The sharp smell of herbal medicine hit my nose, pulling me back from the darkness. There was no longer the sound of the raging waves, only silence punctuated by the crackling of the campfire.
I slowly opened my eyes. The rocky cave ceiling greeted me. Teach's small body felt stiff, but the pain from the impact on the shore had subsided, replaced by the warm sensation of rough cloth wrapped around my arms and legs.
"Are you awake, little one?"
The voice was deep and hoarse, like the grinding of granite.
I turned my head, my neck still feeling a little stiff. Near the campfire sat a sturdy old man. His hair and beard were long and white, tangled like the roots of a banyan tree. His skin was copper-colored, scarred with the telltale signs of a thousand battles. He was stirring a pot of porridge scented with smoked meat.
"Mom..." my voice came out as a weak squeak. The toddler's instincts immediately sought its protector.
"The woman is safe," the old man replied without turning his head. He pointed to a corner of the cave lined with straw and animal skins. Eris lay there, her chest rising and falling steadily. Her breathing was steady. "She's a tough woman. Her ribs are cracked, but she'll live."
It was a relief. If Eris died now, surviving as a two-year-old would be hell, even with my knowledge.
I tried to sit up. Marshall D. Teach's body was truly miraculous. His physical endurance far surpassed that of a normal human, even at this young age. But there was something else. Something churned in my stomach.
Darkness.
It wasn't just a metaphor. The Yami Yami no Mi didn't sleep. It was like a small black hole inside me, hungry and demanding. Every time I moved, I felt a strange tug of war within my muscles. Controlling a toddler's body with immature motor skills while resisting the power of this most unstable Logia was a maddening challenge.
"What's your name, child?" the old man asked suddenly, his piercing eyes boring into mine.
"Teach," I replied curtly. "Marshall D. Teach."
The old man's eyes widened slightly when he heard the initial 'D,' but he quickly hid his surprise with a chuckle. "That's a heavy name for such a little boy. My name is Xerxes. Once a navigator, now just an old guard on this cursed island."
Xerxes poured porridge into a wooden bowl and handed it to me. "Eat. You need energy."
I ate the porridge greedily. Teach's hunger was beyond belief.
"You're lucky," Xerxes muttered, staring into the fire. "Very lucky. Honestly, I was already preparing a hoe to bury your bodies when I saw the ship crash into the shore."
"Why?" I asked between chews.
"No human has set foot on this island for over twenty years," Xerxes said, his voice low. "Many ships have tried to approach. They've all been smashed to pieces before reaching shore. The fact that you and your mother were able to land alive... it's a miracle. Or perhaps, this island allowed you to enter."
Xerxes picked up a piece of wood and began drawing a halved circle on the cave floor.
"Once upon a time, this place was a battlefield between two monsters," Xerxes began. "Two Devil Fruit users who had reached the Awakened stage. Their powers changed the structure of this island forever."
He pointed to the left side of the drawing.
"This side is the territory of the Zushi Zushi no Mi (Press-Press Fruit). Here, gravity is a cruel god. But its force is uneven. At the outer edges, the pressure is perhaps only twice normal gravity—enough to make an ordinary human breathless and unable to move."
Xerxes's face hardened. "But as you go inward, approaching the Island Core where the battle takes place, the pressure increases crazily. 10 times, 50 times, 100 times... until right at the core, it reaches 1000 times. There, even light struggles to escape. Your bones will be reduced to dust before you can even blink."
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. 1,000 times? It's equivalent to the pressure at the bottom of the deepest ocean, but on land.
Xerxes' finger then moved to the right side of the image, where we were now.
"And his opponent... is the user of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi (Float-Float Fruit). He negates gravity. The right side of this island is his domain. Here, the law of mass is played with."
Xerxes stared at me sharply. "And that's where your luck lies, Teach. Your ship was swept away by the current and landed at the lowest level of the Fuwa Fuwa region."
"The lowest stage?"
"Yes. At the edge of this region, the effect is weakest. Objects only become slightly lighter, allowing your ship to 'float' when it hits the reef instead of being completely destroyed by the impact. If you had landed even a hundred meters to the left—entering the early stages of Zushi Zushi—your fragile baby body would have been crushed into paste under the pressure of the double gravity."
I paused, staring at my trembling hands. So that's why I felt nauseous and lightheaded when we landed. I survived not because I was strong, but because I landed in the safe zone—a zone of weightlessness that protected us from destruction.
"The energy of the two Awakenings never dissipated," Xerxes continued. "They collided in the center of the island, creating a 'Gravitational Fault Line.' This island rejects the weak. You were able to enter here because you landed on the 'forgiving' side of the island, the Fuwa Fuwa side."
I looked down. Luck, huh? A true pirate needs luck as much as strength.
But inside me, the Yami Yami no Mi pulsed. My power is the gravity of darkness. Maybe it wasn't just luck that led me here. Maybe this darkness seeks a place where gravity is manipulated, a place where it can learn to dominate everything.
I clenched my fists. The pain was still there, but my resolve was stronger. I had to make this insane island—with its 1,000x gravity zones and its zero-gravity zones—my training ground. I had to conquer both sides.
"Grandpa Xerxes," I called, looking him in the eye with a seriousness unnatural for a toddler.
"Ho?"
"Teach me," I said firmly. "How to survive on this island."
Xerxes paused for a moment, then laughed so loudly that the cave echoed. "Hahahaha! You speak like an adult, kid! That look in your eyes... it's not the eyes of a baby who just escaped death."
He stood up. "Very well. Since you've adapted to the mild climate of the Fuwa Fuwa zone, we'll begin tomorrow. But remember, Teach... stepping too far into Zushi Zushi territory before you're ready is tantamount to suicide."
I smiled faintly. Challenge accepted.
The new era waits for no one, and I would be the one to shake it up.