Brook had taken Charlotte Daifuku's Puff-Puff Fruit techniques and turned them into his own demonic arsenal. With a snap, he could summon spectral general demons—entities with a spark of combat instinct, much like Daifuku's steam genies.
With just one command from Brook, these ghostly warriors fought on their own, their strength and duration tied to the amount of ghostly and nether energy Brook fed them. Not bad for a skeleton's side hustle!
The Vesper Ghost was Brook's pride and joy. He'd poured high-grade nether energy into it, not aiming to match Vesper's full power but boosting it to about 80–90% of his own strength. Enough to be a real asset in a fight.
"Come on, Roger, keep it moving! You've been slacking for a whole minute. Newgate's itching to take you on—let's go!"
Brook waved off their chit-chat, cutting through the pleasantries. Time was tight, and he was determined to squeeze every ounce of training out of Roger. Once Newgate was done, Brook himself wanted a round.
Roger's face darkened.
"Seriously? I just went toe-to-toe with Shiki and Redfield, and now you want me to brawl with Newgate? Give me a breather, man! I need some grub and a drink first!"
Every fighter here was a beast in their own right. Roger wasn't even sure he could take them down, despite his slight edge in Conqueror's Haki Coiling. The Hell Pirates' top brass weren't just packing three types of Haki—each wielded a devilishly tricky top-tier Devil Fruit. If they went all-out, Roger figured it'd be a 50-50 slugfest at best. And that flying menace Shiki? Good luck pinning him down!
"Brook, my man, everyone needs a break. Andme? Definitely needs one!"
Roger's throat was parched. He needed a few bottles of booze and a proper rest to recharge his Conqueror's Haki reserves—coiling that stuff was no joke.
"Oh? My bad, then. I must've mixed it up. Take a quick rest!"
Brook's mock-serious tone sent the crew into fits of laughter.
"Roger, come here! I've got some booze and a bite of prime grain for ya!"
Golden Lion Shiki and Rayleigh cackled the loudest, slinging jabs at Roger, who just grinned sheepishly, snatching the meat and liquor. He tore into them like a starved pirate, clearly drained from his bouts with Shiki and Redfield. He needed fuel to get back to peak form.
At Brook's signal, a makeshift banquet kicked off, the crew diving into food and drink with their usual rowdy cheer.
...
"Yo, Brook, you mentioned in the papers—and just now—that the D Clan is the natural enemy of the Celestial Dragons. That true?"
As a member of the D Clan, Roger was laser-focused on this topic. He hadn't dug deep into world history yet, just following the whispers in his heart, chasing the Poneglyphs and their secrets.
"Yohohoho! Pretty much. The Celestial Dragons are definitely spooked by you D folks!"
"Why's that?"
"You really wanna know? That kind of knowledge is dangerous, Roger. You sure?"
Brook eyed Roger's eager expression. The Hell Pirates and Roger's crew leaned in, hungry for the juicy secrets of the world.
"Damn right I wanna know!" Roger said, his nose hair twitching with that signature flair.
"Eight hundred years ago, during the Void Century, there was a hundred-year war between the Twenty Kings and the Great Kingdom. Those Twenty Kings? They're the ancestors of today's Celestial Dragons. And the descendants of the Great Kingdom's rulers? That'd be you D Clan folks."
Brook wasn't sure how many surnames the D Clan covered—maybe the Great Kingdom had a mix of ruling races, like the Twenty Kings. He knew of several: Rocks D. Xebec, Gol D. Roger, Marshall D. Teach, Trafalgar D. Water Law, the Monkey family. Even the giant Jaguar D. Saul. Did giants have a ruling seat in the Great Kingdom? Not surprising for the world's mightiest nation back then.
Brook didn't buy that the D Clan was just about inherited will. These D folks were often freakishly gifted, hinting at some serious genetic mojo. Look at the Celestial Dragons—sure, they're mostly useless now, but their genes are top-notch. Half of them are probably latent Conqueror's Haki awakeners waiting to happen.
Take Donquixote Doflamingo or Figarland Shanks—Celestial Dragons who broke free and went rogue. Once they found their own drive, they became absolute monsters, mastering all three Haki types like it was nothing.
The Donquixote and Figarland families were outliers among the Celestial Dragons, the practical types who didn't wallow in luxury. The Donquixote clan especially churned out oddballs. Donquixote Homing took his family and ditched the World Nobles, which led to Doflamingo's dark childhood turn. Donquixote Mjosgard, after Otohime's influence, dedicated himself to helping Fishman Island—maybe swayed by her freaky Observation Haki speeches. That guy freed his slaves, got shunned by other Celestial Dragons, and even decked Charlos in Mariejois to save Princess Shirahoshi. The Knights of God hauled him off for trial after that!
"The Great Kingdom?"
Roger's crew was hearing the term for the first time, while Redfield and others, who'd dabbled in ancient texts and chatted with the scholars of Ohara, weren't entirely clueless.
"Haha! So Roger's D Clan might be descended from the Great Kingdom's royalty? Does that make our Captain Roger a prince? And Rocks a fellow royal cousin?"
Rayleigh and Gaban erupted in teasing laughter. The idea of Roger and Rocks, two rough-and-tumble pirates, being tied to ancient royalty was absurdly hilarious.
"Snap out of it, Roger! The Great Kingdom's been gone for eight hundred years. Royalty or not, you're a pirate now. Who cares?"
Shiki's shout pulled Roger from his daydreams. Even if he was some long-lost prince, that kingdom was ancient history.
"I don't know the full truth, but I'll find it. The Poneglyphs—I'm gonna collect every last one and crack the Void Century wide open!"
Roger's resolve hardened. Uncovering the lost history felt like his true calling.
"Yohohoho! That's the spirit! Now, you've eaten and drunk your fill—time to let loose! Put all those questions into the fight!"
Brook hadn't forgotten Roger's role as the perfect sparring partner for Conqueror's Haki Coiling training. The Poneglyph translations? Those could wait a few days.
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