39 Chapter 39 - Voice of All Things! The Marines Arrives on the Island!
A mysterious power that few people in the world possess. The power to listen to the Voice.
People like Gol D. Roger and Kozuki Oden, true legends in the world, had this ability in common. And due to the exorbitantly low number of people capable of using it, research is nonexistent and therefore the reason for this manifestation is unknown.
But what is the Voice?
The Voice is nothing more than a strange hum that users can feel when they are near animals or ancient artifacts, and with great skill one can understand what the Voice says. For an animal or artifact to be able to manifest such a Voice, they must undergo the passage of time and constant maturation, their wisdom being elevated to unusual levels.
And Ryu was one of these animals. His millennial existence attests that he is older than the Lost Century, and may even have lived through the troubled times of that period. He is undeniably one of the oldest animals in the world, and therefore able to manifest the Voice.
The whole union of these things leads us to the current moment.
"Hahaha, hold that ego, Noah!"
Laughing like a child, Noah fought against a female Flame Lion with all his strength while his heart was beating hard.
And not for the thrill of battle, but for the thrill of being a 'Chosen One' to have such ability! Have you ever imagined having a power that the Pirate King also had?? This was enough to elevate someone's ego by many levels.
From the first moment he heard Ryu's Voice, he didn't want to believe that this was happening. That weak and tired buzzing, asking who he was, almost made him think he was going crazy.
Until he remembered that this ability existed.
It was at this moment that he replied to Ryu, saying who he was and that he did not come to do any harm. The second answer was harder to understand, possibly because Ryu was weaker, and he consumed a purple orb to clear his mind and better utilize this new ability.
And after talking for five or six sentences, Noah handed a purple orb to Ryu saying it would improve his situation. After eating it, Ryu's mind really cleared up a lot more, and even made his senile state recede a little.
During the rest of their conversation, Noah tried to understand this mystical ability and get used to it, learning how to handle it. He knew that as long as he continued to feed on purple orbs, his mental state would continue to rise until this was easy for him.
'Listen to poneglyphs? It could be. Listen to ancient swords? Bring it on. Communicate with Sea Kings? I'm an outgoing person!' With a slightly foolish mentality, he lost focus at an important moment in the fight and the Flame Lion attacked him with its claws.
Unconsciously, he dodged, his body moving on its own. His arm hardened like iron when a concentrated blast of flame and wind hit it.
Tekkai!
Comet Burst!
His punch, carrying such elemental powers, easily pierced all the way to the lioness's brain and ended her life, turning her into a cloud of ash and leaving some orbs behind.
After the fight was over, Noah felt his arm return to normal.
"It's much easier to use Tekkai…" Feeling his proficiency rising more and more, with him using less physical force to achieve the same effect and at the same time improving his movements, he sighed a bit of disappointment, "It's a pity that it works like a spiritual body. Unfortunately, I can't improve my strength just by using this."
This was one of the many reasons he didn't get extremely stronger every night. If every single day he fought day and night here, with his body being pushed to insane limits, and all of this was brought out, he would be able to greatly strengthen himself in a few days. Unfortunately, only proficiency in skills could be brought out, besides the indomitable spirit he gained with each victory and life or death battle.
After eliminating all the threats around, he started to wander the huge grassy field in search of more fights and more orbs.
°°°
Waking up suddenly, Noah shivered a bit as he got used to the usual pain and yawned a bit. This time his death was a little quicker...he provoked some male Flame Lions. While everyone was hunting together...
Anyway, as soon as he woke up he felt some weights on top of him, as well as a body of fluffy feathers behind.
Nami and Nojiko were both on his left side, leaning on each other and using him as a pillow. Apis was lying on one of Ryu's paws, while her feet were on Noah's lap. And Ryu, serving as everyone's feather pillow, was also unconscious. Old dragons need to sleep a lot.
It was still the middle of the night, so he carefully got out of there. He inevitably woke up Nami and Nojiko, but only told them that he was going to meditate and consume some red orbs.
And a few hours later, when the sun was already in the sky announcing the morning, Noah woke up from his half-meditative state. He chose to meditate because it was the same thing if he did weightless push-ups or just swung his sword back and forth. The consumption rate would be the same.
"A few more red orbs and I can complete the refinement..." Feeling his whole body, he realized that the amount of energy he needed to move to the next level was very small.
But as he knew it could be a very long process, he decided to simply avoid doing it today and leave it for when they resolved all the matters here.
After Nami and Nojiko woke up, they walked up to him with a somewhat tired expression. Sleeping on the stone floor was not easy, even with a refreshing breeze.
"What are the plans for today?" Nojiko asked as she yawned. She was thinking of going down the mountain to make some food, but wanted to ask him first.
"First, have breakfast. Then we go to the Lost Island." Noah didn't want to say anything about the true location and just looked at Nami, "After that, you're going to take the ship and bring it to our meeting point."
"Meeting point?" Nami asked in doubt, her mind refusing to follow the crazy idea, "Noah, if you're thinking of doing something-"
"It's right there." He interrupted her and pointed to the tip of a cliff that met the sea.
"I knew..." Nami looked between him and his crazy plan and just gave up thinking. Unfortunately, his plans always worked out. So she didn't have much to say.
And having completed the "planning", Nojiko left with Apis to make everyone's breakfast and Nami went with them to move the ship.
Left alone, Noah walked up to Ryu and sat down in front of him. The great old dragon looked at him indifferently, but there was a hint of extra clarity. So far he hadn't tried to eat him, which means he had a little more clarity than before.
"Old Ryu, here's the deal." Noah pulled out two orbs, one red and the other purple, and smiled at the dragon, "Today you're going to do something you've always wanted to do."
"..."
"No, you're not going to mate again, pay attention! You're going to fly, old senile!"
°°°
Some time later, after they had already had breakfast.
The Marines suddenly arrived at the island, taking over the Black Artemis and surrounding it with soldiers. Some soldiers followed Eric and the Lieutenant Captain to the village and began to investigate.
And they quickly discovered who had sheltered her in.
The Lieutenant Captain had just entered the hut of an elder of the village and saw him surrounded by various marines, their flintlock rifles all aimed at the old man's head.
"Hey, old man." He took a picture of Apis and showed it to Old Bokuden, who was as faded as any dead man, "Where are they hiding this girl?"
"Mhummu..." Murmuring something, Bokuden kept dreaming he was telling the long story to Apis' friends.
Too bad he had a short dream.
"Hey, wake up, old man!" The Lieutenant Captain shook the old man until he woke up, his expression furious, 'I hate this job.'
And really waking up, Bokuden looked around for a while and back at the man in front of him. And he continued telling his story.
"Have I told you about the 1201st King?"
"What the hell..." With a gloomy expression, the man was still confused when a voice from one of his soldiers called him.
"Sir, we have information on the girl's whereabouts!"
"How?" The Lieutenant Captain asked after letting go of the old man, dismissing all the other soldiers.
"Eric questioned one of the villagers and we found out that they went up the mountain during the night. They might still be there!"
"Right. Gather all the other soldiers and let's climb the mountains. Leave some to guard in case they want to return to the ship." Putting the photo back in his pocket, he walked out of the house, seeing Eric looking at the strange mountain on the island.
"Yes, sir!"
°°°
"Great, it's going to be much easier to recover the ship like this." Seeing the fleet of ships that the Marines brought and surrounded their ship, Nami complained a bit while biting into an apple. She threw the binoculars to Nojiko as she turned to Noah, "Are we going to confront them?"
"I don't feel much like it. I just want to take Old Ryu to the island and go to the Grand Line." Noah really wasn't in the mood to beat up a fleet of marines, but he wouldn't mind if they came here. Maybe that guy with weird purple hair (Eric) would be a good fight, but it would just be a curiosity.
"So he better get up soon, they're already coming." Nojiko pointed far away and they saw that some white points were moving in formation, quickly climbing the mountain.
While they watched the Navy's movements, suddenly a tremor came from behind them as an excited voice came out of the cave.
"Ryujin got up, Ryujin has really got up!!" Apis came running towards them, the smile on her face quite obvious. Ever since she found the Old Dragon, she had never felt such a pure emotion of joy coming from him.
And with her warning, a huge figure began to emerge from the cave. Its majestic green feathers swayed in the wind and its wise eyes surveyed its surroundings after a long time.
And with the strong wind hitting his chest, Ryu's huge body stretched over five meters as he roared with excitement.
"ROOOAAAAR!!"
