A/N:
" ": Dialogue,
' ': Thought,
[ ]: System, Akasha, Minerva,
"Italicized text": Telepathy,
| |: Artificial Intelligence,
{ }: Bounty Posters,
"Bold text": Deathborns.
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Narrator POV
The Mont Blanc bloodline's plight has been nothing short of tragic from Noland's time. Despite what the books said, Noland was one of, if not the greatest man to ever come from the Lvneel Kingdom in the North Blue. The books say he was merely an adventurer, but in reality he was the admiral of the kingdom's navy, so he was far more experienced in seafaring than anyone else in the kingdom.
He and his crew went through hell on the Grand Line, before eventually getting to Jaya, led by the sound of a loud ringing bell. Even when he got to Jaya, he still had to go through struggles there, thanks to his kindness and the unfortunate ignorance of the Shandia people. He, using his skills as a botanist and doctor, helped cure a child who was suffering from Tree Fever.
He later found that the Shandia people practiced human sacrifice to a 'god', which was in fact just a giant snake, and he killed it, saving the life of a woman who he would later learn to be the daughter of the Shandia chief. Appalled by his killing of their 'god', the Shandia people captured Noland and set him as the replacement sacrifice for the chief's daughter, Mousse.
He explained that the Tree Fever that was ailing so many of their people was a disease and not a curse, one that was cured in almost every other place that it was present. Skeptical of his words but feeling that they should give him a chance to prove them, the Shandia people gave him until the sunset of that same day to find the cure, otherwise they'd sacrifice him.
He looked around the island's jungles and found Kona Trees, which held Conine, the substance that was also a cure for Tree Fever. After harvesting the Conine, he began heading back to the Shandia people's settlement only to get trapped by a break in the ground as the island shuddered. He was trapped there, unable to escape, only for a much greater earthquake to hit the island the next day.
Kalgara, the Shandia people's Great Warrior, found him and mocked him, saying that his predicament was retribution for killing their 'god'. To add even more insult to injury, the child of the giant snake that Noland killed appeared, intent on consuming him. Noland pleaded for mercy to Kalgara, telling him that the 'curse' that he and his people feared was still just an illness, albeit one that claimed thousands of lives over centuries, in absence of the cure.
He told Kalgara that they shouldn't reject a cure that prevents people from dying, when others had died waiting when that cure wasn't present. Kalgara eventually got some sense and killed the giant snake, then helped Noland get free. Noland then went over to their settlement and used the cure over as many people as he could, and over a few days, all of the Shandia people were cured of Tree Fever.
The tribe and Noland's crew celebrated being rid of the disease. With the aid of the tribe, they explored the island and found the now infamous city of gold, Shandora. Kalgara pointed out that the giant snake he had killed also had a grandchild, that the Shandia people would name Nola in Noland's honor, and would no longer refer to it or its kind as gods.
After the celebration, Noland's crew eventually found the set of infected Kona trees that caused the Shandia people to fall ill, and to prevent future outbreaks, they cut them down and moved to destroy them, not knowing that the trees were seen as sacred by the Shandia people. Kalgara found out about this and told Noland to leave the island, as an extension of his friendship, so that it wouldn't end with Noland and his crew being attacked.
Kalgara's daughter, however, saw the logic in what Noland and his crew did and told her people about it. As Noland and his crew left on their ship, Kalgara ran to the shore and shouted out to Noland to return to the island one day, saying that the sacred bell that drew them to the island would ring to welcome them when they return.
When Noland returned to Lvneel, he told its ruler, King Aruyutayan the Fifth, about his expedition and the treasures of Shandora. Aruyutayan V, being a greedy, impulsive idiot, ordered Noland to take the kingdom's soldiers instead of his own more experienced crew, all to have the credit of 'discovering' a treasure island, not caring for the lives that would be lost as a result of this decision.
Noland fought through the horrors of the Grand Line's seas, even as multiple soldiers died on the ship, thanks to Aruyutayan V choosing people with no seafaring experience instead of the people who have consistently gone on expeditions and returned, and got him to Jaya with less than a tenth of the soldiers left, only to see that the entirety of Shandora, where all of the Shandia people had settled, had disappeared.
Aruyutayan V, thinking that Noland had tricked him, sentenced Noland to death without hearing any explanations, while Noland was worrying about the wellbeing of the Shandia people. Aruyutayan V was in no way satisfied with just sentencing Noland to death, and made moves to destroy his reputation.
He framed Noland for lying about his expedition by having one of his subjects falsely testify against Noland, which made the people of Lvneel hate him, with them chanting out "LIAR! LIAR!" when he was being executed. To add even more insult, Aruyutayan V then made the storybook as part of a smear campaign, denoting Noland as a grinning fool and liar, while he was shown as a brave warrior. All of this ended up with all members of the Mont Blanc bloodline being forced out of Lvneel, with most of them choosing to make the effort to prove that their ancestor wasn't a liar, only to never be heard from again.
Mont Blanc Cricket had initially left the island that was home to their bloodline in embarrassment, as he felt that those people were unbearably foolish, then became a pirate. But about ten years from the present, his ship arrived on Jaya, making him the first of the Mont Blanc bloodline to arrive on the island since Noland himself.
Taking his arrival on the island as fate, he decided that he would search for the so-called sunken island of gold that his ancestor died speaking about. His crew wasn't particularly interested in his bid to address his family's problems and left him on the island. And so, for ten years, Cricket had dedicated his efforts to find the island of gold, not in a bid to honor his ancestor, but rather to spite him, as he saw Noland as the man responsible for all the struggles he faced as a child of Mont Blanc.
…
Dante POV
Convinced by my words, Cricket invited us into his house, where all of his belongings and diving equipment was. Speaking of which… *Snap.* I snap my fingers, clearing his body of the bubbles that had formed in his body from the constant quick shifts in pressure due to his frequent diving, curing his decompression sickness.
"Hmm? What was that for?" Cricket asks. "Nothing much. Just cured your decompression sickness before it could take you out. I understand that you're trying to find some proof of Noland's claims, but you've allowed it to become far too harmful to yourself." I tell him, then enlarge the space in his house, so it could accommodate us, as well as Masira and Shoujou, when they eventually return.
"I see. Thanks, It's good to know that you aren't the same as those idiots that come around here looking for gold." He replies, then looks at Nami, who is caressing the ingot of gold I made earlier with Beri in her eyes and a grin on her face. "Well, most of you." He says with an amused sigh, then pulls out a chair to sit down.
"So… how exactly can you help me? And how do you want me to help you?" He says, immediately getting down to business. "Well, it's more that you're helping them." I reply while gesturing towards the Straw Hats. "They're heading to Skypeia, which just so happens to be where Shandora is." I say, and he scowls.
"And here I thought you were being serious. If you're here to mock me then it'd be better for you to leave." He says calmly. It seems that his mind is very much closed off on that part. Nothing a little convincing can't take care of. "Tell me, Cricket. Do you think the Knock Up Stream that occurs near here has remained in the same position, or that it's something that started happening recently?" I say, and his face scrunches in thought.
"The Knock Up Stream here has been present for centuries, Cricket. Even back when Noland was here, it was an existing phenomenon. He just wasn't present when it erupted. That, and he didn't know that it had done so from directly beneath the island. Otherwise, he'd have had little reason to think that the Shandia tribe would have sunk." I say, presenting the facts to him, and he goes silent, stewing in his thoughts.
"All I'm asking is for you to repair their ship and prepare it to be able to ride the Knock Up Stream. We'll make sure to ring the Golden Bell for you to hear while we're up there. And if I'm wrong, I'll not only give you enough gold to fill the deck of Shoujou's ship, but I'll also give you a Devil Fruit of your choice for you to do whatever with." I say with my hand out, and everyone else gasps, save for Shiro and my little princesses.
For them, the notion of someone simply giving away something as expensive or life-changing as a Devil Fruit was absurd, let alone giving them any one of their choice. And so, with me placing what they saw as high stakes, Cricket finally caved, since for him our success or failure would benefit him regardless. And not a moment sooner, as Masira and Shoujou are headed here in a panic after seeing our ship.
Since there wasn't much else for us to do, I spent the next few minutes giving them the rundown of the details of Noland's expedition to Jaya, and Cricket, for all his spite against Noland, couldn't bring himself to not care about the unfairness that Noland had to face. For the next few minutes, he laid curses on the bloodline of Aruyutayan, saying stuff like: "Every person in his bloodline shall go bald before 20! Anything that they work on will be doomed to fail!", and other stuff like that.
As he was shouting that, Masira and Shoujou burst into the small house. "BOOOOOSSSSSS!!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!!?" They shouted as they tried squeezing through the door. Cricket took a break from cursing Aruyutayan and looked at the other two members of the Saruyama Alliance. "Yeah, I'm good. So what's up?" He says calmly, as if he wasn't showing the full range of his sailor mouth just a few seconds ago.
Upon seeing us and the Straw Hats, the pair of ape-like men immediately began shouting again, this time directing their voices at us. "What the hell are you doing here!?" "Calm down and stop being noisy. Jeez. I just finished treating this guy and we're working out a little business agreement. Nothing too serious." I tell them, and almost immediately, tears fall from their eyes. "They're… They're good people." They say while sniffling.
"Well, since everyone who needs to be in the know is here, I believe we can begin the preparations, don't you think so too, Cricket?" I say with a smile, and he nods with a grunt. "All right. Listen up, you two." Cricket says to Masira and Shoujou. "These guys want to go to Skypeia, and the next Knock Up Stream should happen at about tomorrow noon. That should also be the next time that night happens in your territory, if my calculations are correct, Masira." He says while pointing to the Straw Hats.
"We'll start helping them get ready later." He says, then lets out a puff of smoke from the cigarette he's been smoking since we got into his house. "For now, I think we should start preparing dinner. I'll fill you in on the details." Cricket says, and almost immediately, Saya, Ciel and Sera look to me with expectant eyes.
"Okay, girlies. I'll cook. But –" I say with a raised finger. "–you three have to be on your best behavior." I finish, and they nod smiles on their faces. I move over to the space that serves as the kitchen in this place, and pull out a 50kg bag of rice, 10kgs of orc and minotaur meat each, 3kg of bones, a jar of salt, one of powdered spices and a few mana-charged veggies.
Sanji had already begun walking up to try and take charge of the cooking, but I wasn't going to be wasting any time arguing about kitchen rights. Before the senses of anyone in the room can catch it, I pull out the rice from the bag, crush the bones, cut up the meat into small cubes, cut the veggies up, and spiced the food. I then create a sphere of water that is enough to fully cook everything, gather all the food into the water, and seal it all in a metal sphere that is laden with heating glyphs.
Using chronokinesis, I speed up the cooking process while treating the metal ball as a pressure cooker. Within the few seconds that it took Sanji to walk from the table over to me, the meal was done cooking. "Okay, dinner's ready." I say, and Saya, Ciel and Sera began giggling with expectation. Meanwhile, Sanji was confused, trying to wrap his head around how I'd gotten the ingredients, prepared them, and fully cooked them before he even reached me.
Not paying him any mind, I open up the sphere and split the food into 15 equal portions, then turn the metal sphere into a large wooden bowl. Using quantikinesis, I increased the number of bowls to 15, then filled each of them with a portion. Taking into account the black holes that my girls, as well as Luffy had for stomachs, I also increased their portions to levels that would have been excessive for any other person.
The aroma of the food digs into everyone's noses, and I hear them all gulp, even my lovely ladies. "Dinner is served." I say and take my seat with my own bowl. I sigh mentally as I catch Bellamy and his crew moving towards us.
Apparently, Sarquiss, Bellamy's First Mate hadn't seen his beatdown, but decided to tell him about Cricket and his quest to find Skypeia in an attempt to rile him up. He was angry with the fact that Ciel had beaten him about like a ping pong ball and wanted some way to vent his frustration, and as far as he was concerned, his First Mate had given him the best solution, since he assumed that we weren't headed here.
Too bad for him, though, the contrary is clearly the case. Normally, this wouldn't have been anything to be bothered about, but we're eating and that changes things. My little girls get really angry when someone interrupts a chow sesh, and like their mom, they like to laze about after one. So, when Bellamy comes by, they won't care for him. I could let Luffy handle him, but beating Bellamy isn't really an important battle for him. If anything, he's here for the Worf Effect.
After a few yoctoseconds of contemplation, I finally decide that Bellamy and his pals will be dealt with by a few of my Deathborns, four of them in total. I summon out a Magus, Reaver, Sagittar and Crusader, my versions of a Mage, Assassin, Archer and Knight respectively, and instruct them to intercept Bellamy and the ones following him, but to make sure that they don't kill or permanently cripple or transmute them. Anything else was fair game. Just to make things extra confusing for them when they came, I put the Leviathan in stealth mode.
My Deathborns slink out of the building as shadows, unnoticed by everyone except Shiro. She looked at me with a raised brow as her voice rang softly in my head. "For?" She asked curtly. "Bellamy and his goons. No need for these three to have to deal with them." I replied, referring to the Saruyama Alliance.
I brought out some fruit wine from my inventory, and with that, the main preparations for a hearty dinner were finished. For the next few hours, we ate, made merry and shared stories, with Cricket sharing some of Noland's excerpts, while Shiro and I talked a bit about our life on Maera. While tonight would be a cheery occasion for us, the same couldn't be said for Bellamy and his crew.
…
Narrator POV
Bellamy and his crew had docked on the east coast of Jaya, and despite the beating he received earlier in the day, Bellamy was sporting his usual wolfish grin on his face, not caring for the bandages on his limbs or face. He began swaggering over to Cricket's house, but was stopped when he crashed into a barrier, causing himself more pain.
He growled and looked around, then put his hand out, feeling the barrier, then turned over to his navigator, Eddy. "You didn't tell me that the fool had a Devil Fruit." He said with a growl as he held his bleeding nose. "I… I…" Eddy stuttered, also confused about the situation.
"They really are as foolish as we expected." They heard a layered voice pervade the area, and began looking around for its source. "I see why our Lord didn't want to deal with them. It would have been a needless waste of his or the princesses' time." A different voice rang out in that similar layered timbre, making them feel even more skittish.
"Not only are they foolish, they are also weak, which makes their folly doubly moronic." A third distinct voice spoke out, continuing the mockery. "Damn it. Show yourselves, you cowards!!" Bellamy shouted out. "Even rabbits try to run or hide when they sense predators, yet you… you shout and taunt those sent to hunt you. Truly, your buffoonery knows no bounds." A fourth voice rang out from an uncomfortably close distance to them.
Under the eyes of all of Bellamy's crew, the Deathborn Reaver disabled its Stealth skill, appearing amongst them, and its deathly aura immediately hit them, inciting a primal fear in their very souls, that left them all rooted in place. Their bravado had melted away, and their fear had overloaded their fight-or-flight reflex, causing them to freeze, almost as if their bodies had given up on the possibility of survival.
"The fact that beings as insignificant as you dared to come here with hostile intent, even after seeing our Lord's ship… is an offence punishable by extinction." Veyros, the Deathborn Reaver said as he brandished a pair of jet-black daggers that seemed to consume the slivers of moonlight that hit it.
"If you had met our Lord for the first time, and not had even the slightest idea or speculation about his capabilities, you could have been forgiven. But even after the princess spared your life at his command, you still dared to show hostility. If it were my prerogative, your souls' existence would not continue beyond this moon. But once again, our Lord has granted you the mercy to continue your inconsequential existence." Thanis, the Deathborn Magus said, in the verbose manner that his fellow Deathborns and their master had gotten familiar with, while his aura crackled with anger.
"Calm yourself, Thanis." Orryn, the Deathborn Crusader said with a booming voice. "Besides, they will still receive their punishment. That is after all, why we're here." He said, and Bellamy and co. immediately began sweating buckets. "But… but you said that…" Sarquiss began to protest fearfully, but was stopped by a simple glare from Orryn.
"The Master only said that we shouldn't kill you or leave you permanently crippled. Anything else is fair game." Corvus, the Deathborn Sagittar said with a peal of laughter that spread out like a ghostly cry. The cacophonic cackling made Bellamy and his crew descend even deeper into terror, as they could only imagine what the Deathborns would do to them.
Right before they began dishing out 'punishment', Dante stepped out of Cricket's home, the creaking of the door drawing Bellamy's attention. Dante put his hand out, then flexed his finger in a grabbing motion, and the next instant, a bird about the size of a toddler, with a long bill, a crest on its head, and purple and green plumage appeared in his hand. This was a South Bird – one of the most important things the Straw Hats would need to find the area where the next Knock Up Stream would occur.
After snatching the South Bird, Dante looked over to his Deathborns. "Make it quick, then send them back." He ordered them, then walked back into Cricket's house. The Deathborns all looked at Bellamy and co. with smiles on their faces, which with their large shadowy forms, was like adding fuel to the flames of fear that were already raging in their hearts.
And so, unknown to any of the Straw Hats and members of the Saruyama Alliance, Bellamy and his crew were subject to torture that no one on the planet could ever hope to bear. Their screams wouldn't be heard, and their blood wouldn't be seen beyond tonight. The memories of their torment, however, would stay with them for the rest of their days.
Thanis, who had learned magic not only from Dante, but also from the Demonic Specters that Dante had raised as Deathborn Shades, used his magic to create an Instance Dungeon, which he plunged Bellamy and co. into. From that point on, they were put through a hell that no one on the planet would ever wish upon their enemies, if they had even the slightest capacity to feel empathy.
Veyros lacerated their flesh and flayed them with his daggers, all the while holding a face that carried a calm so eerie, he seemed apathetic. Corvus pelted them with arrows laden with curses and toxins that delivered unmatched agony and suffering to its victims, all the while laughing with sadistic glee. Orryn, however, took a more direct approach when his turn came to punish Bellamy and co.
You see, after each of them finished administering their own flavor of torment, Thanis healed Bellamy and his crew, so that they wouldn't remain too physically broken to feel more pain. So, now that they had been healed again, they were in perfect physical condition, ready for another ride on the pain train.
Orryn manipulated his aura, using it to press them into the ground. He then walked up to Bellamy, then methodically broke every single bone and twisted every muscle in his body, while making sure to not overly damage any of his innards. By the time he had finished with Bellamy, not even groans were coming out of him. He looked more like a mound of human-shaped flesh and blood than an actual human.
Throughout the entire time that Bellamy's body was being manhandled and tenderized, his crew watched with abject horror, as they knew that such treatment was coming to them, and they had no way to escape or hamper its arrival for even a second. For the first time since their torture began, Bellamy's crew broke into tears – not from pain, but rather from despair.
Thanis saw this and let out an eerie laugh. "If you think that what they have put you through is anything, just wait for me." He said with a sadistic edge, as his voice pervaded through the dungeon. Bellamy's crew would have shivered in fear, if they weren't already being overloaded with despair. Orryn cared nothing for their mental state and replicated the treatment he gave their captain on every single one of them.
Once he was done with them, Thanis healed them and floated over to them with a smile on his face. Being brought back from the brink of death a third time didn't make Bellamy and co. used to it, rather it caused them even more fear. They had thought that healing that powerful would be taxing, or at least have some strenuous condition, but each time that Thanis brought them back, they saw the sheer ease with which he healed them, and that wrought terror on their minds. But in comparison to what he was about to do to them, this might have as well been a child's jumpscare.
He connected with each of their souls with his magic, perusing through until he found something that made his smile grow – their greatest fears. With a short laugh and a flex of his magic, he plunged their minds into a personalized hell made to terrorize them beyond what anyone native to the planet… no, the universe, could ever be capable of. Safe to say, the Saga of the Hyena had come to a close.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 4,256
Got two covers to run by you guys. So help me choose.
Thanks for reading!