"~Greetings, Aden.~"
"What the hell!?" Aden exclaimed, immediately drawing his sword.
"~Please calm yourself. I mean no harm~." said the stranger.
"Who the hell are you?" Aden asked with suspicion, still pointing his sword at the woman.
"~You being here, listening to me, means you found the cube. Good. You followed the right path.~" she said mysteriously.
"Path? What path?" confused about this, Aden let his sword arm drop to his side.
"~First i must introduce myself. I am Ma'at Veritas, also called by my people the Mother of Truth. What you are seeing is a message i have prepared for you. My powers allowed me to glimpse future events based on severity of impact on the world. There were two possibilities i saw. One where you would be hellbent on world domination, and this one. The good path. Where you found my friend and the cube. And for the sake of not wasting time, i am answering you, because i saw this conversation in my visions.~" now introduced Ma'at explained.
"If this is a message how are you...???...Oh that is weird." Aden said, shocked.
"~Tell me about it. We are having a conversation across centuries. I had a Devil Fruit power that allowed me to manipulate time to an extent. But it's buggest strength is seeing possible futures. I prepared for them all.~" Ma'at spoke again.
"But why? Why me?" Aden sheathed his blade as he asked.
"~Because you were in the center of the time ripple i sensed. I so not know where it came from or why. What i do know, is that you will change the world. The message is gonna lose it's power soon so listen closely. You already figured out the cube's transportation ability, but there is another. It can change shape into two more. A blade, and a gauntlet. Those were locked until you got here.~" she went on.
"Okay fine, but why leave a message at all?" Aden asked. It made no sense to him. If she saw the future, why interfere at all?
"~Because i saw ALL the outcomes. Should you turn out evil, there were contingencies in place, to prevent you from destroying the world. And before you get upset about not controlling your fate, do not fret. I merely prepared for the myrias of different choices you could have made. And i am sad to say, that this path, is not your first.~ Ma'at suddenly looked melancholic.
"...What is that supposed to mean!?" Aden began to get increasingly angry. Not at her predicring different futures, he could understand that. But at the fact she suggested he could be evil.
"~Yes. In the previous iteration of this timeline, before the reset, the red haired one failed to save your brother in time. He died and that led to your darkness. It was not your fault or your choice. But it still needes to be fixed, it was not what was meant to happen. So one of the solutions i prepared was storing most of my power in a puppet of my creation. It's purpose was to reset the time to before the event. Where you would habe the chance to turn good or evil.~" she explained, completely shocking Aden. So this was not his first life. He lived it before? But evil? How does that make sense? But, apparently Luffy isnalive thanks to her.
"My brain hurty." Aden thought to himself.
"~Do not overthink it. I only saw this far on this particular timeline. Your future and your destiny are now yours to forge."~ Ma'at spoke with a gentle smile. Aden felt the truth in the words. She really meant well. Long dead, but still trying to make the world a better place, huh? Aden could tell she did it allnto protect the world. The turtle, the tree, the cube and now this. Her dedication to ensure a good outcome was... creepy..and inspiring.
"Thanks Ma'at. Luffy is alive thanks to you. That is all i care about. And besides, i alway believed that fate is merely the choices we make. You accounted for mine so...But i will live by my own rules now. No worries about becoming evil. I have people to be good for now." Aden spoke to the projection, still slightly confused and upset, but he did not care. He made his choices at every turn, just because she knew his choices beforehand did not change the fact they were his.
"~That is it for my message. After your last response things get blurry for me, so i will only say this. Cherish her. And the rest of them. They will be your treasure. It was nice talking to you Aden. Even though we never met. Be safe.~" she finished as the projection shimmered away in sparks of light.
"Well that was something. My head hurts. Time resets, future visions and an evil me. A rollecoaster of a shitshow if i ever saw one." Aden said to himself out loud.
"Aand i still talk to myslef..great."
Grabbing the cube, now once again in it's compact form, Aden flew through the roof, looked at his piece of the Vivre Card and set off towards his crew.
.
.
*Meanwhile*
.
.
"Where is he!? The card changed directions two times now! Is he sightseeing all over the world!!??" screamed Nojiko upset, as illusionary flames burst behind her.
"Doubtful. Probably just something caught his interest." Ring defended, as he was busy cursing a bunch of bullets one by one.
"Probably. He is a bit scatter braines isn't he?" Buggy poked fun at his captain, both serious and not.
"Yes. But that is part of his charm." said Robin from her spot near the small table now unofficialy dubbed 'The Bookworm Corner' by Buggy. Not that he would ever say that outloud. He saw what she could do with a scalpel...And if there is one rule in life it's to never piss off your doctor.
"He seems to be heading back though. The paper has stayed pointing in the same direction for a while now." Nojiko said as the flames behind her disappeared with.
*BOOM!*
Suddenly an explosion of cannon fire came from next to them.
"GODDAMNIT! Marine warship! We really should learn that haiku thing Aden spoke about!" Nojiko shouted as she began evasive manouvres.
"Haki! And fire back!" shouted Buggy, taking on his role as second in command.
And so they did. Ring began to flick the cursed bullets at the marine ship behind them. At the moment of impact the bullets exploded into purple flames that clung to everything it touched, burning it to a crisp.
The marines were however ready. The front of the warship opened up, revealing a huge cannon, aimes directly at the Vanguard.
"Ermmm. We can't dodge that. How do we stop it..." but before Nojiko even finished her sentence the BFG(you knew what i mean) fired.
A cannanball the size of a horse shot at The Vanguard. The Calamity pirates tried everything to stop it, alas it was in vain.
The cannonball got closer and closer and suddenly....
*BOOOMMM-FSHHH-CRACK*.
(There we go. . I managed another one. Once again sorry for any errors or gramatical mistakes. My sausage fingers no good on phone. Lol. Hope you enjoyed. The plot thickens.)