This chapter was edited by Gladiusx
Earlier
A ship was beached in a cove. It was a small vessel, more like a yacht with a single mast and a few cannons. It had an engine room in the stern that powered the paddles that would power the ship. Its transom declared it as the Voyager, but its front half was beached on the sand while its rear was stuck in the water. Rocks and reefs were wedged dangerously close to its hull and keel suspending the ship over the water; the crew had failed to see them due to the tides changing. By then, they were already on the shore and set off after their quarry.
At least, that's what Percy understood as he listened to the two men who remained as guards. They looked similar. Both were bald with suntanned skin and heavily muscled, like strongmen.
"Man, this blows." One of the sailors complained after drinking deeply from a bottle of beer before throwing it to his friend, "Why the hell should we stay here when there's no one on that island? I'm bored as fuck, and Roscoe killed our only source of entertainment."
"Tell me about it," The other sailor chugged deeply before throwing the empty bottle overboard and belching loudly - Percy frowned heavily at the lack of respect for the sea. "Knowing Captain Roscoe, he's probably fucking that bitch silly for dragging us to these gods forsaken shores."
"Aye, that female knight should have just surrendered her prince to us. Captain Bryant would have at least made sure she wasn't too badly used before selling her to the slave markets." The first sailor grabbed and uncapped another bottle before taking a chug and smacking his lips appreciatively. "Damn, that bastard captain; he might have dumped all the fuel overboard, but he sure knew how to stock his boat. Good beer."
"I know, right? Who gives rations of Jerez Beer for regular sailors?" The sailor chugged half of the bottle before passing it to his friend. "Almost makes me regret keelhauling his ass."
"Heh, stubborn bastard should have surrendered."
"Naw, fucker knew he was dead anyway. The captains are known for never leaving loose ends."
Both sailors laughed as they continued to drink, and Percy sighed as he reported his findings to the rest of his friends. He stood on the aftcastle and leaned over the rails behind the two mooks facing the island. With Blackjack's newly found powers, it was simple to completely hide his presence unless they turned around for some reason.
"Those men remind me of the worst of Blackbeard's crew." Hylla quickly replied. "Pirates and scumbags. Even if they surrender, they will never repent and will return to their evil ways at the first chance. It's what happens when you are drunk on power."
"Still, I don't think it would be fair to attack them without warning - at least without giving them a chance to surrender." Percy shook his head; he was not above sneak attacks and low blows, but that's usually as a last resort, not something to open dialogue with. "From what they're saying, they have an entire crew on the island chasing some prince and his bodyguard."
"Hmm, we find ourselves in a whole new world with no way of knowing our left from right. Having a prince owe us a favor sounds smart to me." He could almost imagine Reyna's brows pinching in concentration, "The choice should be obvious, unless you would like to deal with pirates who engage in slavery. Anyway, I'll follow your lead, Captain."
Before he could decide, a surprising voice reverberated in his earpiece. "Percy, you have to save those two. Quickly, before it is too late!"
"Rachel! When did you wake up? Roxy said–"
"There's no time, Percy!" The girl sounded exhausted, and her voice was slurring. "I-I don't think I can hold on for longer. Need to sleep. Go, the prince is key…"
"Rachel? RACHEL!"
"She fell back asleep. Roxy is blaming me for waking her up." Hylla's wry voice sounded in his ear, "I'm moving outside now, but I recommend following Rachel's suggestion. There is something in the way she spoke…almost like she saw something."
Percy did not need to be told twice; the urgency in Rachel's voice was unmistakable. Jumping over the railings, he did not waste time landing behind the two fools, grabbing both their heads and smashing them together.
Surprisingly, they proved resilient - a lot more resilient than he would expect from mere mortals.
So he smashed their heads two more times until their eyes rolled up their skulls, and their bodies collapsed on the deck.
For a couple of random mooks, they were surprisingly tough. Percy quickly stripped them down to their underwear and removed a plethora of knives and a flintlock pistol hidden on their person. Flintlocks…Who used those antiques? A glance around the ship had him finding cordage and lines to secure them before stringing them up on the mast and dangling them upside down like smoked fish.
It might be overkill, but he was a bit shaken by how much strength it took to knock them out. Percy did not use his full strength, but that should have been enough to send any mortal to unconsciousness, if not outright kill them!
Stowing the two flintlocks in Blackjack's saddlebag, he quickly mounted the pegasus who intuitively knew what he wanted. They flew off after the trail of devastation, Blackjack landing on the ground and galloping over foliage, roots, and animal carcasses. The pegasus was incredibly fast, and Percy just realized he had never gone riding with him; they always flew.
Blackjack vaulted over a fallen tree before flapping his mighty wings and taking off to the skies. Percy was about to ask why the switch to flight before he noticed the scene on the cliff's edge.
.
.
.
"What a mess."
Percy had just wiped his hands clean of the girl's blood. After feeding the Nectar to the prince, he checked on the girl to find her in an even worse condition than him. Left to her devices, she would surely have died within the hour. Percy was forced to pluck out the musket balls embedded in her chest with his bare fingers.
To say it was awkward would be an understatement, considering the girl's near-naked state. The girl's pale chest was ample, to say the least, yet he was more surprised by how the bullets did not seem to make it to the lungs.
Talk about having a firm pair.
He shook his head, banishing those hormonal thoughts from his mind. This was a strong girl with strong bones and corded muscles that, strangely enough, could be felt but not seen. She did not look soft, but neither did she look juiced up on steroids. As he inspected the rest of her body for wounds, Percy found that she had toned limbs and stomach, yet little to no fat except where it would make her look good.
Either she trained her whole life to gain such a body, or she must have won the genetics lottery. That sort of genetic luck was usually reserved for demigods, but she got pretty damn close. Then again, even her princely friend looked in quite decent shape, which Percy did not expect from royalty.
Questions to be answered later, he supposed.
Staring at the empty vial, the demigod sighed before he stored it away, and bandaged what he could of her wounds. He recalled they only had so much of the Nectar. Still, he did not regret using the valuable medicine to save her and the prince. He did not really have a chance to think a lot about it; the moment he saw the man bleeding out, he blurted the first thing that came to mind - even if Rachel had not given him that warning, he would have still helped. The girl's breathing turned shallow after her assent to the treatment and he quickly fed her what remained of the vial.
Done with his impromptu first aid, he turned and gazed at the scene of carnage around him. Percy was not a stranger to death and what came with it; the stench of blood, shit, and gore was not even half as bad as what he had to endure after the battle of the labyrinth.
At least the monsters here were easier to kill than back home… He just hoped he would never meet whatever equivalent they had of Kampê here.
Suddenly, the grotesque sounds of bones breaking and organs squelching, followed by Blackjack flapping his wings in fright, had Percy turn towards the red snake monster he killed. His eyes widened in shock, and he hurriedly stood with his weapons ready. The snake monster seemed to be shifting into…a human?
"What the heck, boss! Is this magic or some voodoo shit?"
"I don't know, Jack." Percy warily approached the strange human corpse; its head and arm were separated from the body, yet they too had transformed to a human - the head had very prominent cheekbones, grotesquely so, and small beady eyes under a heavy brow that was reminiscent of a crab. "Its legs are too long, but aside from that, it definitely looks human, if even uglier than Gabe."
A thought came to him unbidden. What if they weren't monsters but humans with some sort of powers that allowed them to shapeshift? Percy had never killed a human before - except perhaps Gabe, though that would count as an accessory, or accomplice, to murder. His mother was the one to do the deed, even if he provided the tools, yet he did not feel particularly remorseful about it. Gabe was an asshole, and years of suffering his abuse had him lose any shred of mercy in him.
Perhaps it had something to do with being a demigod? His instincts allowed him to compartmentalize a lot of shit and not think about things that could cause him to be vulnerable or weak. Did he subconsciously dismiss Gabe as less than human?
It did not matter. On the very first day Percy was introduced to the mythical world, he was prepared to kill Mrs Dodds even if she was not an ugly monster - just an ugly old hag. He had seen many of his friends die to monsters and enemy half-bloods due to such hesitations. Percy had always been prepared to bloody his hands for their survival.
It was a miracle he had never killed a human so far.
Besides, nearly half of the monsters in Greek Myth were once humans, and he lost count of how many he had killed.
Percy hastily veered his thoughts away from that depressing direction. It was done to survive, for his friends and many others to live another day.
Regardless, as he stared at the former snake man's corpse, Percy felt slight remorse that he had to kill him, but not for the deed itself. They were clearly bad men, and he had the displeasure of hearing the giraffe monster declare his intentions towards that girl.
Speaking of, another sound of bones breaking and reforming had him turn to the giraffe monster. Percy watched in morbid fascination as the creature's decapitated head shrank down to a regular, brutish-looking human head, its face frozen in a silent scream of rage. The body also returned to human form, but it still was not quite right. Something was strange about it, and it took him a minute to realize the man had two elbows.
And he was ludicrously massive!
He had to have been at least ten feet tall! His head alone was twice the size of a regular human. What kind of monsters existed in this world? Inspecting the rest of the corpses, Percy found them more normal-sized in comparison, though they were all in excellent shape - as if they were either soldiers or accustomed to fighting. Emptying their pockets, he found a plethora of knives, axes, seaxes, flintlocks, paper money, and, in the former giraffe man's pocket, some sort of wanted poster.
It was of the man, and Percy wondered who would keep his wanted poster like a trophy. The words were large and written in black, perfect for even his dyslexic eyes to read.
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
ROSCOE THE YELLOW
13,200,000
That was a lot of zeroes. What did that slashed B stand for? The local currency? Also, thirteen million?! He had never even seen that amount of money in his life! This jackass must have been super evil to have such a high bounty by - he rechecked the poster - the World Government? Marines?
More questions swam in Percy's head now than before the fight. According to the poster, he needed only to bring the criminal's head to…somewhere. The script got smaller and he could barely read it, though he felt like it was still easier to read than back home. It was a miracle it was in English in the first place, considering this was an entirely different world.
Searching the other animal-hybrid, he found a similar poster with a lesser bounty. An unbidden chuckle erupted from his mouth; he might not get trophies from kills anymore, but at least he would get some cash.
Too bad it involved a lot more dirty work. He grabbed both pirates' heads and dropped them with the rest of the loot. Together, they made a cool ฿25,000,000 which had to be a lot.
"Percy?" Reyna brought him out of his thoughts. "How's the situation going?"
"Dealt with. A lot of dead pirates and some really strange stuff." Percy shook his head as he glanced at the pile of loot he scavenged from the dead pirates, but his focus was on the beautiful sword in his hand.
It was the girl's sword. From what he remembered from his studies, it was vaguely similar to a longsword, although it was bulkier, quite heavier, and a fair bit more gaudy. The blade seemed to be made from one single slab of metal that stretched all the way toward the hilt before flaring out to form crossguards. It was elegantly designed, coated with silver, and the hilt was long enough to be held two-handed yet it was still balanced for a one-handed grip.
Considering the size of the late Roscoe, Percy wagered there were other such tall men in the world that could benefit from using this sword one-handed.
"What about those two, the prince and his knight?" Hylla replied. "Are they safe?"
"They're in bad shape, but surprisingly, their bodies accepted the Nectar despite not sensing a drop of divinity in them." He glanced at the two - he had laid them next to each other, and even as he watched, the girl's face turned a healthy red hue compared to its pale and clammy state a while ago. "I don't think their bodies were made to imbibe Nectar, though. They're burning up and sweating like mad, worse than anything I've seen from even the weakest demigod, but they haven't combusted…yet."
"Oh dear, let's pray they survive, then."
Pray to who? Percy stifled his instinctive scoff. They were in another world, and he could feel no divines here. At least, nobody he could connect to.
"I found some interesting things you should see, but I think it would be best to send those two back to Ogygia. I still have to figure out what to do with the ship."
Suddenly, a distant and muffled rumbling came from deeper on the island. Turning to the far-away mountain, Percy squinted as he could barely see a tiny rock slide falling into the canyon from the mountain's base. A trickle of water followed it, slowly speeding up into a rushing torrent that could be seen even from this distance.
"I've finished the tunnel, brother. I will be building the elevator for the ship now."
"Tyson! That was you?"
"Yeah, I should have everything ready by tomorrow. The lack of good materials means I must make a more complicated design that relies on gravity and water levels. We will need to wait for the river to fill up, though."
"Tyson…brother, that dry river is over twenty miles long, and that's in a straight line. It curves and meanders and ends in some sort of natural dam before the sea. Not to mention the cliffs - I just flew above them. They're hundreds of feet high in some places."
"…Oh. This might take a lot longer than I thought then."
"Before you come up with any new plans, how about you bring those two here first?" Reyna's voice cut in. "We can have Roxy take a look at their injuries."
Percy chuckled at the bossy midget's attitude - it was strangely endearing, as, despite her young age, Reyna had a clear head on her shoulders. "Sounds like a plan. Keep up the good work, Tyson. We'll figure something out."
He turned the mic switch on his watch off, then stared at the prince and his knight. The man looked a few inches over six feet, while the girl was shorter, at about a solid six feet, the same height as him. "What do you think, Blackjack? Can you carry all of us back to the mountain's summit?"
"I dunno, boss. I think I can, but it's gonna be a long way up there. Not to mention your pile of loot." The pegasus shook his head, and Percy turned to the pile - maybe he didn't need the cheap swords and pistols. "Can't you ask Big Eye to make another tunnel midway up the mountain? It was freaking cold up there, man."
Huh, leave it to his horse to have those nuggets of wisdom. Percy turned on the mic switch again, "Tyson? Gonna need you for a minute."
P*O*D
Gwendolyn felt like her head was being pounded into dough. Her limbs were heavy, and every muscle felt sore and tender. Even breathing was difficult; the smallest intake of air left a dull pain in her ribs.
Every part of her body felt bruised, even her boobs… it was as if she blocked a bullet or two with them.
Vaguely, she could hear whispers of a conversation, yet she was unsure if it were her imagination or just a dream.
"…move the ship…river."
"…collapse the dam."
"…elevator is almost…"
"…more tunnels…"
Gwen tried to open her eyes but could only grimace in pain at the very bright light. A gentle hand wiped her face with a wet towel and stroked her forehead.
"Sleep now. You need to recover."
Gwen moaned something before sleep consumed her mind once again.
.
.
.
It was quiet the next time she awoke, and Gwen's breathing was much easier and smoother. She was not even sure if she was dreaming back then, but now, as she opened her eyes and inspected the dark room she was in, the knight was certain she was awake.
"Ah, you've awakened."
The voice that greeted her was melodic and had an ethereal quality to it. Gwen tiredly sat up from her bed, her heavy blanket falling off her body. Tenderly touching her chest, she found that aside from the many bandages on her wounds, she was practically naked.
"W-Who-"
She tried to clear her throat, only to descend into a coughing fit - it was as if she had not spoken in days. Someone moved beside her and nudged a cup of steaming liquid to her lips.
"Drink. It will soothe your throat."
Gwen did as she was told; the voice had a kind quality that made her easily trust it. Drinking the hot beverage that tasted of cinnamon and other spices, she immediately felt better, and her mind cleared.
"Better?"
The voice was a woman's, but Gwen couldn't see her properly in the dark. The room had multiple open windows, yet the skies were strangely dark.
"Yes, thank you. Where am I? Did you save me?"
"You are in my home. My beloved saved you and brought you here. It's been nearly a week since then, but you are on the road to recovery."
A week?! Gwen inspected her body and recalled the terrible shape it was in right before she collapsed. Surprisingly, aside from the recovering bruises and her tender ribs, she felt…good. Still tired, but definitely not crippled.
"I see, you have my sincerest gratitude and–" Suddenly, a worrying thought came to her, and she tried to stand only to grimace. "There was another with me, a blonde man–"
"Shush, you need to rest for now. If you mean Prince Lionel, then don't worry. That audacious man woke up last night and seemed to be on the road to recovery. My beloved… convinced him to return to sleep for his health." The mirth and slight annoyance in the woman's voice had Gwen unconsciously groaning; what did her fool of a master do this time? "He's right there if you want to check on him."
A lantern was lit, and Gwen closed her eyes at the sudden light. It took her a moment to acclimate to the bright light before looking at the room she was in.
It was a spacious room with walls of marble. Leaned on one wall was Lightbreaker, the valuable heirloom entrusted to her by the king. It would have been terrible if it was lost - killing herself would not have been enough to absolve her of the shame.
Multiple cots were placed on raised stone blocks, and Gwen realized she wasn't sleeping on a bed but on a similar cot. It was far more comfortable than she thought a simple cot should be.
Her eyes fell on two occupied cots; one had a girl with red hair in deep sleep, while the other…
"My Prince." He was sleeping peacefully, with a slight smile as he tucked inside layers of blankets. Even in the dim light, Gwen could tell he was far healthier than the last she saw him - except for the large, familiar lump on his head from someone giving him a good wack. If the Prince had enough energy to warrant one of those, then he must be recovering well. "I'm so glad!"
"Shh, do try to keep your voice down." The light rebuke came from a voice on the cot beside her. "Rachel here had a long day, and your master needs his rest."
Gwen turned to the voice on the cot beside her…and promptly lost her breath and felt her jaw go slack as she stared dumbly at easily the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life - and she saw a poster of that so-called Pirate Empress.
Boa Hancock had nothing against this!
The woman wore a simple blue dress that did nothing to hide her beauty. Gwen thought her own boobs were on the larger side, she even managed to use them for Ironbody, yet the lady in front of her made hers look small. Yet they were not stupidly large by any means, they just…looked perfect on her. Her face, her nose, her hair, her lithe form. It was too perfect - almost uncanny. The beautiful woman sat on the edge of her cot and smiled kindly at her, yet Gwen could see signs of tiredness and exhaustion behind her warm honey eyes.
"Lionel mentioned you, Gwen, but perhaps proper introductions are in order."
It took longer than she wanted to admit for Gwen to tear her eyes away from the sensual woman's curves and shook her head roughly - only to grimace in pain as she suddenly felt lightheaded. What the hell? She was certain she was as straight as her sword!
"Are you alright, my dear?"
"F-Fine. I'm fine." Gwen coughed, trying to control her embarrassment before falling back on her training. "I have the honor to be named Gwendolyn, Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Ilisia, and assigned to Prince Thallassa Lionel as his sworn sword. Please, call me Gwen."
"A pleasure to meet you, Gwen. I am Calypso, mistress and queen of this island of Ogygia. I am certain you are still feeling confused and tired. I suggest you return to sleep; it's still a few hours until dawn, and we have a busy day ahead of us."
"I feel fine. I have missed my training regimen for too long, and I could feel my muscles sh–"
"Nonsense. You don't want to worry your master, do you?" Gwen found herself unwittingly shaking her head - it was ingrained in her mind to never be a burden to her prince. "Good. Now sleep, and we shall talk more in a few hours."
Gwen could already feel her eyes closing as she let out a huge yawn. Maybe some more sleep would do her good. She still had not recovered, and her teachers always said resting was part of training.
She barely noticed as she fell back on her cot and the beautiful queen of the island kissed her on the forehead. Gwen didn't remember the last time she was ever treated so motherly.
It felt…nice.
P*O*D
Day 8 since arrival
Early morning
"So the fruit you ate was just like those two?"
"Yep, and it tasted like shit." Percy chuckled as he approached the divine tree where two strangely colored fruits had grown on the branches - one looked like a banana, while the other was like a bunch of grapes. "Careful, Boss! I dunno why, but all my senses tell me not to come close to those fruits."
"Huh? They're just fruits, Jack." Percy quickly climbed the tree and plucked the fruits before storing them in a sack - its been a week since Blackjack had eaten that fruit and it was only today that he thought about visiting the tree; too many things to do, and helping Tyson with his project took even more time. "See? Nothing happened."
The pegasus stomped his hooves in agitation, "Whatever, I still get a bad feeling from them. I ain't flying you until we're sure what they're all about."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll walk to Calypso's place myself. Go on and do whatever it is busy pegasi do."
"Heh, oh, I'll be very busy indeed. Did you know there are, honest to donuts, unicorns on this island? I think I'll take that shorty for a flight and have her pick out a mate for me."
"Wai–"
Before he could stop him, Blackjack snickered and took off deeper into the island. Percy pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan before shaking his head. Perhaps he shouldn't interfere in nature's work…
Shrugging, he shouldered the fruit sack and made his way back to Calypso's manor. Their two guests should be awake by now and if he's lucky, so would Rachel.
Just as Roxy promised, Calypso and Rachel woke up the morning after they arrived here but remained in bed until they fully recovered on the third day. Since then, they have discussed a lot of things on what they found out and what their plans should be. Calypso had made her stance clear; she wanted to leave her island and explore this vast new world. Rachel insisted that their guests would be the key to that and they should do their best to befriend them.
Speaking of Rachel, she seemed disturbed regarding her vision. She recalled some sort of dream waking her up, claiming it was similar to what she felt when they were in transit between worlds. The red-haired girl immediately clammed up when Reyna asked her what she saw in the transition, however.
Speaking of the Latina girls, she and her sister had volunteered to watch over the two prisoners from the paddle ship. Percy was hesitant as the yacht was still beached at that cove until the river filled out. Nevertheless, he agreed to let the girls take that assignment after Reyna complained of boredom and not feeling useful. Percy had then dragged the prisoners here and secured them on their ship. There was a niggling feeling in his mind that told him it was a bad idea to let Hylla watch over pirate scum - the way she looked at them rang alarm bells in his head. Yet, ultimately, he decided to trust her judgment.
A sort of test for the older girl.
Speaking of their ship, he still needed to decide on a name, as his brother was wont to remind him at every chance they had. As for the cyclops, Tyson had dug several tunnels out of the mountain and was still working on his ship elevator project. He estimated it should be ready today though, so good news all around.
The river and the basin were already full of water, and Percy had just returned from smashing apart the strange dam leading to the sea. Poking more holes and tunnels to create artificial waterfalls proved to be smart as Ogygia's endless supply of freshwater merely increased exponentially with more outlets. Especially when Calypso awakened and could actively control the flow, assuring them there was no risk of it flooding the island once the water reached the sea. Now that dry ravine was a wide and meandering river, just waiting for Tyson to finish his elevator so they could leave the mountain.
And explore the high seas!
Finally, he arrived at the manor to the sound of girls talking. Knocking on the door, Percy entered the large living room that doubled as a common room to find Calypso and Rachel awake and speaking to their female guest.
"Calypso, Rachel." Percy walked to his lover and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, causing her to giggle and flutter her eyelashes. "Glad to see you both doing well."
"All thanks to you and the rest. Roxy stayed with me to the end."
"Oh yeah, where is that blue-haired wonder girl?" Percy looked around the room but found no one else besides their guests.
"Probably exploring the island with her clan, but don't worry about them." Calypso held his hand and dragged him to sit next to her, "Percy, I would like you to meet Gwendolyn. You saved her and her prince, and she has something to say to you."
"Nice to see you're doing better. Name's Perseus Jackson, but you can call me Percy."
Percy gazed at the girl, who looked at him strangely for a moment before coughing, "A pleasure to meet you, Sir Percy. As Lady Calypso stated, I am Dame Gwendolyn, a Knight of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Ilisia, and the sworn sword to his highness, Prince Thalassa Lionel."
"Thalassa?" It sounded Greek, and a glance at Calypso had her nodding - Percy wracked his brain as he tried to remember where he heard the name until it clicked; she was Briares's mother. Coincidence? "Is that his first name?"
"Ah, no. It is a reasonable assumption, but West Blue follows the World Government's standardized naming convention: Last name comes first, then the first name. Lionel is the prince's name."
"Oh, it's like in Japanese, Percy." Rachel piped in, but that only confused Percy more as he recalled the only Japanese he knew - Ethan Nakamura was definitely how he introduced himself, not the other way around.
"Anyway," Percy's eyes settled on the sleeping form of the prince on the bed next to Gwendolyn. A vein throbbed in his neck as he recalled what the blonde man had tried to do last night. "I believe it's about time you stop pretending to be asleep, Prince."
The female knight turned her head so quickly that her neck popped as she unceremoniously smacked her prince on the head. "Wake up, My Prince! You should greet our hosts."
After some grumbling, the blonde-haired man sat on his bed, yawning exaggeratedly and rubbing his bruised head. "What gave it away?"
"You snore like a boar when asleep," Percy recalled when he slept here a couple of nights ago - Gwendolyn was silent as a tomb when asleep, while the prince would wake an entire graveyard with his snoring. "I believe you have something to say to Calypso."
To the prince's credit, he looked bashful as his amethyst eyes stared at anywhere but the smiling face of his lover. Percy knew that smile. It was a diplomatic one that also warned of severe retribution.
"You have my sincerest apologies, Lady Calypso."
"Oh? Whatever for?" Calypso touched her cheek as she narrowed her eyes at the fidgeting man. "I had just woken up from a nap at the time, so my memory might not be the best."
"Ah, well, er… you know?" Lionel rubbed the back of his head, "Mistaking you for someone else when I woke up. B-But in my defense, I believe I was intoxicated. For I would never try something like that with a young lady I had just met."
Rachel giggled at the young lady part, though she was silenced after a glance from Calypso - now it was Percy's turn to chortle, and the red-haired girl nudged him with her knee. He wondered if the Nectar had side effects?
"I did get the impression that Prince Lionel had done something rude last night." Gwendolyn threw an annoyed glare at her charge. "Whatever he did, I would ask for your forgiveness. He is not known for his tact when drunk. Incidentally, may I ask what exactly he had done to warrant such censure?"
"He tried to grope my woman and kiss her," Percy replied bluntly as he glared at the fidgeting man. "Abusing your host's good nature like this…how shameful."
"Is that so?" The girl woodenly turned to her master, who would not meet her eyes. "I assume you administered that dose of punishment?"
"Yeah…might have overdone it, to be honest." Now it was Percy's turn to rub the back of his head, "Punched his living daylights out. For a moment, I thought I gave him a concussion, but no - just that comically large bruise on his head."
Unsaid was how what he did was most likely a mercy compared to what Calypso had in mind.
"Once again, I would ask for your forgiveness, Sir Percy." Gwendolyn grabbed the prince's head and forced him into a bow alongside her. "We sincerely apologize, Lady Calypso."
Percy glanced at his lover, who simply shrugged, causing him to chuckle. The immortal witch has had her fun, he supposed.
"Apology accepted, and please call me Percy. No sir here."
"Then please call me Gwen."
"Alright, now that this little drama is over, how about breakfast?" Rachel stretched her arms from her seat behind him, causing her light shirt to struggle against her bust - wait, did her chest grow bigger? She was barely fifteen, so Percy supposed she was still growing. "We have a lot of things to discuss, chief among them what caused a crew of dangerous men to chase you so far."
The prince and his knight adopted serious looks as they glanced at each other. A silent conversation seemed to exchange between them before they nodded and turned to them. "Breakfast sounds lovely. We owe you our lives and would gladly tell you our tale."
.
.
.
"Now then, I believe we were owed a tale?"
They were sitting by a tea table in the garden of the manor and enjoying the cool breeze. Since landing in the mouth of the volcano, Ogygia's regular wind patterns had died, but Calypso had merely waved her hand, and they picked up again. Everyone was enjoying a drink along with snacks after a hearty breakfast.
Lionel sipped on his cup of tea and hummed appreciatively. "As Gwen told you, I am the prince of the Kingdom of Ilisia located in West Blue. Heir apparent, as a matter of fact, and the only child of King Thalassa Lucas."
"And what would drive the heir to the throne to go on an adventure all the way to…" Percy tried to remember what they named the sea they were in, "Calm Belt?"
Percy had managed to grab a few maps and clothes for their guests from that paddle ship, but they only served to confuse them more. Strangely enough, just like the wanted posters, it was also written in English, but without any references, they had no idea where they were.
"To keep it simple, politics and palace intrigue. My father was a powerful man in his youth, yet he had grown feeble with age and started to lose his wits." The prince's voice gained an embittered edge to it. "Now, he trusts his cousin, the Chancellor, more than his son."
"Ah, the most common woes of royalty." Calypso shook her head, causing her caramel-colored hair to wave in tresses, along with other things that caused the prince to forget his bitterness and gawk dumbly until his knight smacked his head with an apology. "Please, allow me to speculate; the Chancellor has a child for whom they have ambitions. Either a son to usurp you or a daughter to force you to marry and rule through you. What do you think?"
"You are quite the intelligent woman, My Lady. You are both correct yet mistaken. Chancellor Dietrich does indeed have a daughter, a lovely girl my age called Bella, but he does not plan to have us marry. From what I have discovered, he plans to have her rule as queen with a consort of his choice on her side."
"Wow, that's more progressive than I thought." Rachel piped in as she drained her glass of fruit punch before refilling it - she had a notebook open with a pencil as she took notes. "From what I've seen so far, this place seems to be a bit too–"
"Rachel? I hope you remember your manners, dear." Calypso's rebuke was as gentle as the morning breeze, yet the warning tone behind it could not be hidden - they had agreed not to bring any mention of their world or powers until they learned more. "Forgive her, and let us return to our discussion."
Lionel gave them all a strange look before shrugging, "Not much to say, to be honest. Chancellor Dietrich practically controls the Royal Army through years of carefully installing his subordinates in high places. His wife comes from the largest banking family in Ilisia, so he has the funds and the power for an attempt on the throne. Yet, he abuses his powers to tax the common people far beyond their limits and claims they pay the army's wages against the incursions of some of our neighboring kingdoms. It's utter bull, as while war is always on the horizon, it's more standard to build up the navy rather than the army for deterrence. My sources tell me that while a large portion of the funds do indeed go to the army, most of the tax money is funneled into foreign bank accounts. All the while, the navy suffers from neglect, with little to no funds to protect the seas from the constant pirate threats plaguing the world."
That seemed in line with what Percy remembered seeing on the maps. This world was massive! Bigger than their own, with a similar ratio of land to water. Except there were no continents to speak of, only massive island nations dotted all over the globe. Having a strong navy would definitely be more important than an army.
"So, what stops him from taking over?"
"My Prince, of course!" Gwen replied to him with a bit of heat. "The common populace love him, even if the nobles do not. And the navy officers are completely loyal to him."
"It's not that simple, Gwen." Lionel shook his head in sadness, and for a moment, Percy saw the tired man behind the facade of confidence. "I regret to say that the nobility and the wealthy have good reasons to detest me."
"B-But, My Prince–"
"No, Gwen. There is no need to hide this from our saviors. The simple truth is, I was a wastrel with a rebellious streak growing up. They called me the Debaucherous Prince, for I would spend my nights in bars enjoying the company of commoners and lowlifes. All the whole while ignoring nobles who attempted to befriend me and spurned their stuffy parties and balls. I yearned for freedom and ran away from the responsibilities of my position, which caused my father, the king, to lose his trust in me."
"I see nothing wrong with that. High-class society balls are the most brain-dead experiences of my life." Rachel shuddered dramatically before smiling in sympathy at the prince. "So, what changed?"
"My mother's death. She implored me in her sickbed to better myself for the sake of the people. I vowed to change my attitude and become a proud son of Ilisia. I enrolled in the naval academy and graduated with honors. Befriended many of my fellow officers and even managed to secure the loyalty of the lovely Gwen here after my mother's passing," Gwen's stern face had a light blush on it, but she merely nodded. "She was my mother's guard before that - personally trained by my grandfather before allowing her to be assigned to my mother. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. My reputation was already in tatters."
"So, with all this power at his disposal, why doesn't your Chancellor attempt a coup?"
"Chancellor Dietrich cannot usurp the throne without committing regicide, for he does not come from the main line of the dynasty. My father is also very popular in the kingdom despite his old age and absence from the public view. That alone would turn the entire kingdom against him, even his allies. He would have much better luck having me assassinated - and he had nearly succeeded earlier."
"Then there is the World Government and the Marines. King Lucas had already declared Prince Lionel as heir when he was born, and officials from the World Government and Marines have witnessed such a statement." The female knight added, "And yet, knowing his ambition, even if the king died peacefully, Lord Dietrich would still plunge the kingdom into civil war to place his daughter on the throne. It's why he risked such a method to attempt to murder My Prince. The World Government follows a hands-off approach in such succession matters, even if they witnessed a king's will. As long as the kingdom continues to pay their taxes and celestial tribute, they don't care who would win such a war. Lord Dietrich certainly has the power, and even some of the Knights of the Royal Guard are on his side. The traitors!"
Percy dearly wished to question them about all those terms they threw around. The World Government and the Marines sounded more like an entire organization rather than a military branch. At least, it sounded far more interesting than these overly complicated things. Royals? Palace intrigue? Politics?
Hell, nah! Percy really did not want to get involved with that.
"That still does not explain your presence here." Calypso sipped her tea again as she gazed at their guests in curiosity. "If what you said is true, then you should be gathering allies in your kingdom or working to undermine your opponent's position. Why this sudden adventure where you confessed to being thousands of leagues away from home?"
Lionel and Gwen glanced at each other and had another of their silent conversations before the prince sighed and turned back to them. "I am on a mission to secure a power that would surely be a great deterrent for any treason. My maternal grandfather is a Marine Vice Admiral who is known in the Navy to be an excellent trainer of men and hates injustice. I heard he was planning to retire, and so I set out to seek him and convince him to settle in Ilisia as a combat instructor. I may have not seen him in twelve years, but my mother spoke fondly of him before her untimely passing."
"Interesting," Percy leaned forward on the table. "How powerful are we talking about here?"
"Very powerful. He did not even consume a devil fruit, yet pirates everywhere fear him. A master of the Six Skills, he trained Gwen here when she was young in them. He even knows Haki if the rumors are true. Personally, I have yet to meet a single person proficient in that elusive skill, beyond the most rudimentary of applications, but either way, he would be crucial for the kingdom's prosperity and my cause."
Naturally, all he said flew right over Percy's head, but he was sure Rachel was keeping tabs with her notebook. Although, one thing sounded familiar. "Devil fruit?"
"Oh, you don't know about them? Strange. While I know most people do not believe they exist…never mind." Lionel shook his head with a strange smile. "As their names suggest, devil fruits are fruits that come in many shapes, colors, and forms. If consumed by someone, they gain special powers and abilities."
"What kind of abilities?"
"Before I give examples, I need to explain the three types of devil fruits: Zoan, the most common one that boosts the user's base physical strength and allows them to take on the form of animals."
"Like those two scum you slayed, Percy," Gwen added, and Percy nodded as Lionel continued.
"Paramecia is the most unpredictable one, for it could give you a completely useless power like wiggling your hair follicles or the power to destroy mountains!"
Percy whistled before finally remembering why the devil fruits sounded so familiar. "Hang on, give me a minute."
He hurried inside the manor and grabbed the sack he abandoned by his bed before returning. "Are those what you meant with devil fruits?"
Both of their guests gawked in shock at the sight of the red bunch of bananas and a vine of black grapes.
"D-Devil fruits! Where did you find them?"
"Growing on one of the trees on the island." He glanced meaningfully at Calypso, who nodded subtly. That tree Hera had gifted them was full of surprises. "Still, I doubt such powers come without side effects, don't you think?"
"True, there are a few of them, but the most important two are: First; a devil fruit user cannot consume more than one fruit and second; a devil fruit user becomes an abomination against nature, to the point the very sea would rebel against them, and no user could swim in it. Not even in freshwater."
"No swimming?! Gotta be a hard pass for you then, Percy."
"That isn't even something to joke about, Rachel." Even as he retorted, Percy rubbed his chin as he felt like he was forgetting something important. His Comlink buzzed in his watch, and Percy quickly accepted the call. The sound of splashing came from the watch for everyone to hear, and his name being called frantically. "Yes, Hylla?"
"We've got a problem. The prisoners tried to escape, but they've been dealt with."
The way she said, "dealt with", did not leave any room for imagination. Percy glanced at the prince and his guard as they gawked at what must have been an incredible piece of technology, but he didn't care - he was certain they could come up with some explanation.
"We will speak about this later, Hylla. Unless there's something more important."
"Yes! Blackjack decided to take a dip in the lake, but for some crazy reason, he couldn't swim anymore. The Hippocampi are doing their best to keep his head above water, but the stupid horse had dived in the furthest spot from land! At this rate, he's going to drown!"
Hylla had barely finished before Percy was running. He had never run so fast in his life. It felt like he could run even faster. It was as if gravity had no hold on him in this world, or maybe it was connected with the whole Destiny spell Calypso talked about.
Regardless, he only had one thought in his mind. Save his stupid horse!
The plot thickens! Court intrigue, adventure, and promise of even more adventure!
I wonder who that Marine Vice Admiral is? Spoiler alert; it's not Garp, It's not an OC, and technically he shouldn't be a Vice Admiral but who's counting the butterfly effects?
Yes, yes, I didn't forget how the currency works in One Piece. Percy doesn't know that though, and thinks he is gonna be rich! And yes, he did collect the heads and they're now stored in some freezer on the ship. Gruesome? Brutal? Yep, but Percy handled decapitated heads just fine in the books. Even if they were monster heads.
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