233 Time Flies
Jayr POV - Blue Star, Grand Line, Sabaody Archipelago - 21 GAP
A few months passed since the events that took place on Sandy Island, and a new year started in the One Piece Universe which means that only one year is left before the canonical start of Luffy's Adventure, not that it matters much as the current history of this world is way too different from the known canonical one.
A lot of things happened in these months, some interesting, some entertaining, some heartwarming, some happy, and some just plain boring.
Let's start with what happened right after Nico Robin woke up, I introduced Nico Robin to everyone living on the Athena's God Bidoof and after having a hearty breakfast together, we all decided to go back to the Alubarna Palace to enjoy a few more days in the company of Vivi, Igaram, Terracotta, Koala, Pell, Chaka, and King Cobra, of course, the main reason behind that was also to check on Koala's situation to see how she was dealing with this new situation, and so, we spent a couple of day playing around, exploring the city, and just relaxing together, of course, all that without forgetting about the daily training after all the grid never stops.
I also took advantage of these days to request King Cobra the permission to visit the Tomb of the Kings, an ancient tomb located in Arabasta's capital, Alubarna, wherein lie the tombs and graves of the past kings of Arabasta, but more importantly, it is also the location of the Arabastan Poneglyph.
Of course, I also told him about my desire to show Nico Robin the Arabasta Poneglyph Chamber which was hidden underground, below the Tomb of the Kings that can be accessed through a secret staircase while also reassuring him that neither nor Robin had any desire to find or claim the Ancient Weapon Pluton for ourselves but only to satisfy Robin's desire to learn more about this world's history.
King Cobra easily acknowledged my request and without any hesitation he led us to the Tomb of the Kings and inside the hidden Arabasta Poneglyph Chamber where Robin took some time to study the cubic stone stele, before letting out a disappointed sigh commenting about the fact that the poneglyph really only talked about the Ancient Weapon and its location, but cheered up when I told her that I knew about the location of other poneglyph and that I can take her there if she desires.
After fulfilling Robin's desire to see the poneglyph, enjoying a relaxing stay, and confirming that Koala's situation is going well and that she is growing closer to her new loving adoptive parents with each passing day, we return to the Athena's God Bidoof with Hancock and her sisters and finally left the island to explore more of this wonderful world.
We continued our journey toward the next island, Jaya, a spring island in Paradise that was once shaped like a skull and much larger than it is now, it was the homeland of the Shandia 400 years ago, but nowadays, it is known as a lawless zone popular with pirates.
And of course, when we explored the island, the lawless people living there didn't hesitate to cause some trouble, especially since there was a high number of high-quality women in our group, but unfortunately for them, they tried to harass Nikita, who didn't hesitate to curse them with a Biological Spell that turned them into squirrel while Zandeer knocked out everyone else on the island with his Reiatsu (Spiritual Pressure) that spiked because of the overprotectiveness toward his lover.
After enjoying a brief stay on Jaya, we moved on to the next very interesting island, the sky island Skypiea, of course, with a fantastic ship like the Athena's God Bidoof, reaching that particular island was very safe and easy, after all, Bidi is more than capable of flying on her own without any problem, she is even capable of leaving the atmosphere with her own propulsion, travel at FTL (Faster Than Light) speed, and of course even travel across universes using Perceptual Teleportation while connected to Cratergann, reaching a sky island like Skypiea is a child's play for her so no waiting for a Knock Up Stream.
Skypiea in general is located on an absolutely gigantic mass of fossilized clouds known as an Imperial Cumulus.
This cloud seems to wander around the skies near Jaya and happens to be so dense that it manages to blot out sunlight almost completely, instantly darkening the portion of the Blue Sea where it floats by and giving the impression that nightfall has instantly arrived.
The first area we visited is the iconic Heaven's Gate, which is located in the White Sea and serves as an entrance to Skypiea.
Visitors must pay 1,000,000,000 Extol per person to enter, which may seem excessive for a tax, but when one converts Extol into Belly the number becomes 100,000 Belly which isn't too much, especially when one considers that Alvida's former bounty of 5.000.000 was more than enough to cover the cost, and her bounty was one of the lowest one in existence, lower than her I remember only Tony Tony Chopper and Bepo, anyway, I easily paid for everyone and we calmly continued on our journey.
After passing through the Heaven's Gate we visited Angel Island which is Skypiea's main residential district, composed entirely of island clouds.
Bisected by the famous Lovely Street, it contained a wharf, houses, and many shops, and is usually patrolled by the White Berets, we spent some time enjoying the sights, shopping, having dates, and playing around.
But then, we moved our exploration to the Upper Yard, which is the other half of Jaya, blasted up by Knock Up Stream 400 years ago. It is much larger than Angel Island and as it contains a great amount of Vearth it is of high value for the sky inhabitants, being called "holy land".
The trees and animals on Upper Yard have grown to huge sizes, due to the decrease in the atmosphere.
A giant beanstalk, called Giant Jack, towers up in the center of the island, piercing through the ruins of ancient city Shandora and God's Shrine.
The Upper Yard had become the residence for rulers of Skypiea for centuries now, including Enel, talking about Enel, well, he had a very unfortunate encounter with a very charming and handsome young man who beat the shit out of him and extracted the Devil Fruit that was fused with his body turning him back into a normal mortal.
Enel's Devil Fruit was the Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble Rumble Fruit) a Logia Type Devil Fruit that grants the power to create, control, and become lightning at will, making the user a Lightning Human, it is considered by many one of the strongest Devil Fruit in this world.
I have to admit that it was quite strange and novel to have a Devil Fruit in my hands, especially one as "famous" as the Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble Rumble Fruit) which is a round, pear-shaped fruit that tapers off towards the stem, resembling a loquat.
Its golden-yellow peel features the overlapping swirl pattern typical of Devil Fruits while forming sharp, jagged outgrowths all over that vary in length, width, and direction, resembling sparks of electricity while the topping of the fruit is a green, T-shaped stem that zigzags into a stylized lightning bolt, with one end pointy and the other flat.
Anyway, after extracting the Devil Fruit from a beaten-up Enel, that young man allowed him to complete his destiny and teleported him to the moon and after that, he also graciously made sure to ensure a lasting peace between the Shandian and the people of Angel Island under Gan Fall's lead who was reinstated into his office as God/Governor of Skypiea.
Of course, while I took care of the aftermath of Enel's sudden departure, Robin and the others explored the ancient city of Shandora where they found another Poneglyph which unfortunately only contained the details of the location of Poseidon, the ancient weapon, not my uncle-in-law but still made Robin very happy about its discovery.
Regarding the acquired Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble Rumble Fruit), I offered it to Koby, but he resolutely refused to eat it saying that he prefers gaining strength and power his own way without resorting to shortcuts, as expected from a true hard-working shounen protagonist.
Talking about Koby, in these months my training from hell showed truly remarkable results, not only did Koby fully master the Rokushiki the special, superhuman martial arts style, but he also fully awakened his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) and Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) reaching a level of power that is comparable to a capable Vice-Admiral, sure he is still far away from individuals like Garp, Sengoku, the Admirals, and the other top combatant, but now the distance between him and them is much shorter than before.
After spending some more time, enjoying the sights of the sky island, we continued with our journey, where we quickly explored Navarone Island.
The island was occupied by hundreds of Marine soldiers organized into different groups for various purposes, such as the Navarone fighting corps, of course, the only one who fully explored the island was Koby as only he had permission to enter the more secure areas that serve as Marine Base, but since we are officially all civilians, ignoring Nico Robin but I simply made it so that everyone who looked at her saw the appearance of my sister Shaina instead of her original one, a simple but effective illusion to avoid complication.
Of course, another reason why they didn't give us any trouble is also that Fleet Admiral Sengoku clearly received and understood the warning I sent them through Borsalino, a clear indication of that is that Koby still has his special rank and he even has the merits he gained until now by capturing some random pirates we encountered on our way and by what he accomplished on the Nanatsu Islands.
Anyway, Vice Admiral Jonathan and his marines didn't give us any trouble, in fact, they were quite the hospitable bunch, reminding me once again that the number of good, virtuous marines isn't as small as the anime and manga showed me, especially the Vice Admiral Jonathan who is truly a just, kind and generous person.
This was especially surprising once I remembered that Vice Admiral Jonathan was actually Sakazuki's protege, the man who seems to represent everything that has gone wrong with the Marine.
After spending a day with the marines of the G-8 Marine Base, we moved on with our journey reaching the Long Ring Long Land Archipelago, a chain of ten islands in a ring shape, with a path between the islands that surfaces once every year.
We had quite a bit of fun exploring these islands especially the kids as all the animals that live there are unique in that they are all longer than normal in some way, such as a tall horse with a long neck, a bear with very long limbs, a dog with a veeery long body, a platypus with a long beak and tan feathers, a leopard with a long face, all very funny looking and peaceful so we spent quite some time there relaxing and exploring all ten islands to admire all those unique animals.
Then we moved on to the next island in our route, the very famous Water 7, also known as the "Capital of Water" a city in Paradise known for its shipwrights, and from the fans of One Piece for being the home of Franky, one of the Straw Hats, the place where both the Ancient Weapon Pluton and Gol D. Roger's ship, the Oro Jackson were built, and also the place where some agents of the World Government's organization known as Cipher Pol are currently working undercover.
Water 7 is quite a beautiful city where waterways and canals are used for transportation almost like roads, often surrounded by sidewalks on the canals.
Many citizens use Bulls which are seahorse-like creatures that are attached to boats to move around the city which is quite a unique means of transport.
The architecture is very colorful, often using a tan or peach color for the walls and roofs which are many times red and semi-circular; nearly all the roofs are of red color and texture, and the houses are tiered to allow for more houses to take up room and are usually made keeping in mind the city sinks, some canals are wide enough for ships, but those are mostly just to let some ships enter the city so they may be docked somewhere.
The city resembled a giant fountain in a volcano shape because of the tiered system of building houses and I couldn't help but have a nostalgic feeling while I walked through this city, simply because it gave me the same vibes and feeling of the city of Venice in Italy and just like the aftermentioned city, Water 7 is truly an architectural marvel perfect for sightseeing.
Of course, it was inevitable that after touring the city for a while the CP9 agents hidden among the population took notice of the presence of Nico Robin among us, especially since I didn't hide or mask her appearance in any way to lure them out as I wanted to help Robin face her fear of the World Government, obviously, before doing that, I made sure to talk to her about it together with everyone else and it took some time and quite a lot of reassurance from my girls, Koby, Nikita, and Zandeer before she agreed.
Another reason why I decided to act against the CP9 agents who infiltrated this city was to prevent them from harming Iceburg and Franky, especially considering that it isn't sure now that Luffy would come in time to save them, and even if he would actually use the same canon route this time, even more so now that the Going Merry is almost indestructible.
As expected, the CP9 agents didn't hesitate to make their move once Robin was exploring the city "alone" in the night, they encircled her and started to threaten her using our safety to further intimidate her and force Robin's compliance, they even threatened to summon a Buster Call to destroy and sink Water 7 then using us as a scapegoat, a classic move that truly horrified Robin.
But of course, before the farce could continue, I appeared next to Robin, reassured her, and simply knocked them all out, then we headed toward the Galley-La Headquarters, met up with Iceburg, and showed him the recording of the meeting between the CP9 and Robin before unmasking them and telling him who they were and the reason why they infiltrated into his company and city.
Iceburg was understandably shocked by the revelation that his secretary and two of his most trusted worker were World Government agents after the blueprint of the Ancient Weapon Pluton and even more by their viciousness about using the World Government's most terrible attack force, the Buster Call, to destroy Water 7, and frame us, making so that we will be judged at the judiciary island.
After revealing the agents' identity and motives to Iceburg, we left the Galley-La Headquarters and I didn't hesitate to kill members of the CP9, even those that weren't present at the moment, Rob Lucci, Kaku, Jabra, Blueno, Kumadori, Fukurou, Kalifa, and Spadam, I didn't spare any one of them, after all, they were all ruthless assassins and scumbags and there was no need to spare them when they would have easily committed even more atrocities for the World Government and the World Nobles given the chance.
We spent the next few weeks enjoying the sights of Water 7, playing around, having romantic dates, or simply some window shopping with the girls before we moved on toward our next destination, which is located in the Calm Belt.
I'm obviously talking about Amazon Lily, an empire located in Island of Women, an island located in the Calm Belt adjacent to Paradise, the home of the Kuja, a tribe of all female fighters, and more importantly, the home of Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold.
Of course, the reason we headed there was to return back the Boa Sisters so that they could happily grow up with their people.
Still, there was a little problem as the three girls were a bit reluctant to leave the Athena's God Bidoof as they had grown quite attached to us in the time we spent together.
We also felt the same, but we knew that it was better for them to stay with their own people, especially since we won't stay in this universe forever.
Luckily in the end, we were able to convince them to return back home by promising them that we would visit and come to their help whenever they needed, and for that, I gave them an artifact of my own creation that enabled them to contact the Athena's God Bidoof across universes, I admit that it was kinda difficult to create, but by using the Perceptual Teleportation as basis and little bit of a cheat named Concept Magic, I was able to pull it off successfully.
Once we reached the Island of Women, for obvious reasons, Saori, Seika, and the other girls were the only ones that set foot on the island with Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold, while the rest of the males respectfully remained on the Athena's God Bidoof with me to not upset the Kuja living here.
After a few days, the girls returned and we quickly set off toward our next destination, Florian Triangle, a stretch of sea that must be sailed through to travel from Water 7 to Fish-Man Island, notorious for the many ships that mysteriously go missing within it.
Once again, the reason we headed there was to keep a promise I made to a certain Island Whale, to find Brook and make sure he reunited with Laboon.
With the help of the Compass of Eternal Paths finding Brook's ghost ship was quite easy, and I admit that the reaction of Gad, Saphir, Rubis, and Emeraude to Brook's appearance was quite funny as he scared the shit out of them.
The reason for that is that Brook an extremely tall skeleton with afro hair, dressed in formal attire complete with a top hat and cane, standing at 2,66 meters in height.
Brook's style was that of a gentleman consisting of a coat, top hat, trousers, and afro, which were black, while the inner linings of his coat were yellow-orange, the cravat that was tied in between his coat and around his neck was blue, the outer covering of Brook's cane sword which he carries was purple, also, due to his many years of seclusion, his clothes were somewhat tattered.
(Image Here - Brook)
But while those 4 were shocked, everyone else was quite calm about it mostly because we already knew or had seen similar sights, well, Robin and Koby were surprised too, but Robin kept her usual calm when facing unexpected situations while Koby was already used to Eri's Undead.
Anyway, I didn't chase around the issue and directly told Brook that I came here for him, I also told him about Laboon's condition and the promise I made to him, hearing that, Brook didn't hesitate to jump on the Athena's God Bidoof and come with us, but of course, before he can leave the Florian Triangle I had to do something else, recover Brook's soul so that I can safely teleport him to the Twin Capes.
After our encounter with Brook, I used the Compass of Eternal Paths to find Thriller Bark, a giant ship that used to be an island located in the West Blue but was then converted into a pirate ship, the world's largest one, by the Seven Warlord of the Seas, Gecko Moria, serving as the ship for the Thriller Bark Pirates.
The island is surrounded by a huge outer wall that goes around the ship, with a gate resembling a giant mouth that opens and closes, there are four separate chains that connect from the wall to the mast above the mansion.
The island has an old broken inner stone wall encircling it with towers and a moat. There is a mansion in the middle of the island, surrounded by an apparently dead forest.
The entire ship somewhat resembled the stereotypical scenery in vampire or horror movies, such as Dracula or Frankenstein.
Of course, once reached the ship, I didn't waste any time and simply used my Spiral Cosmo to knock out everyone on the ship/island, then I found Brook's shadow and returned it to him.
Regarding Gecko Moria, I decided to not do anything to him, for a very simple reason, he isn't a fully evil individual, a clear indication of that is that the members of his crew care deeply for him, and surprisingly he also cares for them.
Moreover, he also surprisingly didn't kill any innocent person, sure, he harmed them and stole their shadow, but he didn't do more than that, because for the shadow to exist, the people who had them must also still be alive, after all, even if the two are separated, they are still one entity, and so, if the original possessor of the shadow dies, so does the shadow.
After returning to Brook his shadow, I didn't waste any more time and quickly teleported us to the Twin Capes surprising Crocus who almost attacked us with his harpoon, but stopped just in time as he recognized both me and Brook's iconic hairstyle and attire, and then, after being stunned for a few seconds he quickly rushed to call Laboon.
What followed was a very moving reunion between Brook and the Island Whale Laboon as the two sang and cried together, even if Brook didn't have eyes to cry.
But while I was thinking such silly things, I remembered that I could easily fix Brook's situation, so I didn't hesitate and used Restoration Magic to return his body back to his living status, something quite easy to do, and after that, Brook truly cried.
I spent some more time with Brook and Laboon and in the end, I admit I had grown quite close to the pirate musician, even more so because at one point, Brook and I truly recognized one other and the hidden effect of my Blessing did activate as Brook became a fellow Man of Culture which also earned me the Seed of Culture of the One Piece Universe.
Then I decided to give them space and returned to the Athena's God Bidoof who was already heading out of the gloomy Florian Triangle and spent the rest of the time enjoying the company of my children and lovers as my trusty ship headed toward the last stop of the first half of the Grand Line, the Sabaody Archipelago.
After going over everything that happened in these months, I sit more comfortably on the captain seat of the bridge and start to think about the most concerning issue, Nico Robin's overall situation, 'Apparently, everything seems going well... During these months I helped Robin chase after her dream by showing her all the Poneglyphs found on our route, helped her slowly get along with everyone on the ship, she started to spends more time with girls, reads stories and plays with the kids, enjoy some games with us, and after the events of Water 7, I even found her smiling genuinely more and more, making me sure that I was able to reignite her will to live... but something feels a little off, it is like she isn't fully opening up to us like she tries to always maintain some kind of distance...'
While I'm thinking about that, I'm suddenly brought out of my thoughts by Bidi's voice as she says, "Jayr-nii! We are about to reach the Sabaody Archipelago... Should I head there as we planned before or should we directly head toward Fish-man Island?"
Hearing that, I start to think about our option, 'Well, my initial plan was to go there and erase those disgusting auction houses while also freeing all the slaves... but if I simply do that it won't change much, which means that I can't just stop there but I will have to work toward improving everyone's situation. And the best way to do that is by burning down the World Government and building something better from its ashes... Something that takes way too much work and dedication even from someone with my powers, especially as I don't want to force everyone to do my bidding against their will... But I also can't exactly ignore their plight, especially if I see them... Should I actually ignore it and enjoy this vacation with my lovers and kids? No that isn't something I can do... Damn, what should I do?'
But while I'm unsure of what to do, all of a sudden, the ship starts to shake as the sea starts getting agitated, at the same time, Bidi quickly reports, "Jayr-nii! My radar picked up a huge mass quickly rising up from the depth of the sea! It's quickly heading toward us!"
