was thick, but it didn't matter if I lived just a little longer.
Moments crept by as I waited for death...or at least some violent nausea. But nothing came. Strength continued ebbing from my exhausted body and the now-familiar darkness rose to claim me. I crashed to the metallic earth, shuddering out a final sigh of defeat. So this was how my tale ended...
Consciousness returned slowly, dragging me from the void back towards waking misery. But instead of sharp agony in my gut, I felt...something different. A resonant thrumming deep in my cells, subtle but undeniable, I was different. Changed. My eyelids cracked open, then widened in shock. Blinding energy lines surrounded everything around me, glowing networks linking all matter together at some fundamental level.
I blinked hard, struggling to understand this bizarre new sight. The vivid latticework continued flickering before my eyes. Instinctively, I lifted an arm and reached toward a nearby iron tree, trailing my fingers along its trunk.
The instant I made contact, the energy lines blazed brighter. My flesh seemed to tingle as if connected to the tree. Compelled by some intuitive urge, I curled my hand into a clutching grasp. Then I pulled back forcefully, ripping away a chunk of metallic bark. But instead of breaking off, it came cleanly apart along the glowing vein boundaries!
I gaped wordlessly as my brain sparked with impossible revelations. The mysterious fruit...some mythical power...? Questions could come later! A daring idea took hold, and I turned my focus to a downed iron beam, shimmering with flowing light. I raised my hands, feeling strangely connected to its structures. Then I pulled them apart while visualizing the metal fracturing at its underlying seams. Incredibly, the solid chunk of iron came apart along those imagined fault lines, hovering before me in neat pieces!
... In the back of my head, I understood.
Over the next hours, childlike wonder and laughter echoed through the alien metal forest. By instinct and experimentation, I explored the outrageous powers granted by that strange azure fruit. Anything inorganic could be effortlessly dismantled into its most fundamental forms, then reassembled in any configuration I envisioned. Piece by piece, crude shelters took shape alongside tools, furniture, even decorative oddities conjured from my imagination.
The mysterious energy lines linking all matter became clear as intuition crystallized into conscious technique. By interacting with objects' compositional frameworks, I could assimilate their structured forms. Reality itself was revealed as puzzles to take apart and reshape at whim!
But hunger would not be ignored forever. So I turned my paranatural talents toward the task of escape. Metallic debris from across the island tore free and sailed through the air toward the shoreline. There, mechanical automatons shaped themselves from the salvaged pieces under my telekinetic direction. They assembled a sturdy raft, complete with small sleeping quarters and makeshift sail.
Within days, I was ready to leave this island prison behind, borne on winds and waves toward new horizons. This Devil Fruit's might had gifted me astonishing powers over the physical world.
Perhaps now I could take control of my own fate as well...
My eyes hardened with fiery ambition as I launched my ramshackle vessel into the roaring surf. The Grand Line awaited, along with untold dangers and wonders. But dueled within me was now an arsenal of abilities beyond mortal scope, and the determination to see my impossible dreams manifest. Let Cawthburn and his ilk pillage helpless villages and call themselves "pirates"! I would show the world what true freedom meant when shackled neither by chains without nor limits within!
The title of King still called to me...temptingly closer thanks to my newfound assimilative might. Now no one would stop me from seizing that empty throne! Laughing with anticipation, I turned my gaze toward the far horizon. My story had only just begun.
...
I sailed for hours in solitude, exploring the capabilities of my newfound powers. Telekinetic construction of simple floating satellites kept me entertained as they bobbed along in our wake. I took them apart and reformatted their debris into abstract sculptures, then basic mechanical animals. The creative possibilities seemed… endless.
This power... it defied all logical explanation. I racked my brain trying to comprehend how a simple fruit could bestow such reality-altering abilities. There were whispered legends back home in the North Blue of mystical fruits that granted superhuman gifts, though most considered them fanciful myths. Foreknowledge said the truth.
But now undeniable evidence floated before my eyes, shaped by my accentuated will into dolphins that leapt through the air. Awed laughter escaped my lips as I shaped the lively creatures into a small pirate ship, then a dragon twisting fancifully above swelling waves.
If mythical zoans could bestow animal transformations, perhaps this fruit gifted dominion over more fundamental aspects of reality itself...the very building blocks of matter and form given clay-like malleability!
As I watched miniature whales take shape from my sculpted thoughtforms, a vague memory surfaced through the mental fog induced by weeks of starvation. A merchant sailor with madness glinting in his eyes, raving over drinks in a dockside tavern about otherworldly treasure. His wild tale told of demonic pirate rivals who possessed unnatural disasters shot from limbs, and bloodthirsty monsters unleashed from flesh.
Fantasists attributed those dark phenomena to curses and witchcraft. But what if they came from the same source as the sublime wonders I now commanded? The shellshocked sailor had mentioned one rival crew whose captain could disassemble bodies into fractured pieces then reanimate bloody chunks into misshapen horrors.
My hands froze in mid-gesture as revelation slammed home. That gruesome tale perfectly paralleled the assimilation powers granted by this azure fruit! Which meant...one of those mythical Devil Fruits was likely responsible! If zoan fruits unlocked animal processes, then this one clearly could restructure raw matter and energy! It circumvented physical law, allowing telekinetic deconstruction and reconstruction of inorganic material through consciously manipulating its binding forces!
As the epiphany struck, I noticed subtle sensations within suggesting my conclusions. Instinctual perceptions of forces interweaving particles into stable structures. Intuitive understanding of the quantum underpinnings that gave rise to solidity itself. And a realization that my awakened will could now disrupt and reshape those forces according to imaginative whims. Mystic fruit granting dominion over fundamental physical form... Deconstructing and reconfiguring matter through mental influence...
"The Gasha Gasha no Mi!" I shouted triumphantly! Tales whispered among Navy scholars told of immensely rare and powerful Devil Fruits conferring reality-defying feats. And this one was among the most coveted – the legendary assimilation fruit allowing total control over physical matter and energy! No wonder World Government dogma declared these gifts Anathema – in the wrong hands such power could destabilize entire nations! Perhaps even the world...
Bullet could suck my dick.
Drunk with revelation, I swelled the small waves around me into giant liquid claws that rose tipped with diamond-hard ice before plunging back into cascading rainbows. Anything inorganic was mine now to tear down and transform!
A few hours later, however, humble reality reasserted itself as raging hunger returned. Sustaining these unfathomable abilities was taxing beyond measure, consuming bodily reserves, stamina, faster than I could replenish.
For now.
With supplies nil, weariness inevitably took its toll. Despite overflowing elation at my newfound assimilative might, I soon found focus fading. Constructs slowly destabilized as concentration wavered, dissolving back into debris. I lacked the training and stamina to maintain such reality-rewriting feats. Survival necessities came first, sadly.
Settling on a makeshift 'bed' in the small 'cabin' I'd built, exhaustion finally claimed me. Tantalizing dreams came of returning home someday to tear Kayden and his thugs apart molecule by molecule before rebuilding that accursed island into a gilded utopia. Fantasies drifted into nightmare however as my old tormenters struck back against my sleeping mind.
... Blackbeard was lucky.
Guy never slept.
...
A sudden harsh impact jolted me awake what seemed like mere moments later. But illuminating my tiny quarters was daylight, not darkness! Confused memories of insisted hunger mingled with fading visions of violence until awareness fully returned. Apparently I had slept through the entire night!
As adrenaline cleared mental fog, realization struck that sunlight was streaming through a large tear in my cabin wall...next to a gaping hole in the side of the battered raft itself! We were sinking fast, tilting toward the ragged breach.
What the hell had happened!?
Fighting disoriented vertigo, I lunged for the gaping damage, grasping to assess this potential death sentence. Had some iron-boned monster risen from the deep to attack in the dark hours? My heart raced imagining I had narrowly escaped becoming a late-night snack for who knew what kinds of devilish Grand Line sea beasts!
But as I peered at the shredded planks and timbers barely keeping my modest vessel afloat, understanding belatedly crept in. No predatory teeth had carved this crushed crescent – the damage apex aligned with a massive impact point on the raft's opposite wall...as if speared from the side by a missile at reckless momentum!
Stunned revelation followed quickly. No doubt some idiot rookie Navy helm crew was to blame, joyriding along trade lanes on some eternal patrol! Only disciplined soldiers would be stupid and daydreaming enough to nearly crash directly into a small raft at sea in broad daylight!
Furious thoughts raced behind the string of blistering invectives I shouted into wheezing lungs. But raging could come later – survival first! The damn flush-faced fantasists would answer for this outrage soon enough!
Tenacious focus wrestled scattered energies back under control. Glowing lattices surged brighter as my assimilation powers channeled into emergency patchwork. Jagged shards of wood, metal and canvas tore free from elsewhere on the raft before impacting flawlessly into temporary breach seals, fused and woven by force of desperate will.
Seconds later, the most critical structural damage was stabilized, buying precious time. But makeshift repairs would never withstand another punishing collision. All headway had ceased during the rushed fix job, leaving my craft adrift and helpless atop restless waves disturbed by passing turbulence. I needed a more permanent solution before sinking into a salty grave!
Feverish ideas swirled wildly, seeking some way to flag down the idiots who likely didn't even realize what their moronic joyride had nearly cost me. But no flares, lamps or flags were on hand to signal distress from this threadbare drifter. Despair loomed for untold seconds...
Until primal bellows of desperate rage tore violently from my throat! Savage screams carried on the winds as my arms flailed wildly, gesturing threateningly toward the fading navy vessel. Through passion or fortune, my cries of vengeance seemed to somehow reach the fading monstrosity. Miraculously it soon slowed to a drifting halt less than 100 meters distant!
Actually catching their attention sparked a flood of caustic threats against the imbeciles who nearly killed me through wanton negligence! Part of my rational mind acknowledged that a fierce pirate vessel bearing down under an assimilation attack might make them think twice about responsibility. But fury overwhelmed reason for the moment. Right now I was a ragged wildman with existential wrath to spare!
Incredibly though, rather than unleash naval might in outraged retaliation, a small launch with figures in white uniforms lowered from the distant ship. It angled toward my still-listing craft, oars pulling smoothly in my direction. Rescue swimmers perhaps? But my volcanic temper remained unpacified by gesture of conciliatory aid. Those self-righteous bastards almost murdered me – they would answer for this outrage!
The United Navy launch drew alongside minutes later as I stood shaking with flame-forged spears clutched in white-knuckled fists. My teeth ground audibly, more feral beast now than civilized man. Hatred for authority figures ingrained by childhood's ordeals threatened to fully override reason now. Who were they to endanger lives without consequence!? Noble protectors!? Government dogs!
All alike deserved bloody retribution!
But before righteous vengeance could erupt in mutinous bloodshed, my name suddenly rang out from across the water. "Hoi there friend! Seems you took quite a hit! We apologize profusely for that! Please, let my men assist with repairs enough to reach safe harbor!"
Every muscle tensed against culturally ingrained rebellion as I recognized the grizzled features of a veteran naval captain gazing back consolingly. His crisp white uniform seemed almost to glow with sublime naval authority...authority I had been conditioned since birth to despise.
But oddly earnest regret softened the captain's weathered expression. He stepped cautiously forward, hands raised and empty in tentative parley. "No harm was intended, you have my vow on that. We veered reckless off course in simple haste – the Grand Line allows little leisure for caution or conscience. But now honor demands amends.."
His gravelly voice held genuine remorse and humility rather than prideful arrogance. And fatigue haunted the officer's countenance much as it likely did my own. This was no cruel slave driver from the tales of my youth...simply a seasoned sailor wayfarer much like I now struggled to become. External hatred warred against the thawing empathy blossoming from my own nagging conscience.
In the charged moments that passed, cold observance noted the sailors wore no Marine emblems – only a crossed white sword insignia that triggered vague memories of noble reputation. That symbol stirred the whispered name 'SwordFleet' from foggy recollections...an elite Navy splinter fleet famed for daring adventures under utmost integrity.
'Pirates' with marine mentality.
Their captain watched patiently as my breathing slowed along with my sputtering temper. Perhaps...not all naval warriors were tyrant scum like the local constables under Kayden's heel...or utter failures like the officials my appeals for aid were always ignored by...
Grudging reason finally overpowered vengeance as the aged officer signaled his medics forward. Civilized discourse proved more productive than childish tantrums or witch hunts against universal injustice. Blustering pirates played the bullying tyrant – true fighters faced crises with courage. My assimilative gifts could rebuild this ravaged raft a thousand times over if needed. Now was the moment to take that revolutionary first step down the high road...
Through strained reservation, I gradually allowed the humbled sailors to assist with assessing damage. The captain joined in laboring amid his crew, his weathered hands soon calloused from grasping oars and hauling ropes as we cooperated wordlessly.
No further words were exchanged, but the sincere light of atonement in his eyes conveyed what words could not. Respect blossomed along with resonating pangs of shame at my own flared misjudgments. Amid the shared trials of life at sea, all mariners faced the same struggle, whether sworn to the Navy or roaming free.
By late afternoon, emergency repairs were complete enough for limping passage back to the distant SwordFleet frigate. Sheer exhaustion overpowered lingering doubts as I was led aboard to the captain's own quarters for rest and a humble meal. Weary eyes admired the elegant decor between ravenous bites – rich woods and spun silks hinted at fortunes I could scarcely conceptualize.
My dreams that night drifted among lavish estates and tables creaking under carved roasts. I now held the power to manifest such decadent reality if desired! But greater purpose called within...flaming ambition that no safari of riches could ever satisfy alone.
The next morning I awoke to royal treatment as a guest now rather than a prisoner. Over a gracious breakfast with the captain and marine men in the mess hall, I shared a hardened mettle forged in flames of tragedy few naval men could grasp. Quiet words conveyed my accursed childhood under Cawthburn's cruel reign. He listened intently to tales of smothered potential and broken innocence, painful accounts I had shared with none other for lack of allies who cared.
In return the captain revealed his clash against callous Marine corruption that forced dedicated liberation forces like his renegade fleet into exiled autonomy. Their rogue squadron now sailed unbound by choking Naval Gauntlet politics or the leash of the now-tainted SwordMaster who betrayed their heroic ideals to corrupt shadow powers.
Rigid boundaries separating pirates from obedient Navy dissolved further as kindred outcasts now flew the same untamed colors. Life on the endless azure frontier erased the trappings of landbound status. Only convicted spirit mattered before the endless challenges of unbroken skies and unrestrained possibility.
We toasted solemn pacts of camaraderie to seal sincere bonds transcending checkerboard morality. I still wore freedom's wild mantle in my heart, but now with tempered wisdom and the captain's compass rose engraving from gifts given in parting. 'Follow your inner vision unwaveringly,' he urged while gripping my shoulder with calloused warmth. 'But let sound conscience always guide the helm through storm and swell...'
Wiser words were never spoken, nor needed, as I sailed onward toward gathering storms. Evil clearly existed in this broken world - horrors my youth suffered under scar-tissued proof. But also redeeming light among weary rocks determined to crush the soul...
With renovated raft and spirit both, adventures called beyond the crested horizon. Vishtr Archipelago's crucible had forged me anew, body and mind awakened as from some larval dream. Power to shake heaven and hell now surged within awaiting my unleashed commands!
The title of King still tempted out of burning reach... Corrupted rulers like Kayden demanded death sentences from raw justice. Dare I seize that hollow crown and show lesser mortals enlightened order? Serve beauteous balance upon the scales of destiny?
All now seemed possible with titanic ability gained... Isles would shatter and titans kneel before assimilation's cosmic might! My teeth gleamed with terrible potential as azure waves surged onward, guiding the supple rudder with their own gathering intent…
…
(A week Later)
- A Unnamed Island. -
…
The SwordFleet vessel glided into port on a small but lively island, one week after rescuing me from sinking demise. Captain Dakkar (an alias protecting family on his home island from underworld retaliation) gripped my shoulder warmly as I gathered the few possessions they had gifted me.
"This is as far as we dare venture openly," he rumbled with thin lips quirked. "These waters crawl with government hounds seeking to chain free spirits like ours. But perhaps fate will see us sail together again one day..." The almost wistful gleam in his tired eyes seemed to suggest he saw worthier destiny for me than dying unknown and adrift.
I met his gaze with newly forged resolve. "Our flags may differ by color alone, but the creed in my heart stays true. These fists stop for no cage whether of iron, or dogma." I pounded one calloused hand against the assimilation fruit etched over my heart.
Dakkar barked a proud laugh. "Spoken like a true son of the sea! Conquer the Grand Line's madness, rogue cub! But beware overly tipping the world's scale without cause. Few indeed must shoulder the titans' burdens..."
I clasped his wrist with kinsman's warmth, understanding his caution though ambition raged for me to surpass his conceptual horizons. In time he would witness my capabilities transcend mortal bounds. But for now steady humility smoothed my inner lightning.
We parted without theatrics, two fellow drifters simply drifting onward. I suspected our flagging Stars and Skull may cross wakes again someday. The New World remained ever hungry for defiant souls...
My first hours ashore were logged acquiring necessities for survival sailing such unpredictable waters. Maps, gear, branching leads on potential crewmates... The bustling port thrummed with ships and shops catering to Grand Line voyagers. I blended easily into the crowds of rogues and roughnecks wandering the salty lanes.
By late afternoon empty stomach protests could no longer be denied. I located a likely tavern by the savory aromas luring drooling patrons within. The Purloined Cutlass bordered on decrepit structurally, but radiated boisterous charm with its wild mix of veteran marauders and starry-eyed cabin boys jostling elbows alongside tired pleasure doxies.
The perfect place for a famished drifter to catch rumors along with his meal. I wedged onto a bench between a hulking brute with stone breaking his bread, and a pixie-ish waif merrily fidgeting with glass spheres swirling colors hypnotically. They grunted bemused acknowledgment around mouthfuls as I dove ravenously into roast bird layered with fried tubers, honeyed greens, and a flagon of crisp bitter ale.
Stomach partially tamed, I then turned attention toward gathering intelligence. My eventual assault on the New World required greater foresight than charging blindly onward. Eavesdropping prowess honed through youth by necessity soon compiled useful gossip.
Conversations meandering past my ears wove impressionist tales regarding current events in the pirating sphere. Scraps referenced upstart supernovas like 'StrawHat' Luffy disrupting the volatile status quo, while mythical titans like 'RedHair' Shanks and even Whitebeard himself prepared carefully for waves of bloody upheaval.
Other threads hinted at Detroit's underworld metal trade and a ruthless weapons king named Bullet apparently rocketing to power before being dethroned by caped crusaders. Cipher Pol's shadowed movements came up regarding capture of 'Mad Monk' Urouge near some sky islands. Squabbling new generation captains like Capone and Hawkins turned coats regularly according to informants dependent on weekly payrolls.
But chatter mostly centered on certain Emperor Kaido's threaded networks shamelessly trumpeting his recruiting bounties for thousands of new crewmates. The legendary monster's name carried mythic weight with awed whispers implying no sane being would court a living apocalypse. But honor and glory drove the hardiest souls toward death wish pacts. I merely grinned behind tankard foam at their naive ambition. Only winning mattered when selecting opponents and odds...
As hours passed however, distracting boasts and drunken debates faded into background noise compared to the gears whirling feverishly behind my eyes. So many exploitable opportunities manifested from simply tracking public chatter! Cross-referenced against my future foreknowledge from that other world, a plethora of events awaited at key junctions, both publicly known and secretly interwoven...
Of course my reality would already be flowing differently from what vagabond storyteller 'Oda' envisioned for this world in graphic folklore. Butterfly wings were flapping wildly years prior, evidenced by that irrelevant maggot Kayden even wielding power at all. Oda's supposed 'canon' was but one wrinkle in the chaotic tapestry weaving itself ever forward.
Still those captivating fiction tales revealed prophetic glimpses of major upheavals that could prove useful signposts. Fate seemed to organize this universe's chaos into repeating narrative patterns eventually. Within reasonable drift I might chart some course by Oda's stars still...
For example, news articles led me to currently be near the Sabaody Archipelago where one Supernova's fateful path would soon cross the future Pirate King himself at a pivotal slave auction... And maiden voyages into the New WorldTestAlliances between said titans and my targeted freebooters favored opportune chances at usual stability shattering like carrot glass...!
Furthermore certain underworld brokers mentioned offhandedly dealt secret cards regarding world-shaking ancient weapons of unattainable power! Their utter destruction of lies and tyranny competing Emperor dynasties were heirlooms begging for bold hands worthy of wielding Ragnarok itself!
My own lesser-known assimilation prowess remained an ace up ruby sleeves as well of course. Let overconfident jackals like Kaido and Linlin boast of invincibility - once mastered no material bounds could cage my transcendent reality manipulation! Only imagination limited the weapons and transformations brewing within my marrow! Given time I would eclipse mythic monsters - they were but brutes while I channeled deviant genesis itself!
Yes let the old era's warlords and lunatics blast each other into obscurity first! From the smoldering aftermath cultivation would raise me as heaven's champion to inaugurate enlightened order! None could stand before soul-made-steel and planet-shaped armaments wielded casually as lesser beings brandished mere swords! Flesh transmuted to gold, bones into Gordian steel! What cosmic plate ormunition could halt the onslaught once I commanded assimilation's zenith...?
"Hoi, master smith! Your dream-sparks set ale to boiling!" The drink-flushed barmaid blinked bemused concern at my clenched expression lost in world-building reverie. I shook myself mentally and assured no troubles haunted me. But visions persisted of destiny's door blown open by kaliedoscopic power from my fingertips...
I tossed a few extra coins the busty lass's way with apologies for disturbing space. But internally acknowledgment settled in my solar plexus that before toppling empires, basic naval necessities still required securing. One step flowed into the next on ascendance's jagged stair...
Tomorrow would see recruiting begin for loyal crewmates unfazed by ocean madness. Durable vessels awaited discovery or acquisition unto which destiny could manifest vigorously. Further informed steps lay in patient ambush rather than chasing immortality's glint too recklessly this early. Time's womb held all potentials; premature birth spawn only stillborns...
With excited anticipation balanced against our young stage of gestation, I withdrew from the lively tavern already imagining modifications to incorporate onboard. If marine architects proved unwilling bartering teachers, assimilation could extract needed expertise from afar...
Vast horizons awaited on dawn's pallete canvas. I would see many iterations of solar cycles translate goals into victories. Grand movements churn slowly, needing catalyzation into being... But soon enough heated metals would flow, then cool solid again reforged as Emperor's crown!
…
