20 “Lost Island”

The rising of the earth caused the whole ground to tremble as if it were an earthquake, this woke up Apis and Robin who were asleep, "I woke up!" exclaimed Apis while she opened her eyes quickly and had some drool.

Slowly, a large expanse of land began to be seen rising and was getting closer and closer covering the entire lake. What Yamamoto could not understand was how the whole mass of water that was in the lake, did not go towards them like a tsunami, although it was better that this did not happen.

"How incredible" said Clover fascinated by this strange phenomenon that can only be witnessed every thousand years, the others nodded agreeing with his words.

Finally, the ascension of this great expanse of land ended, appearing after 1000 years "Lost Island" on the surface, "Your friend's dream seems to be fulfilled today, ask him if he has a specific place he wants to go" said Yamamoto looking at Apis.

"Yes!" said Apis happy that Ryu's wish was getting closer and closer, approaching Ryu who had a look of nostalgia and love being able to observe his home again after a long time, Apis asked Ryu where specifically he wanted to go.

"Mm, I understand" said Apis nodding his head as she communicated with Ryu, "He says the Sennenryu's nest is in the center of the island, that's the place where he grew up."

"Well let's get going" said Yamamoto not caring that it was getting dark, as he noticed how Ryu was getting weaker and weaker. They couldn't wait any longer, so they had to move now.

They all stood up and taking a small jump, they stepped onto Lost Island and started heading towards the center of the island. Thanks to the fact that they were able to rest for some time, everyone's energy had time to recover, even if just a little.

"Hey old man, are you sure you want to come?" asked Yamamoto to his friend Clover, noticing that he was at the limit of his energy. It was obvious that an archaeologist like Clover who only stayed in Ohara studying didn't have much stamina. On the other hand, Olvia did have energy to spare, as she had been traveling for the past two years.

For his part, Yamamoto had decent stamina even for normal-rank marines, although this was not the case at the beginning when he had only 2 measly points, and with a little walking, he would have no more energy.

"Don't underestimate me, old man. Besides I wouldn't miss such an event" Clover replied with a confident smile, although his sweat gave him away.

Yamamoto made a slight smile and continued walking, observing the scenery of Lost Island. He could notice that, on this small island, there are many forms of marine life, this is because it is long under the sea. There were also small pools of water.

The most striking thing was that it was full of calcified dragon bodies because they were underwater for thousands of years. More than the bodies calcified and some other marine life, such as corals there was no presence of some other life.

After walking for 20 minutes, they reached the center of the island, this was the nesting site of the sennenryu and the home of Ryu who after a long time returned, as they walked through the nesting grounds, Ryu made a small roar with the little strength he had left, "It is here, this is his home" Apis said in a sad tone, as she stopped and looked towards one of the nests.

Saul who had Ryu on his back supported him in the nest carefully, with a sad face, as he was carrying Ryu all this time he could notice how Ryu was looking weaker and weaker.

Quickly Apis went to keep him company while she hugged him tightly and Ryu caressed his head slowly with hers, "It looks like it's going to start raining" whispered Yamamoto looking at the cloudy sky, while Apis and Ryu talked for the last time.

Slowly it began to drizzle, in his last minutes of life Ryu looked at Yamamoto, who, noticing the dragon's gaze, also looked at him. Before he could understand why the dragon was looking at him, a voice was projected in his head, *Thank you... for fulfilling my last wish...*

*This voice?* thought Yamamoto in surprise at such a turn of events. He could tell the voice was getting fainter and fainter.

*Tell Apis that this last year of my life was the happiest year of my life because I met her. As a thank you take this, I know you will need it* said the wise and increasingly faint voice.

As he finished that sentence, from one of Ryu's giant wings came out a bone about the size of a forearm or even smaller. This attracted everyone's attention and no one understood what was happening, the only one who understood was Yamamoto. On Apis' side, she was still crying curled up around Ryu's neck.

Yamamoto approached Ryu and took the bone that he knew was a gift for him, "Thank you I will put it to good use" whispered Yamamoto with some surprise, as he grabbed the dragon bone and remembered what Nelson said about the elixir.

*Lastly I know it's kind of selfish, but take care of Apis please* said the voice in Yamamoto's mind that belonged to Ryu.

"No need to ask, I had already planned to do it" replied Yamamoto in a low tone, he didn't know if he spoke his mind Ryu would hear him so he opted to speak.

With a grateful look, Ryu gave Apis one last caress and slowly closed his eyes, finally getting his longed-for rest.

Just at this moment, it started to rain much harder, Apis noticing that Ryu was not breathing anymore cried even more. Robin, with a sad face and tears in her eyes, approached and hugged Apis.

Everyone had long and sad faces, even the marines feeling more guilty as they had captured Apis and were following Nelson's orders to find the dragon, Ryu.

[DING SECONDARY MISSION COMPLETED! Want to see your reward?]

Yamamoto noticed the system pop-up screen that meant he completed the mission, still, he wasn't in the mood to see the reward, so he decided to ignore the message.

After several minutes in which Apis kept crying, she stopped and fell asleep on Ryu's back next to Robin. Noticing this Yamamoto took her in his arms and said in a not-very encouraging tone, "Let's go back".

Olvia carried Robin and they started their journey back, to Yamamoto's and the others' luck, Saul offered to carry them all who could sit on his shoulders and would mean no burden to him. Even the Marines since if they were left here they might try to escape or something.

Before they could not do this as Ryu was large and took up almost all of Saul's back.

Thanks to Saul it took them half the time it took them to find the island. On the ship, the other archaeologists were waiting for them and they were a bit worried, as they had been absent for several hours. Even Bokuden was waiting for Apis.

Bokuden went to Yamamoto when he noticed Apis who was in his arms asleep with tears still in her eyes. He quickly told him everything that happened during these hours, and why Apis was in this state.

Bokuden was saddened by Ryu's death, "Did you already know about him?" asked Yamamoto noticing that Bokuden seemed to know Ryu.

"Yeah this brat is bad at hiding things" replied Bokuden.

"It's better if she sleeps on the ship, so she doesn't keep getting wet" suggested Yamamoto noticing that the rain didn't stop and even the village had several minutes, "You can stay too" added Yamamoto so Bokuden wouldn't get soaked on the way back home.

The marine ship was gigantic and had plenty of rooms for everyone to have a single room, "Fine, thank you" nodded Bokuden gratefully.

After talking some more, everyone went to their rooms. As for the 7 marines, Yamamoto locked them up in the jails that the ship had which were many, closing the cells without saying a word to the marines he went to his room.

*Today was a long day, I didn't even get to eat dinner* thought Yamamoto as he touched his hungry stomach.

Not feeling like cooking, he went straight to his room. Lying down on the bed, he took out the dragon bone Ryu handed him and looked at it curiously, "I'll have to talk to Bokuden, maybe he knows something" whispered Yamamoto.

*Show me the rewards* thought Yamamoto as he rested the bone on one of the bedside tables in the room.

In front of him came up the pale blue screen of the system numbering the rewards he earned in this mission:

[

1st Reward: 5 Skill Points

2° Reward: 500 Merit Points

3° Reward: 1/3 Treasure Map

4° Reward: 1x Life Card

]

Seeing this juicy reward Yamamoto smiled in satisfaction. At first, he thought the reward would be bad, as the level of the mission was not very high compared to the main missions where he had to face a buster call and a marine admiral. Although in quantity this reward was less, it was still very useful and he had a part of a treasure map that no mission had ever given him such an item.

*Not bad at all* thought Yamamoto in a slightly better mood noting that he now had 8 skill points to use and 2100 merit points.

However, he decide not to use them yet, as tomorrow when he completes the main mission he would use all the points from one, taking his strength to a new level, *Use the life card* Yamamoto mentally commanded, feeling again the process in which his body was gaining vitality.

He now had 6 years of life, *I'm getting closer and closer to being able to survive until the canon, plus I'll still have the main reward cards* thought Yamamoto.

Another thing he notice is that in the system store, there was a new devil fruit called <Sickle Sickle Fruit>. Most likely this one belonged to Eric who killed him several hours ago.

As for its price, it was very cheap compared to the price of the other devil fruits he had to buy, being worth 1800 merit points. He remembered Eric's long fingernails and shook his head with some disgust, he wouldn't spend merit points on such a weak fruit. On the other hand, he tried to pull out one of the 3 parts he got from the map, but he couldn't. He could most likely get his hands on it when he got it complete.

Finally, he closed his eyes with much tiredness from the busy day and went into a deep sleep.