《One Piece - Demon of the Ocean》


 Chapter 1 - Awakening

    I looked at the knife in my hands. My hand trembled as I slowly brought it over to my neck, a neck filled to the brim with cuts and scars, proof of the many, many attempts so far.


    For how long have I been trapped in this body? For so long, I have disappointed my family, abused my friends... abused myself. This body is not me.


    I have hated myself for as long as I can remember. A life fulfilled, friends coming over every night to keep me company and support me, drugs never have even entered my sight, my family coming over every time they got the chance... And yet, I still do this.


    Isn''t it disgusting? How can I, a person blessed with such good fortune, still be so miserable on the inside. I lost count of how many times I cursed at the gods above if there are any. How many times have I told myself ''just end it''.


    And yet, for 21 years, 5 months and 12 days, I have continued this miserable existence. I buried myself inside video-games to escape reality during my teenage years, but now that I need to work, I cannot even hide anymore.


    I wake up in the morning, walk to the mirror and look at my reflection. Five times, that mirror broke. Five times, I had to get an operation for my broken hand and three times I risked forever losing said hand.


    My hand unconsciously lowered, bringing the knife away from my neck as tears threatened to burst through my eyelids. And yet, I used up all of my remaining willpower and, with a swift cut, plunged the knife into my throat.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    For an instance, nothing happened. Then, all strength left my body. Surprisingly, I didn''t feel anything. No pain, no regrets, nothing.


    Instead, I closed my eyes. I could feel my head getting lighter by the second, and yet, for some reason, an image of a beautiful beach appeared in my mind.


    I have always loved the sea. I love its animals, I love the feeling of water on my skin, I love what it represents: freedom inside of order.


    Every sea creature is free, and yet, they are all there for a reason. Sardines are free, they can run wherever they want, and yet, they belong there. They have a place, a reason, a belief for them.


    Finally, I felt like I was about to fall unconscious. My head was clear of all thoughts, except that beautiful beach. Slowly, the image became clearer and clearer.


    However, I felt like something was missing. I wanted to be there, be inside that beautiful picture. I couldn''t simply allow myself to disappear like this. I needed one happy moment in this tragic life, or else, I will have an unwashable regret when I enter that special place in Hell for suicide victims.


    Hence, with a willpower that even surprisedme, I picture the real me inside of that dream.


    Finally, right as I die, I smile for one last time as I look at this strange image inside my mind. It''s beautiful. With that thought, I let myself be consumed by the encroaching darkness.


    <hr>


    "AAAAAAAAAH!" I screamed as I threw myself up. Pain coursed through my body, making me feel like I was being devoured alive by ants and on fire at the same time.


    My limbs spasmed randomly, and only after 5 minuted did my body return to normal.


    However, by that time, I was unconscious again.

 Chapter 2 - Noob Island

    <table>


    <tbody>


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    <td style="text-align: center">Welcome to Noob Island</td>


    </tr>


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    Waking up with a huge migraine, multiple strange sensations in my body, an urgent need to vomit and with my back screaming in pain, was definitely not on my list of things I want to do.


    My head felt light and I couldn''t produce coherent thoughts. My basic instincts, however, forced me to sit up and look around me.


    The moment I did so, my head was suddenly cleared of all fog and my eyes unconsciously widened into two huge orbs.


    A sea as vast as the eye could see laid in front of me. Beautiful waves rolled over from the sea into the beach filled with sand I was on.


    I turned around and what greeted me was a magnificent forest with trees easily dozens of meters tall. Birds sang beautiful songs and small animals waltzed around, doing their things, ignoring me completely.


    With the environment taken into account, my mind finally turned online, and I immediately went into a panic.


    Where am I? Was I kidnapped? Hadn''t I just... died? What happened? Why am I alive? Where is my family? Why does my body feel weird?


    A thousand questions and zero answers. Just as I was about to have a mental breakdown, an image of my martial arts instructor appeared in my mind.


    "Remember, Lucas. There will be a time where everything seems hopeless and the world just stops making sense. In those times, always remember to take a deep breath and remember that no matter what happens, you will always be yourself."


    Like a boiling rock thrown into freezing water, my mind snapped back and I regained my clarity.


    First of all, I examined my body for any potential scratches, because infections are not something to underestimate. Fortunately, I had none, unfortunately, something had happened to my body.


    First of all, my chest had grown. Not by a lot, but it was definitely noticeable. Second of all, my hair had also grown all the way down to my back.


    I smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to make of it. An idea popped into my mind and I walked over to the water, noticing as I did so how my body had generally become slimmer.


    When I reached right where the water, I took a deep breath and slowly walked deeper into the sea. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, so I could go in the water without getting my clothes wet.


    When I reached where the water touched my knees, I looked down at the reflection in the water. A slight gasp, a mix of admiration, confusion, fear and a million other things escaped my lips.


    A girl with long brown hair and golden eyes looked back at me from the water. Slowly, like a kid with a new toy, I made strange faces, looking at the reflection as it did the same things I did.


    Shakingly, I brought my finger over to the reflection and poked it, looking at the water moved away, breaking the reflection.


    "This..." I was speechless. I was happy, but also confused. Then, I remembered that image in my head right as I died.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Everything was the same. The water, the forest, the beach, me. It was creepy how everything was so identical, so... perfect.


    At this point, I couldn''t hold it in anymore. I broke out into a fit of hysterical laughing, screaming, crying and giggling. I tore at my sides with my nails and bit my arm so hard I left marks on it.


    I had no fucking idea what was going on! Why am I like this! Where the fuck amI?!


    <table>


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    <td style="text-align: center">You are in Noob Island</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I looked at the strange screen in front of me with wide eyes for a good dozen of seconds. I wasn''t completely oblivious to the whole ''blue screen'' thing, but to see one in front of me like this felt surreal. Perhaps it is surreal, although I''m 100% sure this is anything but a dream.


    Alright, let''s try this. What happened to me?


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    <td style="text-align: center">You were sent to Noob Island</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


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    Completely useless. Just great.


    If going by the line of thought that my body changed and that I somehow escaped death, I could only come to one conclusion. In which world am I in?


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    <td style="text-align: center">You are in the One Piece world.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    And there''s my answer.


    <hr>


    Two hours had passed since I woke up. During this time, I checked out the island, constantly questioning the blue screen about information. Turns out, they do give basically any information I want, as long as I ask it in a very specific manner.


    This way, I always know what fruits are good to eat and what animals can potentially harm me. I almost ate a poisonous fruit once, but thankfully, I remembered to ask and was saved because of them.


    Now, I am sitting on a large rock near the beach. Several dozens of very tasty fruits, berries, and even a dead squirrel lay next to me, all things I can gather in less than a couple hours. It''s impressive how much food there is in this place.


    Basically, as of now, I was still waiting for something to happen, or if nothing does, at least get an idea of what I need to do to survive.


    "What is the reason I am on Noob Island?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


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    <td style="text-align: center">You are in Noob Island because it is the starting island. This island will disappear after you leave, and every 4 days all food will be replenished and the river will be purified.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    That''s extremely convenient. So basically, I am the only one here, with infinite food, water, resources... Anything I want except other people?


    As I was thinking about it whilst casually kicking my legs off the side of the stone, a message popped up from the blue screen.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="text-align: center">


    WARNING!


    It has been identified that you have adapted successfully to your new situation!


    Congratulations!


    We will now provide you with a task that will decide whether you live or not.


    This task has 4 choices in it. Each one is more difficult but has greater rewards.


    1) Defeat King Koala


    Rewards: 4 million berries


    2) Defeat the Sea King Kokoko


    Rewards: A warship, 3 million berries


    3) Slay 1000 beasts (animals do not count)


    Rewards: 5 million berries, a longship, an advanced haki manual


    4) Slay all Kings of Noob Island


    Rewards: One Devil Fruit of the host''s choice, an advanced haki manual, an armed longship, 2 million berries


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I stared at this screen for a good dozen of seconds, thoughts racing through my mind.


    No matter how I looked at it, all of these were completely impossible. I struggle to kill a rabbit, how do I kill monsters that can shatter ships and destroy towns?


    Yet, something in me told me otherwise. Something that I had always had, yet always hidden. That part of me that simply wants to let loose, have fun. Have MY kind of fun. Have real fun.


    My body was suddenly possessed by a demon. A creepy smile surfaced on my face and my hands moved automatically, click on the fourth choice.


    <table>


    <tbody>


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    <td style="text-align: center">


    You have chosen option 4. Locations of all Kings have been revealed.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    The demon inside of me laughed. It wanted to see the blood flow, the adrenaline rushing through me.


    I had always fought against this demon. This demon that once possessed me, and left me miserable for the rest of my life. And yet, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn''t let myself restrain this demon once more.


    No rules, no society. The strong devour the weak, the crazy shatter the orderly, the fury of war consumes the stillness of peace.


    Now, this demon was given free reign inside me. Although, in truth, it always had free reign. all it did was restrain itself out of a cold, logical decision.


    This demon was, in truth, me.

 Chapter 3 - Preparing to slay

    5 days had passed since I woke up in this world. During this time, I had built something that resembled shelter, kind of. Hey, I never took outdoor survival courses, I''m not an expert in this area.


    However, I had a portable Siri with me, even if sometimes they struggle to give me proper answers. That said, the only reason I was able to build anything was due to them.


    It''s not like I didn''t struggle at all. For one, I stink horribly. Second, I''m still not used to this new body, and third of all, there is a sense of urgency in me, one that constantly shouts at me to go and kill all of those weird ''kings''.


    Although I was never into it much, I did watch a good part of One Piece. I know it''s lore, and I know that even the weakest of grunts in this world could easily outmatch 10 earthly people.


    To even just kill one king, I would need intelligence, strength, and most importantly, luck. Because luck > skill, as every gamer of any world, would say.


    During these days, I hadn''t been idle. Building a shelter was only one of the things I did. Another was building a sort of fish pond, where I gathered many fishes. I also successfully started a fire, so now I have a reliable and constant source of food.


    The fished themselvesare all very nutritious, as stated by the blue screen, which I guess I can call Siry. Original naming, I know. Please clap at my magnificentnaming sense.


    Other than that, I trained my body at every opportunity possible. I went through several rounds of heavy warm-ups, sit-ups, push-ups and stretching.


    What truly surprises me is the rate of growth of my body. In a mere 5 days, I had accomplished enough in terms of physical growth in what I normally would have done in 5 months.


    Just this alone would have been enough to make my day, however, I also found out that my reflexes and senses all sharpened up to a degree I never experienced before.


    Just by listening acutely to the sounds of birds, my hearing became sharper. By throwing rocks as fast as I could and trying to follow them with my eyes, my brain could now process information faster.


    Of course, I did the obvious and asked the question, "Why is my training so much better here than on Earth?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


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    <td style="text-align: center">


    The Laws of One Piece are different than those on Earth. People have the ability to become a thousand if not million times stronger here than the people on Earth. however, since it is considered normal, nobody takes note of it and very few abuse this law.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    That was more or less the answer I expected, but still, it''s incredibly stupifying to see it with my own eyes.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Now, it is no trouble for me to lift up a small tree and swing it around. Furthermore, my body has remained more or less the same shape, but my muscles have compacted, solidified, showing that their growth is definitely there, just hidden.


    But none of that matters as of now. To me, the only way to defeat a king is through cunning and what I am currently trying to learn: Haki.


    "How do I train in Haki?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


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    <td style="text-align: center">Haki is the force of all living things. To harness it, one has to train their ability to manifest their will.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Although it isn''t what I wanted to know, knowledge is always welcome in my books. "How can I manifest my will?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="text-align: center">To manifest theirwill one has to train their Haki.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    For a second I was left speechless. How can this not be the real Siri? It''s so innocent and... stupid...


    "How do I train my Haki?


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="text-align: center">Haki is the force of all living things. To harness it, one has to train their ability to manifest their will.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I take that back, this is definitelythe original Siri. So fucking useless...


    Alright, it seems Haki is useless. But then, just how do I defeat those fucking kings?


    "Who is the weakest king and would I be able to defeat it?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="text-align: center">


    The weakest of the 4 kings is Drakkon, a giant squirrel residing inside the forest.


    His abilities include but are not limited to fire breath, extreme strength, iron hide, extreme senses.


    With the host''s current ability, Drakkon would be able to defeat the host without any trouble at all.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    I held the desire to curse and scream. I had no Haki, I had no weapons, I had nothing. Of course, that bastard can defeat me without a thought!


    I grit my teeth as my eyes turned bloodshot in rage. This fucking world, those fucking kings. Why can''t they just die?


    Suddenly, a thought flashed through my head. All of my emotions were wiped out in an instant as all of my attention focused on that idea.


    I once heard that by battling and killing, one could become stronger so fast that they could shatter any unfavorable odds, just like Luffy regularly did.


    If I go by that line of thought, don''t I just need to slay everything in this island multiple times over, then go and slaughter those kings?


    An evil grin slowly formed on my face. Slowly, I turned my eyes towards the forest.


    In there, many cute animals scurried around. Larger beasts sometimes roared, and every hour or so, you could hear the much stronger beasts shatter the relative peace by slaughtering some weaker beast.


    No point in asking what to do. No reason to lose hope. Yes, I had this all in the bag.


    Come, little beasts. Let this neo-mommy hug you and tear you into a lot of very, very small pieces.


    With those thoughts in my mind, I headed off to find a suitable piece of wood to make me some sort of weapon.


    An hour later and a lot of scratching wood on a rock, I was finally done. A short stick with a very, very pointy end was comfortably settled in my hand, ready to tear through beastly flesh.


    I was never one to feel anything for others. In fact, I once worked in a butchery, so I''m used to gore. Furthermore, I too bloodied my hands once. Although it was traumatizing, it opened my eyes.


    Now, I could firmly announce to the world. "Heh. Who is the real predator now?"


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="text-align: center">The top predator of Noob Island is currently Kokoko, the Sea King.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    For fucks sake Siry, don''t ruinit!

 Chapter 4 - Birds of prey

    "One hundred thirty-five... One hundred thirty-six..." I shouted to myself as I raised myself up and down, in short, doing push-ups.


    However, these were no normal push-ups. No, these were far, far more difficult, because not only was I using only one hand, but the other one was holding a giant boulder just over my back.


    My face was completely red and my whole body was filled with sweat. Fortunately, I was completely naked because I expected this to happen, so my clothes were all nice and safe.


    It has been 4 months since I came to this noob island. A lot of things had happened, but, truth be told, they can easily be summarized up in a couple sentences.


    I trained for the first two weeks non-stop, constantly challenging powerful beasts and constantly improving my martial arts techniques and improving my technique with random weapons I came across. I''m not going to deny the fact that I got my ass handed to me a good number of times, in fact, at least 75% of all my battles ended up with me either running away or both me and my opponent retreating because neither of us desired mutual destruction.


    I also became a master at concocting medicines and self-healing, since I kind of like... did it a lot? Fighting isn''t like in animes where wounds mysteriously appear and then disappear, real life is a lot different, kiddos.


    Then, around a month ago, I decided to try my hand at challenging Drakkon. It was an intense fight, but eventually, I was overwhelmed.


    I escaped death by an extremely small margin. The main reason as to why I didn''t straight up die is probably Siry, as they constantly fed me vital information on how to treat myself and ways to avoid being tracked down and slaughtered.


    Normally, the wounds I received would have taken months and months, even years, to heal. 80% of my body was severely burned severely, my entire arm was barely attached to my shoulder and my whole face had been turned into minced meat after I got caught by that damn monkey and was repeatedly punched.


    However! This is not a normal world, and everything operates under many different rules. It took merely a couple weeks for all my burns to heal, and just recently, both my face and arm finished healing.


    Since then, I have been furiously training every single moment of my day. I don''t know whether it''s true or not, but at this point, I''m starting to think I''m a huge masochist since I can''t help but constantly try to kill myself by attempting really stupid things. At least it works out (usually).


    If I was to compare myself to a regular human now, I could easily be called a complete monster. I have no trouble lifting huge boulders that, if my estimates are correct, weight around ~300 kilos.


    However, it never seems enough. Memories of Drakkon''s fearsome fire breaths, his immeasurable strength, and borderline indestructible hide constantly surface in my mind, reminding me that I can never stop improving.


    Just thinking that Drakkon is the weakest of all the Kings makes me shiver. Just how do you defeat a beast like that?


    Without even noticing, I had already reached 200 push-ups whilst lost in thought. I throw the rock to the side, letting it slam into the ground and create a small quake.


    I walked down to the intersection between the beach and the forest. There, I had built a wooden hut and a small pond next to it, filled with fishes of all kind.


    Something I noticed as I gradually improved was that my food intake slowly increased. That doesn''t mean I became fat, but rather, it''s as if my body needs more energy, which makes sense.


    Hence, the amount of fishes that I need to catch has been constantly increasing. Although it has become a matter of merely looking at a fish, lounging with my hand and spearing it through the fish, then eating said fish, this process still requires a long time overall since all the fishes are simply too small.


    Sighing, I jumped on top of the huge rock next to my house and sat down cross-legged. Closing my eyes, I began my daily meditation and focused on the world around me, trying to feel its energies.


    At the start, I felt like it was completely pointless. However, after several months of constant attempts, I can feel that I''m close to reaching out to those energies. I just need a couple more weeks, then I will be able to contact what I suspect is the famous observation Haki.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Suddenly, my senses spiked up. My closed eyes snapped open and my hand shot up and caught something mid-air, then squeezed it so hard it exploded in a mist of blood, flesh, and organs.


    My entire body was dirtied by the blood and guts of the being that had foolishly attempted to ambush me during the small span of time my senses were all at their maximum.


    However, this was not the first time this had happened. I didn''t dare let my guard down as I rose up and looked at the sky with a cold face.


    Hundreds, no, thousands of birds the size of my palm flew in circles high above. Individually, these birds were nothing. However, what is truly scary is that they are never alone...


    <table>


    <tbody>


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    <td style="text-align: center">


    Name: Bloodseeking Houdinis


    Individual Threat: 2% -  Group Threat: 60%


    A powerful group of birds that operate in gigantic murders. They aren''t very smart nor strong individually, however, their mere number assure them a good spot as one of the top predators of Noob Island, and even some parts of the real world.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Just as Siry says, these birds are quite the pain to deal. However...


    I unconsciously licked my lips, my whole body trembling as my tongue picked up the wonderful taste of blood and bird flesh.


    I haven''t eaten chicken in a long time, and it just happens that I am really hungry. I am quite thankful these birds were kind enough to show up for Thanksgiving by themselves.


    Dropping to my knees for a second, I waited for the Houdinis to do their usual thing. Just like I expected, they all dropped from the skies in a massive death-plunge.


    I''ll admit, it''s extremely terrifying the first time you see it. Imagine, the sky filled with beaks all coming towards you at a crazy speed.


    However, now that I know their patterns, it''s not quite as impressive. A couple seconds after I crouched, I launch myself to the side and make a mad sprint for the beach.


    Usually, going for an open space against a huge number of opponents is a bad idea. However, those stupid birds have the advantage of higher mobility, so if I was to go in the forest, I would get trapped and then whittled down. Although not smart, those Houdinis aren''t something I want to ever underestimate.


    As the Houdinis all leave trails of red just where I previously stood, most of them adjust their trajectory towards where I''m going. As I furiously run, dodge and slide, the single-minded birds constantly attack in straight lines, making it all too easy for me to dodge them with my improved reflexes.


    After around 20 minutes of constantly dodging and tanking small hits, the difference between me humans and small birds began to show.


    First of all, humans have incredible stamina. I don''t know the specifics, but I read that we can actually regenerate stamina even whilst running. Furthermore, our huge bodies allow us to store a lot more energy than the much smaller Houdinis, who have been furiously using all their energy carelessly.


    Now, their plunges were a lot slower, and some of them had even landed a couple dozen meters away to take breathers. With a grin, I decided that this was the time for the counterattack.


    As the new round of death-plunges arrived, my arms moved like a tornado as they began slapping the now sloppy birds off the air and then squashing them with my feet or just leaving them to die. Now that they were all tired, they couldn''t use the small windows of time I presented them during my counterattacks.


    It didn''t take long for the birds to notice that the tide had shifted. Crying out in their annoyingly squeaky voice, they all beat for a retreat to the skies. However, isn''t retreat also a synonym for vulnerability?


    I lunged up multiple times, snatching the small birds off the air and throwing them against the ground or against rocks. During the 10 or so seconds in which they all flew away, over 200 birds were killed, compared to the 100 that died during the actual fight.


    As the Houdinis flew away, I finally allowed myself to relax. This wasn''t the first time I faced Houdinis, and at this point, I didn''t really fear them. However, they are still annoying.


    But today, I think I will enjoy this attack. My stomach gave the signal with a loud rumble, so I headed back towards the hut to take out some woods and materials to light a fire and other cooking utensils...


    <hr>


    My belly was full. My mind was well-rested, and my body in perfect condition. And yet, I couldn''t help but feel empty inside. Despite the fire being right next to me, I felt cold. A freezing, icy cold that refuses to let go.


    I watched the night sky in silence for a long time. How long have I been stuck here, training like a madman, or madwoman now? Even if I know the answer, it doesn''t help the loneliness inside me.


    I looked at my own hands. They were still beautiful and soft, but now, they were beginning to show signs of raw power. I looked at my legs. A single kick from one of them could crush a car and send it flying.


    And yet, it isn''t enough. Those kings are called kings for a reason. However, despite my suspicions that my mind had been altered to a more bloody and primal form since coming to this word, the main evidence being the complete lack of disgust towards gore, even enjoyment of it, this alteration evidently hadn''t changed my need for company.


    How much longer until I can finally defeat these damn kings? How much longer until I can go and explore this world?


    I hugged my knees and watched the waves as they slowly rolled over to the beach. It looked unreal, something straight out of a fantasy. Hell, it even seemed as though a draft was slowly moving towards this island.


    I looked at the stars and tried linking them into images, trying to kill time before sunrise so I could begin my training once more. However, just as I was about to do that, my eyes snapped back over to the sea.


    Hold on a second, that''s not my imagination, that''s a real fucking ship! Well, sort of...


    Still, people!

 Chapter 5 - The crazy nudist

    "God damn it, where did this storm come from?" A sailor cried out as wave after wave smashed against their small ship.


    As all the panicked sailors ran around like headless chickens, desperately trying to hold on to something, a chubby man with rich clothing shouted "You fools! Go tend the sails! Do something or the ship will sink and so will all my merchandise!!"


    Under normal circumstances, nobody would have dared disobey the chubby man. However, under the imminent and serious threat of their ship being ravaged by the wrath of the seas, his voice didn''t even register in the sailor''s ears.


    The sailors all conglomerated in various safer points, trying to resist the fury of the storm. Amongst one of these groups, one, in particular, stood out.


    A young man stood in front of the group of sailors, his hands pointed forward and a weird barrier forming from it, covering both him and the group behind him.


    Compared to the other zones, where the waves constantly threw people off the ship, whenever a wave tried to hit this part of the ship the shield stopped it. That''s not to say they were unaffected by the other waves, but they were still faring much better than the others.


    "Thank you, captain!", "You can do it!" The sailors inside the barrier shouted in encouragement. The young man grimaced hearing these, knowing well that although it seemed like he was doing something useful, he really wasn''t.


    This was proven true the moment a gigantic wave easily over 40 meters tall appeared on the horizon. At this point, even the chubby man was screaming and crying, completely unprepared to face the true nature of the sea.


    Seeing this wave, the young man dropped his barrier and fell to his knees, breathing heavily and covered in sweat, but that sweat was soon washed away by a large splash of water.


    "It''s hopeless..." The young man lamented as the huge wave finally arrived and shattered the ship, instantly killing many of the relatively weaker sailors and passengers.


    Despite his hard struggle, the young man too was soon devoured by the sea. His devil fruit made him even weaker than the others.


    Just like that, yet another innocent ship was swallowed by the merciless seas, never to be heard from again... except for one member of the ship, of course.


    <hr>


    My body automatically coughed out all the water in my lungs, which was a lot. My eyes were burning from all the salt in them, as was my nose. My entire body was trembling, but somehow, I was alive.


    I looked all around me, seeing only water. Calm water. Under me was a rather large piece of wood, which was thankfully still afloat.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I wanted to cry. Cry about the injustice done to me. Cry about the poor fate of my companions. Cry about the cruelty of our boss. He definitely knew there was going to be a storm. He probably just wanted to get rid of that fatass without seeming suspicious.


    I tried to conjure a barrier to protect me from the water, but I found myself unable to. Of course, as a devil fruit user, once wet I cannot use my powers.


    All I could therefore do was huddle at the center of the raft and pray for the current to bring me somewhere... anywhere.


    Soon, despite my best efforts, the exhaustion quickly set it, forcing me to blissful sleep...


    <hr>


    "Wake up, kiddo. Naptime is over." My eyes snapped open, my entire body hurting.


    The first thing I saw was... legs. Upside down legs.


    My eyes traveled up a bit before I forcefully closed them, trying to forget what I just saw.


    This was not taken kindly by the owner of the legs, as I felt my body be thrown rather hard. I yelped as I landed on boiling-hot sand.


    I quickly got up, patting the sand still sticking to me in an attempt to get it off. Then, someone whispered in my ears from behind me. "Is this how you thank someone who just saved you? You should be... 15? 16? Yes... you could act as excellent bait..."


    I turned around as fast as I could and was met with a face right up against mine.


    Beautiful golden eyes staring straight into mine, extremely long hair that almost reached the floor and a body far taller than any girl I had ever seen, it was as if I was staring at a goddess. My eyes unconsciously lowered themselves down to her breasts and I gulped hard.


    As if noticing my stare, the woman raised an eyebrow and followed my eyes, landing on her own breasts. She smirked and looked back at me. "Oh? Never seen a pair of boobs before, kid? Heh, I know I''m beautiful, you''re making me embarassed~"


    She raised a hand over to her face in a dramatic attempt and stuck her chest out. I couldn''t take any more of this and quickly took my wet coat off and tried to hand it to her. "Please, miss. Wear this..."


    Before I could say anything more, a stinging sensation spread on my cheeks, and my body was thrown to the side like a doll being thrown by an angry kid.


    "You have some nerves, kid. From the way you''re looking, you probably just barely escaped sure death, and the first thing you worry about is some stupid clothes? Could it be all the people in this world as this stupid?" I looked at the woman with fear. I wasn''t the strongest person out there, I knew that much, but as a captain of lord Kreig, I at least have enough strength to be considered pretty strong.


    And yet, I was so easily slapped. I didn''t even see her attack coming, and I knew she wasn''t serious. What were her intentions? Where am I? Why did she save me?


    "... You''re so hopeless. We''ll have some introductions later. For now, you seem a bit hungry." She said, pointing at my grumbling stomach. I nodded helplessly, eliciting a sigh from her.


    "Alright kid. Follow me. I have some leftover chicken from those stupid fake magicians, then we can talk in a more relaxed atmosphere." She said before turning around and heading towards a small cab made of logs and held together by vines.


    "W-wait!" I shouted as I chased after her.


    "What now?" She turned her head towards me, obviously annoyed. "Could you please, please put on some clothes?" I begged.


    She rolled her eyes but didn''t say anything as she took the coat from my hands and wrapped it around herself.


    I heaved a sigh of relief. Unlike what most people consider us, pirates aren''t rapists. Sure, we do pillage and steal here and there, but we''re mainly seeking adventure.

 Chapter 6 - A deal struck

    "So, you became the captain of a single, shitty merchant ship despite all of that?" The strange woman asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.


    "Yeah... My boss isn''t exactly one to believe in meritocracy." I said, somewhat ashamed. Truth be told, if I wasn''t forced to, I would never have been working with lord Kraig anyway.


    "That''s messed up." The woman said as she looked up. I followed her gaze and found myself lost in the beautiful night sky too.


    I was born a stable boy. My father had been a nameless slave, and like one, he died without me ever meeting him. The only reason I''m not still a slave is that I was lucky enough to find a devil fruit by complete luck, and thanks to its powers, I escaped my owners.


    However, since then, I have always been on the run. I have worked for several bosses, with lord Kraig being the latest one. He took me in since he was interested in my powers, and then sent me on a mission. I later discovered that our unit was actually spotted by marine scouts, and I was somehow recognized.


    Hence, now, if I was to ever leave the safety of Kraig''s gang, the marines would quickly catch me and either execute me or throw me in prison.


    I was pulled out of my thoughts by a question from the strange woman, who had gone ahead and got herself another of the fishes from the fire. "I''m interested in that devil fruit of yours. I''ve heard a lot about them, but I still want to hear the opinion of a flesh-and-blood user before I pick one for myself."


    I was stunned for a second at her question. For a second, I wanted to ask her what she meant by ''picking''. You don''t choose a devil fruit, the devil chooses you. However, I didn''t want to overstep my boundaries.


    "Well... It''s not really that amazing. They make you a specialist of sorts, for example, during battles I would usually use my barriers to protect our ship when barrages from enemy ships fired or otherwise I would use them in hand-to-hand combat as excellent counters... Every fruit is different though, so I can''t really talk about the entire devil fruit community." I said, somewhat awkwardly. I still wasn''t used to talking with women, and I was still somewhat confused about just how I survived.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    As I just said, I''m a devil fruit user. I can''t swim at all, so, how did I somehow end up on that large plank? I grasped my throbbing head and tried to calm down. Forcing myself to remember wouldn''t lead to anything good, and besides, it doesn''t really matter. I''m alive, and that''s all that matters.


    "Kid... I''ll tell you this only once, so listen well." The woman said as she rose up from her position on the highest point of the rock.


    We looked into each other''s eyes, and I could see that she was seriously considering something, and unfortunately, I knew what that something was. Keep me, or leave me.


    "I am trapped in this island, as are you. Our only way to leave is by killing all of the island''s kings, and I am only barely as strong as the weakest of them all. Your powers interest me, so I will not leave you to die. However..." She paused as she looked at me for any reactions.


    I smiled nervously, not knowing what to say. In truth, this wasn''t even the worst thing that happened to me, so I wasn''t particularly perturbed.


    "... Mhm. You''re no normal kid. How old are you anyway?" She asked. I thought about it for a bit, since I don''t really keep track of my age. "I think I''m 17? I don''t know exactly when I was born though." I answered after giving it a moment of thought.


    "Good. Go get some sleep, there''s a bed in the house, you can use it for tonight, but after that, it will belong to me and me alone. I don''t have any real rules set here, just don''t do anything stupid. We wake up at dawn and will train till midday. We will take a break then and hunt ourselves some food, then we''ll go back to training. Good luck." She jumped off the rock and walked towards the forest.


    I kept my eyes on her for a bit, only taking them off after she disappeared into the forest. So many questions I wanted to ask, and yet, I didn''t dare to. I knew that something was off about her the moment I saw her, but now that I''ve got to interact with her for a bit, I''m just confused.


    Outside, she seems like a weirdo. However, inside... I don''t know. I saw certain glimpses of madness a couple of times, for example, the way her eyes turned crazy for a moment at the mere mention of training and when she mentioned the bosses.


    But she also seemed to care about me. I know she doesn''t have another bed prepared, and for her to leave the bed to me, someone she''s just met... Ugh, I don''t know. God damn women.


    "Perhaps she likes me?" I wondered, before slapping myself. I seriously have to stop daydreaming.


    After checking everything was safe and cleaned up, I headed to the very small hut. Inside, there was a mass of furs and feathers, probably the bed. There was also some weapons along the sides. Nothing fancy, but still better than what we had in the ship.


    It didn''t take me long to fall asleep. I don''t know what I dreamed, but for some reason, when I woke up, I felt strangely refreshed, in a way I never experienced before.

 Chapter 7 - Life on Noob Island

    " More! Put more in it! Don''t hold back!" A woman roared out as her muscles tensed up. "On it, boss!" A young man replied almost religiously as he increased the pressure.


    "Hnnng... Is that all you got!? I''ve had a harder time waking up in this morning than this shitty exercise!" The woman roared again. Although she said that, it was obvious she was at her limits.


    This woman had insanely long brown hair that reached past her feet and dragged on the ground. Her eyes shined a beautiful gold, and her body, although not as muscular as that of a bodybuilder, was pretty close. She was full of muscles, and all of them were at their limits right now, veins threatening to explode seeing how enlarged they were.


    "I think that''s enough, boss. You''re at your limits!" The young man warned. He had beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair. He was nowhere as muscular as the woman but was still very fit.


    "Didn''t we almost die when we faced that stupid koala? If you don''t increase your stupid pressure, I''ll triple your own exercise for a week." Hearing this, the man smiled nervously as cold sweat poured out like a broken dam.


    "Alright!" He said, almost as if to encourage himself. He looked at the woman currently on the ground and, closing his eyes, tripled the pressure he was emitting.


    The woman was in a strange position with her back on the ground, one of her hands pushing each side and her legs pushing forward. A greenbarrier-like object surrounded her, crushing herfrom all sides.


    When the man increased the pressure, strange cracking and popping sounds came from the woman trapped in the barriers. Blood poured from multiple points in her body, but she didn''t say anything. For 20 minutes she endured before she finally gave in.


    "That''s... Enough..." The moment he heard this, the young man dropped everything, and the barrier instantly disappeared.


    "Linda!" The man cried out, seeing just how badly the woman was hurt. He quickly picked her up and helped her walk back to a large house. Not a fancy one, but it still had all the basic necessities.


    After entering, the man swiftly put the woman, Linda, on a bed and quickly began tending to her wounds whilst chastizing her without end.


    "I understand you''re a training freak, and I know you''re messed up, but still, how far will you go? You could''ve died! What''s the point of trying to defeat the kings if you''re dead!" He screamed as he accidentally gripped her arm so tightly his fingers turned purple (her arm was fine though).


    Linda laughed weakly, barely able to talk. "You''ve known me for a long time... I want to get out of here. I despise this place. I''ve lost count of how many years we''ve spent here... And the only way for me to get out of here is to become strong enough to slay that elongated worm."


    The young man''s mouth opened and closed several times, trying to find something to say, but he eventually gave up and went back to nursing Linda.


    They had tried to simply leave multiple times, building small rafts or even decent boats. However, every time they arrived a couple hundred meters from the shore, a strange barrier, different from his own, appeared and blocked Linda from leaving. He could easily pass through it, but to Linda, the barrier was indestructible and impassable.


    Theoretically, he wasn''t stuck. He could leave if he wanted to, however, it was impossible to expect his journey to an inhabited island to be a smooth one. He didn''t have any experience piloting boats, he had no maps, and he didn''t even know where he was right now. Besides, he felt obligated to at least help his savior, who had basically babysat him from a ''weak little kiddo'' as she called him to what he was now. Furthermore, she also saved his life a good number of times...The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    They had spent a lot of time together. Be it training, hunting, eating or coming up with ideas on how to slay a certain King (those things still made no sense to him. They simply hanged out in certain locations without ever moving from there, and only attacked the two of them and nothing else). Hence, he knew her fairly well by now. If he were to describe her in a single sentence, it would be something like this:


    "Insane, easy to anger, masochist, nudist, hard-headed..." He whispered under his breath as he sat down on a pile of furs. He knew it wouldn''t take more than a couple of days for her to heal up completely, but most likely, she''d be back in a couple hours and would, without doubt, drag him out and force him to help her train.


    It was true he too benefitted from this training. His devil fruit abilities had increased at least thousandfold, and he was now at least as strong physically as a marine commander in the south blue, his home. He could probably fend off a vice-commander, but he wasn''t sure since he never actually met any.


    As for how strong Linda was? He wasn''t sure. She had told him all about this strange ''blue screen'' of hers and how it could grant her a devil fruit and a ship if shekilled the kings. Honestly, he dreaded the idea of that monster having a devil fruit, as she was already terrifyingly strong and fast.


    She also told him about Haki, which he had never heard of before. They were still struggling to learn it, but he could feel he was close to learning it. Linda was a millimeter away from achieving it too.


    As he was idly thinking about this, he went and caught a couple of large fish and cooked them up. Just as he predicted, not later than 5 hours after he left her, Linda showed up, most of the wounds on her closed. She had finally obliged by his wishes and started wearing clothes, even if they barely had any.


    Thankfully, he had learned how to make primitive clothing from his mom, so he successfully taught her how to manage her wardrobe. He didn''t know where she came from, as she refused to talk about it, but he doubted it was from any kind of civilized island, as she didn''t have any idea how normal women should act.


    She sat down next to him and, without asking, snatched one of the fishes cooking over the fire and swallowed it whole, despite it being over a meter long. It disappeared into her stomach, leaving no evidence that it ever even existed.


    She sighed in contentment and leaned over onto his shoulder. "You know, you''d be a perfect wife. Or husband."


    He rolled his eyes in annoyance and grabbed a fish himself to eat it. Halfway through finishing the fish, he noticed that Linda had been looking at him strangely, and with an unusual silence.


    "What''s going on? Do you need something?" He asked. She shook her head, "No. I''m just... feeling weird." Before getting up and going back inside the house. Before closing the door, she took a quick look at the sun''s position and shouted "... Come to my room when the sun goes down. I want to ask you a favor."


    He nodded and went back to finishing his dinner. Linda kept looking at him for a couple more seconds before shutting the door and disappearing.


    After cleaning everything and throwing the remains to the various birds that always gathered to ''help clean the trash'', he did as he was told and headed towards her room.


    Knocking on the door, he entered after hearing a soft "Go on". Upon entering, he was left stunned by the sight. Completely naked, Linda was sitting on the bed, staring at him with pursed lips.


    Despite being used to seeing her naked by now, he still got an erection out of it. However, despite it, he was probably the most self-controlled man in the One Piece world. He simply nodded and asked, "What did you need me for?"


    Without answering, Linda disappeared from her previous spot and reappeared in front of him. The wind soon caught up, creating a powerful breeze.


    Before he could realize what was going on, Linda caught his head and pressed her own against it, in a clumsy attempt at a kiss.


    Despite being stunned and a bit surprised, he didn''t refuse the kiss and hugged her back. She was a good 20cm taller than him, but that didn''t stop him.


    They only separated after a couple minutes, both with ragged breaths. Linda licked her lips in a very perverted manner and whispered in his ear in an even more seductive manner, "We''ve been together for years now... How about we do the ''deed'' men and women do..."


    Without answering, he wrapped his arms around her and pushed her down. Loud moans resounded through the island for several hours that night, along with the invention of one of the best condoms ever made: the ''Barrier-barrier condom''.

 Chapter 8 - Once more

    Linda woke up with a huge headache. It felt as if someone was repeatedly punching her right in her brain, but more than that, she was thoroughly confused with herself.


    Yes, she might have been confused about gender and sexuality in her previous world (and life), but still... She didn''t expect this to happen. She couldn''t voice out her confusion either because it was her who had done everything.


    It was her who had been eyeing him for the past months, it was her who had seduced him last night and pushed him onto the bed. She felt weird, not necessarily the bad kind of weird, but weird nonetheless.


    She didn''t mind having had sex with him, however. It wasn''t a bad experience, so she decided to end it with that.


    After a while, her headache faded and she focused on more urging needs. For one, she noticed that the man, whose name she still hadn''t asked, was sleeping peacefully next to her.


    She looked at his face and, almost unconsciously, reached out and caressed it with her hand. They knew each other extremely well by now, however, she had still hidden her past from him.


    Now that they were basically lovers, she felt the need of telling him. It was a scary prospect, yes, but she had to do it. Even now, she held onto her earthly belief of romanticism and soul mates. If she was going to be with him, she wanted him to accept her for who she was.


    "I promise... When we finally get out of this island, I will conquer a nation for you... I''ll give you all the treasures you want if you stay with me." She whispered in his sleeping ears. He stirred for a moment but didn''t show signs of waking up.


    Later that day, after a great deal of awkwardness which was quickly shattered by the usual hard-headedness of Linda, she forced him to sit down on the usual rock near the beach.


    "I come from another world very different from this one."


    "Mhm."


    "I was also a man before."


    "Mhm."


    "... Is that all you''re going to say?" Linda asked, visibly surprised.


    "Look, consider my own point of view for a moment. Some years ago, I was a useless nobody serving a shitty captain. Then, not only did I survive a storm that should have killed me, but I also met you, who fed me and helped me. Honestly, I couldn''t care less about your past. I mean, I do, but it won''t change my opinion of you." He said, looking at Linda straight in the eyes to show his sincerity.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    She was silent for a long time, not looking at anything in particular. Seeing this, he panicked a bit inside, thinking he had said something wrong.


    He meant what he said. He was honestly unsure of what to do should she decide to leave him, since he had basically nothing left except her. He had nothing of note before either, but now, should he go back to his previous life... He didn''t know. He didn''t even want to think about it.


    After a while, she finally regained her focus and smiled at him. He felt his breath block in his throat as he saw this radiant smile. Sure, she had smiled before, but this felt different.


    "I''m not really experienced with romanticism and all, so if I mess up... forgive me?" She said and slapped a kiss on his cheek before running off to the training area.


    However, before she left his sight, she yelled: "By the way, you still haven''t told me your name!"


    Stunned, he yelled back "Ren. My name is Ren."


    As he watched her quickly disappearing back, he silently thought to himself, "... I can''t remember... my own name."


    <hr>


    3 months had passed since that day. During this time, Linda and Ren had trained like madmen, preparing for their upcoming fight against the Sea King Kokoko.


    Linda had tried to prod Siry for information, but all they said was:


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="text-align: center">Sea King Kokoko is a large monster with a snake-build. He has the power to manipulate a special kind of energy and can use it to fire powerful attacks capable of destroying an entire ship. His main weakness is his large size and relatively slow speed, but he makes up for it with his tough scales.</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Hence, Linda was at a loss on how exactly they should deal with this king. Linda and Ren had used a mixture of brute strength and intelligence to deal with the previous kings, but now, she was unsure of how to deal with this because of a single word.


    "Sea" King Kokoko. Furthermore, the location of the beast was quite obvious, in the middle of the sea. There, Ren had the risk of simply falling in the water, where he would inevitably die should the King attack him.


    But, they could wait no longer. Linda had started getting increasingly anxious, wanting to go out of this island and explore the rest of the world. The tales Ren told her about the "Grand Line", the "Blues" and the many riches out there had stimulated Linda''s greed and blobbing desires.


    Therefore, after a lot of discussing and planning, the two finally decided to build themselves a decent enough ship to carry them over to the battle site.


    This took them less than a month to build, thanks to Linda''s strength and speed, Siry''s assistance and Ren''s barrier ability which helped hold the ship together while it was being built.


    Finally, they decided to name the ship the "Red Ship". A beautiful name, although a bit bland. With this new amazing ship, the couple headed off into the sea under the shining rays of the morning sun.


    And in the next episode of Dragon Ball, watch as the amazing fight between a snake and a couple of lovers happens!

 Chapter 9 - Sacrifice

    The sea was eerily calm. Linda and Ren navigated their primitive ship with ease, but neither of them could stave the anxiety in their hearts.


    They were about to face the most dangerous and deadly fight they had ever fought. Linda was constantly skipping around and shouting orders while Ren was almost mute, both signs of their distress.


    "Are you sure it''s around here?" Ren asked, finally deciding to speak out.


    "Yes. I am positive, Siry says it''s here, so either it''s wrong or the thing is just hiding and waiting to strike at us. Probably the latter." She said with a grim face.


    Ren couldn''t help but sigh. "This is a terrible idea..." He murmured before creating a barrier in the air and jumping on it. The barrier-cum-platform floated up high in the air, far from the crippling disease that was saltwater.


    Linda stared up at him, somewhat stupefied. "You can do that? Since when?"


    Ren smiled but didn''t respond. Linda rolled her eyes and stopped the ship before sitting down at the tip, staring into the water.


    Squinting her eyes, shetried to pierce the absence of light in the water and see what was below. Two red eyes stared back.


    "Jesus Christ!" She screamed in surprise, swiftly jumping away from the ship. Two huge maws soon crushed the ship before returning to the water.


    Before Linda could land in the water, Ren formed a barrier under her, allowing her to remain safe in the air.


    "What... What is that thing?" She asked Ren, her heart pumping. That thing had scared the living hell out of her.


    "That''s definitely not the kind of Sea King I know. I''ve seen a couple, and while they''re big, they''re nowhere near that big and strong." Ren commented, feeling shaken as well.


    As the water began to boil and a shape rose from it, Ren carried the two of them over a hundred meters in the air, just to make sure they were safe.


    Abeast, easily over 300 meters long, rose up, displaying its mighty power with an earth-shaking roar. It looked like a snake, however, it''s mouth was more like that of a crocodile, and it was far too big to be a snake.


    "So... This is the king we''re supposed to kill?" Ren askedsarcastically.


    "Yup. That''s him." Linda said, licking her lips seductively. "I can''t wait to chop its head off and watch as it spasms like a dead chicken." She added.


    Ren rolled his eyes but said nothing. It was a do or die situation at this point, and they couldn''t back out, and the more time they wasted the bigger the risk he wouldn''t be able to hold his barrier.


    Seemingly agreeing, the giant let out a blood-curdling roar and charged at them, it''s jaws large enough to swallow ships whole.


    Linda tensed up and leaped towards the incoming beast, roaring out as well. The two met in an epic clash of titans, and as was easily predictable, Linda got flung back pretty far.


    However, considering her small but dense mass against a large but much less dense mass, she delivered quite a serious blow. The scales of the beast''s forehead had cracked, and it was bleeding quite a bit. Nothing serious for something of such immense size, but impressive nonetheless.


    "Double sledgehammer!" Ren yelled as two cube-like barriers formed on both sides of the beast''s giant head and smashed against each other. The beast quickly moved away, but it was still hit pretty hard.


    Just as the beast was about to recover and attack the semi-defenseless Ren, Linda jumped out from the water and punched the snake''s torso, sending it back into the waters.


    Ren quickly formed a platform under Linda''s feet and brought her up to where he was. She was breathing hard and one her arms was bent the wrong way. She snapped it back into position with a slight grimace.


    "That was fairly easy. What kind of abilities is it gonna pull out of its ass now?" Linda asked rhetorically.


    "My bets are on laser beams from the mouth," Ren predicted, and sure enough, a laser beam of destruction broke through the water, aimed straight at them.


    Ren swiftly formed a huge barrier in front of them, and the mighty beam slammed against it. The barrier cracked, but it held long enough for the two of them to move out of the way. Only then did the barrier give in and shatter.


    "Alright. You won that bet, if we survive this, tonight you get to choose the position." Linda said as she threw herself down against the emerging giant monster.


    "Now''s not the time for that!" Ren yelled, embarrassed. He quickly got back on track and he soon joined Linda on their adventure of whack-a-mole, where the mole was a giant snake of doom.


    After a full hour of this, both parties retreated back to their safe grounds, about equally injured. The sea king retreated into the deep sea, many of its scales broken and even suffered a severe injury in one of its vital organs.


    Linda was breathing raggedly. She had been hit several times by the snake''s lasers and head-butts, hence suffering severe burns in multiple places as well as a lung rupture, which wouldn''t be lethal but was certainly annoying and painful. Annoyingly painful.


    "This is going nowhere. I won''t be able to hold us up for much longer, I''m at my limits already." Ren stated. He had continued to slam hammers, swords, spears, and anything he could create using his barriers to deal most of the damage. Since Linda couldn''t fly and struggled to deal any significant damage, he was the main damage-dealer.


    Linda bit her lips. "I know... but what to do?"


    Ren didn''t have anything to say. Not that he didn''t want to, he just had no solutions to their predicament.


    Linda took a deep breath and clutched her chest,her lung flaring up in pain. She cursed loudly as an unexpected laser attack struck them from behind, not allowing Ren the time to shield them.


    "Oh my god!" Linda screamed as Ren lost control of his devil fruit and the barriers sustaining them disappeared, giving them a free high-dive from hundreds of meters above the surface.


    Linda quickly grabbed Ren and shielded him with her body, taking the brunt of the impact with the water. Whoever says that it is better to slam against water than against ground, is a complete and utter idiot -Linda


    A column of water rose on the spot where the water and Linda made contact, her robust body tanking the majority of the hit, however, her shoulder was shattered and her spine almost broke.


    She wheezed at the pain, and gathering the last remaining parts of her strength, threw Ren as high as she could in the air. He caught on to what she was doing, and the moment he stopped rising and was about to fall back down, he created a barrier under himself.


    He had no chance of surviving in the water. Linda had... almost none, but that''s better than 0, right? At least those were Linda''s thoughts as she floated down.


    ''This was a terrible idea...'' Linda thought as she saw a titanic shadow approach her.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    She knew this was the end. Her body refused to listen to her, 75% of her bones had been broken, the majority of her blood had been lost and she was running out of air.


    In short, she was going to die.


    The thought struck her like a thunderbolt. She didn''t want to die. Not yet.


    Despite that thought, she felt numb. Almost like the whole world revolved around her in third person. A familiar sense, in a way, and one she refused to go through again.


    She struggled with all her might, trying to force herself to move. However, she was no main character with plot armor (...).


    Just as she saw the jaws of death closing in around her, a small screen appeared in front of her eyes.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td style="text-align: center">Do you wish to sacrifice everything to survive? Y/N</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    Without thinking about it, she mentally shouted ''Yes! I don''t want to die again! Let me live a life worth living!''


    The moment after, darkness overtook her and her consciousness fell into the deepest depths of the abyss known as sleep.


    <hr>


    "Linda! Jump out, QUICK!" Ren yelled at the top of his lungs. It had been 2 minutes since she fell in the water, and the giant figure of the sea king was quickly approaching the spot Linda had fallen in.


    Despite not being a devil fruit user herself, Linda wasn''t indestructible. She had taken far too many hits, and now she couldn''t swim.


    Ren felt tears well up in his eyes. Why? Why must this world be so cruel to him?


    First, they took his family. Then, they took his freedom. Then, they took away his youth. Finally, he thought he had gained something, a friend, a loved one. And now, they wanted to take it away again?


    "CURSE YOU, YOU FUCKING SNAKE! CURSE YOU AND THIS FUCKING WORLD!" Ren roared, manifesting his wrath into a single attack.


    A titanic spear-like barrier appeared over his head, over 20 meters in lengthand reflecting an evil light.


    "Die!" Ren roared as he threw the spear down against the sea king.


    However, at that moment, something borderline magical happened.


    The impervious sea king was suddenly thrown out of the water, it''s nearly 300-meter long body thrown away like a useless ragdoll. A couple of seconds later, a loud splash resounded as a huge wave was formed by the snake''s landing. (you could also say... watering...)


    Then, like a god rising from the deepest parts of the world, the sea slowly parted as Linda rose up, flying.


    "No... That''s not right..." Ren''s eyes widened as he looked at ''Linda''. No matter what, the woman he was seeing was not the Linda he knew.


    Her eyes which used to contain an eternal fire and will to struggle were replaced by cold, dead eyes. Her movements seemed almost mechanical, and a strange radiance spread out from her body.


    Meanwhile, the robot-Linda looked at the scared sea king, who had swum a good distance away, re-evaluating its opponent.


    "Initiating termination of system-supported aid. Protocol ''Final Sacrifice'' has been confirmed." The robot-Linda stated in a mechanical voice with no emotion whatsoever.


    "Choosing most fitting devil fruit for the host... Fruit found. Initiating consumption."


    A strange devil fruit suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the robot-Linda''s hand. This fruit looked similar to a regular apple, however, it contained many tentacle-like drawings, all spreading from a central figure that resembled a jaw.


    Then, in a somewhat anti-climactic manner, the robot-Linda shoved the fruit down her throat.


    In a less anti-climactic manner, clouds suddenly appeared in the sky as a cold wind picked up.


    "What... What''s going on? Linda! Come back to yourself!" Ren tried shouting, but to no avail. He wisely chose to keep out of this, as he felt something was off... very off.


    "Consumption successful. Awakening devil fruit... Awakening successful. Initiating erasure of hostilities..."


    As the sea king heard this, it''s manor completely shifted. If before it seemed more like a robot, only making cold decisions and acting rationally, now it seemed to return to its primitive state of mind.


    It let out a mighty roar that shook the ocean as it charged at the robot-Linda. However, her expression didn''t change at all as she extended her right hand towards it.


    Her flesh seemed to suddenly turn into a slime-like form before it began extending and contorting into a huge net-like form.


    Just before the sea king could viciously trample and devour the robot-Linda, her hand expanded in a strange mist of weird, pinkish-red flesh, even larger than the huge sea king.


    The monster cried out in fear and tried to retreat underwater, but the flesh fiercely grabbed it, confirming it to certain doom. Before Ren could realize what had happened, the sea king had been completely enveloped by this weird flesh and somehow, sucked back into robot-Linda''s arm.


    Just like that... The enemy they were just about to die to, had vanished. Ren couldn''t believe his eyes. He had gotten used to weird things these past years, but this... This was another level.


    Lightning started to roll off of Linda as her muscles visibly began to bulge and expand. Her whole body inflated as the strength of the most powerful beast of One Piece entered her, empowering her.


    If the normal Linda had been around, although she wouldn''t have died, she would have wasted 90% of the power due to misusage of her abilities. However, the robot-Linda was a perfect robot created by the weird system. Waste was not in its vocabulary.


    "100% of strength absorbed... Energy powers absorbed... Storing for later usage. All requirements met: system shutting down...


    Thank you for coming to this world, we hope you have a wonderful life. Please rate and subscribe during your next after-life."


    Right after finishing the sentence, the weird entity seemed to leave Linda as she fell down from the skies, unconscious.


    "Linda!" Ren cried out. He quickly formed a barrier under her and jumped over to her location.


    Checking her heartbeat, he heaved a sigh of relief as he felt a steady pumping. He hugged her tightly to his chest as he stuttered, "I... I thought you were going to die..."


    Feeling that his power would run out soon, he quickly jumped back to their boat, which had miraculously survived the huge battle. There, he wanted to patch up Linda but found that she was already in pristine condition.


    As he laid her down and sat next to her, a voice suddenly whispered into his ear.


    "Your time is up."


    In that mere second, he felt his mind be flooded with information. He bent down and screamed in pain and denial at what he just received.


    ''You''re just a puppet..."


    "You have no worth..."


    "You don''t belong here..."


    "You aren''t real..."


    "Return to us..."


    "Wait... Just... Let me speak with Linda one last time..." Ren pleaded. He was close to crying, but he held it off.


    "Yessss... Just three minutes. No more."


    "Thank... Thank you..." Ren whispered and turned his eyes towards the sleeping form of Linda.


    So many questions, previously unanswerable, now seemed so simple. Despite this... He felt content. He knew Linda had lied to him about many things, hid her true self from him, but he knew.


    He knew she loved him. And he loved her.


    What a tragedic ending, Ren snorted. If only he had been less block-headed. Sure, they had sex, but they never truly confessed. So many regrets, so many feelings.


    As he felt her stir, he grabbed her hand and held it tightly. If before, she was like a mountain, hard and unconquerable, now she was steel. The sheer power of her body far surpassed anything he could imagine, but he didn''t care.


    Because what was inside, was weak and helpless.


    As she opened her eyes, Linda seemed in a daze. She looked at Ren with tired eyes, asking: "Did... Did we do it?"


    With a full-blown smile, Ren answered, "Yes. We did it."


    She smiled back, "That''s good..."


    taking a deep breath, she was about to say something when Ren shut her up with a kiss. Her eyes shot open, and a second later, shot opened them even more as memories, and new information, flowed into her head.


    She struggled to get free, but Ren didn''t let her. Only after a minute did he let her go.


    Again, before she could say anything, he took the initiative and spoke. "I know. I know everything."


    Hearing this, Linda cried out, "Why? Why must it be like this!? Why must you leave me?? After everything I did, don''t I deserve happiness?" She started bawling, grabbing Ren and holding him close.


    "I... Don''t know. It is not my duty to decide this." He said. For another minute, they held each other in each other''s arms.


    "Please don''t go..." Linda pleaded.


    It should have been obvious. Noob Island, Ren, the kings... Everything was made up by the system for her own enjoyment. And yet, wasn''t this counterproductive?


    It should have been obvious. How could Ren, a devil fruit user, and a weak one at it, survive a storm like that? How could he randomly find an uncharted island, that no one else can enter or even find?


    "Listen to me, Linda." Ren held her hands as he smiled at her.


    "Don''t give up your dreams because of me. Do what you want, this is your life. I am not everything that is good. Go find yourself a real loved one. Go accomplish your dreams, don''t dwell on me too much. Move on." Ren said as his body started to shine and small light particles floated away, carried by the wind.


    "Wait... No! Please! I can''t move on! I beg you, tell me something I can do for you, anything!" So I can move on, is what she wanted to add, but felt embarrassed to say.


    Ren smiled and shook his head. "Alright... My life may have been fake, but that of my parents was not. This world is not fake, nor is the corruption within it. Linda." He called out to her and looked straight into her eyes as his body faded more and more away.


    "Listen, the injustices that are occurring in this world... They cannot be stopped. They never will. However, I want you to punish this world for everything it stands for. The rot, the thing, it must all be washed away. Take the revenge I have always dreamed of for me. Can you do that?" Ren asked, his body now illusionary and starting to fade away.


    Linda cried and nodded. As she felt Ren vanish from her very arms, her tears refused to stop.


    Like that, she was left alone. Sitting in a boat, in the middle of nowhere. The island had disappeared, her food had disappeared, and most importantly, Ren had disappeared.


    All that was left was herself, and a devil fruit with barrier-like symbols on it.

 Chapter 10 - Future Plans

    "Why..." Tears of mixed feelings fell from Linda''s eyes.


    "Why?" She ground her teeth as her eyes turned bloodshot.


    "WHY!?" She roared. "What have I done to deserve this!?" Her nails dug into her own skin, tearing large gashes as she fell to her knees, hugging herself.


    She didn''t know how long she simply sat there. It seemed like a day, perhaps more. By now, her wounds had already mended themselves and her tears had run out.


    Finally, she looked up and took a deep breath. An old saying came to her mind, one her mother always used to say.


    "The world is like a fortune cookie. Sometimes it tells of love and joy, but sometimes it states things you refuse to listen to."


    She stood up. No point in crying anymore, no point in showing more weakness.


    "You want me to punish this world?" Linda asked, facing the sky.


    "Then I''ll punish it. I''ll show these bastards what it means to see everything taken from them." She whispered and grabbed the devil fruit lying in front of her.


    Then, without wasting a moment, she shoved the thing down her throat.


    "Ugh..." She almost vomited. It tasted so awful that she doubted anyone could eat such a thing, but then again, she was doing just so.


    "Hehehe..." She giggled, almost crazily before breaking out into full-blown laughter. It wasn''t a happy laugh, however.


    She felt new powers pouring inside of her. Normally, since she already had a devil fruit, this would kill her. However, due to the special nature of the strange fruit that she vaguely remembered eating, there were no problems.


    ''Not enough...'' She told herself. She could feel potential, a gift from Ren that was lying right in front of her. All she had to do was reach out and grasp it.


    The ship had long since taken to the seas. Linda looked around herself, only to see the endless expanse of the ocean.


    All she had was the ship. It was a miracle it hadn''t disappeared, considering everything else had. She didn''t know why it didn''t, nor did she care.


    She simply sat down in the middle with her legs crossed and her back straight before closing her eyes and delving deep inside of herself with her mind.


    For hours, she sat there. Contemplating, reminiscing. She didn''t know much about the system, about who Ren truly was, what this world stood for, or even just who she herself was or came to be.


    So many questions, so few answers. Nothing so far made sense, and it stressed her. Stressed her a lot, in fact.


    However, she knew this wasn''t the right thing to do. She opened her eyes and looked at her own hands. They weren''t pretty by any means, rather, they were rough and filled with tiny scars, as was the majority of her body.


    "I need a goal." She thought. This was the only way to advance. If she kept moving forward with nothing motivating her, and the memories of her past, recent or far away, she would simply become a shell.


    She remembered back to some old youtube videos she saw about One Piece, about the author''s obsession with carrying wills of other people, like the Will of the D.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Well... In that case, I''ll carry out Ren''s will." She laughed. It wasn''t as simple as that, and she knew it.


    Still... It wasn''t a bad idea. She felt much calmer now, almost too calm. But she didn''t mind it.


    "Yes... I will carry out his will. I will bring this world to a new era, a better one. But how?" She didn''t know. As far as she was concerned, all she knew about the world came from an anime, which she barely watched and only knew some little things about.


    The World Government, the Marines, pirates, the pirate king, the Yonkos... That was all she knew. She had seen snippets of episodes here and there, but that was it.


    So far, she had come to only one possible conclusion, one that didn''t sit very well with her.


    "The roots of corruption grasp far too much of this world... Perhaps, all they need is a common goal? A common enemy?" She wondered. Deep down, she had already figured out the answer.


    "I just need to become powerful enough to threaten the entire world into uniting, perhaps then, they will see that their ways are wrong?"


    In theory, that seemed like a good idea. Back in her old world, even archenemies would unite when faced with a terrifying and common threat, and by uniting, they would share ideas, fuse them, and resolve their conflicts in ways that would never be achieved normally.


    Was this what Ren wished for? She wasn''t sure. He was gone, that much was for sure. Linda had to focus to not fall into desperation again just by thinking about him.


    She needed more. More power to achieve this. She had received a lot of information regarding her new abilities when she had reawakened, and she knew what had happened. She grasped a random piece of wood and squeezed, the wood felt like play-do in her hands, not even offering a slight bit of resistance.


    She was strong, yes, but she had seen how overpowered some characters were. She needed more, and luckily, she now had a viable alternative to continuous, boring, and strenuous grinding. She could simply absorb strong people to become stronger herself, or simply farm the ''easy seas'' until she felt confident.


    She looked at her hand, playing with her new abilities. She was able to fire laser beams like the sea serpent had done, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. She needed to train that ability for sure.


    Furthermore, her body had become... Weird. She could bend it and shape it however she wanted, but she felt that her base form had remained unchanged. She could turn her body into a perfectly round ball, as large or small as she wanted. However, every time she did so, she felt... wrong. Like something was missing.


    Of course, she knew what it was. This was a devourer fruit, one that would allow her to prey on her enemies and absorb them. Hence, she guessed that she needed to bring them inside her body to do so. It sounded sexual, but she didn''t feel like making jokes right now.


    She tried to form barriers like Ren always did but failed. She frowned and tried different things, but no matter how hard she tried, it simply wouldn''t work.


    Finally, she understood why she was failing. She had absorbed the fruit, yes, but she hadn''t gained it the exact way Ren did. Instead, her devourer fruit had basically eaten the fruit, powering it.


    She tried to stab herself, however, she found that she couldn''t actually hurt herself. She tried again, much harder, and this time she succeeded, opening up a small cut despite her shoving the full strength and sharpness of her nails into her arm.


    She smiled sadly. Her body''s natural defense had obviously grown a lot now, and she doubted even bullets would be able to scratch her. However, was this upgrade worth the life of her best friend/lover?


    Finally, the last power she felt was... weird. It didn''t exactly feel like a power, but it also did. She took in a deep breath and yelled as hard as she could.


    What came out was an earth-shaking roar, extremely similar to that of the sea king. However, it was now several times louder, in fact, it was so loud it created small shockwaves.


    When she stopped, Linda smiled evilly. It sounded extremely cool!


    Finally, the last power she felt was one that, if it truly was as she believed, might allow her a sure way of escape from an otherwise deadly situation at least once.


    With caution, Linda first tied herself with the mast''s rope and then cautiously lowered herself down into the water. Once in, although she felt a lot weaker and found that she couldn''t use her laser beams, she could still swim. In fact, she could even breathe underwater.


    This exhilarated her. Alone, this was an amazing power, allowing her so, so much more room to work with. Of course, her power went down to 1/4 of what it was when she stood on land or boat, but it was still much better than becoming completely useless.


    With her bearings now set straight, Linda thought about what to do next.


    For now, she decided that some practice was in order. She really wanted to test out a couple ideas that had simply been lying in her head.

 Chapter 11 - Savage Fury

    "Captain, are you sure this is a good idea? I heard there is a marine base nearby, they won''t let us off..." A tall man asked a muscular man with four swords hanging from his back.


    "Of course it is, now shut up. We''re dirt poor, and that shitty island if full o'' gold. I want it all, so, we are going to go there and make tons of money with which we can build up and begin our expedition to the grand line!" The muscular man laughed. Although he wasn''t particularly bad-looking, he still sounded like a pig when he laughed.


    "Y-yes captain!" The tall man immediately answered and shouted at the rest of the crew. "You heard the captain. We''re gonna raid Fars Town!"


    Hearing this, the crew all began cheering as they set out to work. The sails were raised, the food supplies restocked and the water refilled. Then, once they were ready, the anchored pirate ship left the small uninhabited island they had stationed themselves in.


    The captain looked out from his cabin towards the horizon. He could feel the wealth already flowing into his pockets, the soft bodies of the captives they were sure to take and the prized possessions of the nobles he was going to obtain.


    He licked his lips in anticipation and headed down his cabin to take out some rum, however, he was interrupted before he could do so.


    The lookout shouted from his nest above, "Captain! There is an unidentified ship right in front of us. It has no flag and I can''t see anyone on top of it. Its sails are also all missing!"


    "A ghost ship?" The captain wondered with a frown. "Head at starboard. We''re going to go check for treasures and quickly leave if we can''t find any."


    Obeying the captain''s orders, the ship was quickly forced to change directions and head towards the ''ship'', which looked more like a giant floating piece of garbage wood.


    When the pirates finally flanked the ship, they launched boarding hooks and firmly anchored the two ships together. After everything was secured, the captain, the tall man, and 3 other higher-ranking pirates went into the ghost ship, armed with pistols and cutlasses.


    The ship was eerily silent and empty. Holes of all shapes and size could be seen in multiple places, and there were only a very few traces of anyone ever living on the ship.


    "C-captain, I don''t think this is a g-good idea..." One of the men that came with the captain said, trembling in fear. "I h-heard there''s a ghost ship traveling these seas, and that it will eat anyone who goes on it..."


    "Hah, don''t make me laugh. Ghost ships? Those things don''t exist. This is merely an abandoned ship!" The captain laughed, releasing some tension he himself held.


    As the 5 men searched the ship, one of them called out, excited. "Captain, there''s a room here. Come take a look!"


    "Oh... my..." The captain said as he looked into the room. His hands twitched and a strange smile formed on his face.


    A relatively young woman who looked around her late 20''s laid on the cold wooden floor, her eyes closed and her clothes all torn and destroyed.


    "Rick, tie her up and bring her to the ship. If anyone touches her, I''ll cut their hands off. She''s beautiful enough to be easily worth 700.000 beri, and if she''s a virgin, she''ll be at least 1.000.000 beri" The captain said, licking his lips.


    His men worked quickly, tying her hands and feet with a rope they had been carrying. Soon, she was loaded into their ship and put in the captain''s cabin. The men all looked at her pervertedly, envious of their captain but not daring to overstep their boundaries.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Nonetheless, after setting the ghost ship on fire and continuing on their journey, nothing happened for the next two days. The captain decided to leave the woman alone, thinking that she must either be ill or poisoned, as she had kept sleeping through the entire ordeal. He didn''t want to risk contracting some dangerous disease, so he didn''t touch her.


    However, around midday of the second day, the woman''s eyes opened.


    This woman was obviously Linda. She had been traveling without a destination for the past 6 months, and during this time, she had mainly trained in how to use her devil fruits. Now, she felt finally ready.


    Originally, she was going to simply leave the ship and swim all the way to the nearest island... somehow. However, this was even better. At least, the chances of her swimming around aimlessly for months had been... canceled.


    She glanced at the cuffs that had been put on her hands and feet. Apparently, her dear friends didn''t have the best of intentions towards her. She appreciated their honesty, however, they would have to find something a bit tougher to keep her down.


    After easily snapping the ropes and freeing herself, she kicked open the door keeping her locked. It was pulverized, and what she found behind it was a good number of pirates staring at her withsurprise.


    "Oi, isn''t that the bitch the capt''n got?"


    "Ye mate, dat''s her. Look at that booty!"


    "Harara, she''s a tough cookie, ey?"


    Linda''s eyes twitched as she heard the more than rude comments from the pirates. They didn''t do much other than stare at her and laugh, and this confused Linda a lot. She expected more... violent reactions?


    "What''s going on here!?" The captain yelled as he arrived on the scene. Seeing Linda free and standing, he smiled. "You''re a tough cookie, eh? Hehe... I don''t know what''s your deal, but do you know what they call me around here?" The man smiled evilly.


    Linda raised an eyebrow. In her mind, she had already made a decent impression of every single person on this ship.


    ''They''re all idiots...''


    "No. I never heard of you." Linda said, showing no emotion.


    "Hehehe... They call me the Breaker because I break people so bad there is no coming back from me!" The man laughed. "And now, I will break you. Step back, boys. Let me show the bitch her place."


    Every single pirate on the ship, around 60, was now watching the scene. They all had perverted smiles on their faces and did not seem worried at all.


    The captain walked towards Linda and took out a gun and a sword. Linda simply stayed still, watching as he approached.


    When he was within arms distance of Linda, he shoved his gun in her face and laughed. "A really tough cookie? I like it, I like it. I love tough cookies because they make a lot of noise when theybreak..."


    He lowered his gun and shot her leg. The bullet made a strange sound as it failed to inflict any damage on Linda.


    This was the moment the pirates realized something was wrong. Even the captain frowned, confused. He raised his gun and looked at it, checking if it had broken or something.


    Seeing this, Linda shook her head and did the world a favor by pulling the trigger for him. Her hand traveled like lightning, pulling the trigger before the captain even noticed she had moved.


    The pirates all looked ghostly as they stared at their dead captain''s body, whose brains had been splattered.


    "Honestly... I fail to understand just how stupid some humans can be. I don''t even feel anything by killing this shit." Linda said, her voice cold.


    "Well then... Little minions of the ''breaker''. You have two choices, break or bend. Which one will it be?" Linda laughed as she threw herself at the nearest person, and so the carnage began.


    <hr>


    "You, give me that cloak. I need some clothes. And you, go fetch me some food. I haven''t eaten good food in a decade." Linda ordered.


    ""Y-yes master!"" Two pirates said, trembling in terror. They were two of the 18 survivors out of the original 60 pirates.


    Linda nodded as she watched the two run out of the captain''s cabin, her cabin. She smiled brightly as she observed the many treasures, tools, and maps the captain held in his room. She had no idea how to use any of them, and this bothered her.


    She didn''t have Siry''s assistance anymore. This fact struck home hard now, forcing Linda to bite her lip in order to shatter the memories that tried to rise up from her mind.


    "Ren... I will accomplish your will. It may take a year, it may take ten, it may take a hundred. However, one day, I will reshape this world into something beautiful." Linda kneeled as she sent a small prayer towards her late boyfriend.


    "Well... If I''m not wrong, the cabin boy said the captain wanted to raid a small island... Not a bad idea, however, it won''t be enough..."

 Chapter 12 - The Raid

    "Sir, a pirate ship has been sighted off of the coast!" A scrawny boy yelled as he rushed into an expensive-looking office.


    "Pirates? Damn it..." The man sitting in the chair behind a desk said, his face scrunching up.


    He was a very wealthy (and fat) man. He had been appointed as the administrator of this small island from his king, who had been looking for a way to get him and his greasy and corrupt fingers away from the royal treasury.


    "Call up all the militia. We''re going to try to bribe these damned pirates!" The fat man ordered. He was in a difficult position right now, as he had plenty of enemies, and they were all looking for a way to get him hanged.


    Failing to protect his given territory from pirate raids was an easy way to give them an excuse to get him in serious trouble. Hence, he didn''t mind tapping into his own vast treasury to try and get the brigands to go on their own merry way.


    When he reached the harbor, he could see the outline of the pirate ship. Looking at the Jolly Roger, he breathed a sigh of relief. He had never seen any like it, and that was good because he knew all of the famous pirate flags, and since he didn''t know this one, they must be amateurs, and beginners were easy to bribe.


    The militia had assembled by now. They were all poorly armed and trained, but at least they all had... below-average (trash) swords and some even had small pistols (most wouldn''t work properly).


    "Lord Simun, s-should we call the marines?" One of his advisors asked, fearful. "Fool. They would never get here in time, besides, there are no marines stationed on this island. I made sure of it." The fat man, Simun answered in anger.


    Marines and their justice would have gotten in the way of his rule. After all, he needed money, and marines would ''prohibit him from doing his job''.


    When the pirate ship was less than 200 meters away from the harbor, he could already begin to see the outlines of the ship a little better. He expected the ship to directly anchor in the harbor, however, it did the exact opposite and stopped 150 meters away.


    "What... What are they doing? Simun wondered. He had gotten his men to carry 400.000 beri, and he had 500.000 to add in case that wasn''t enough. Hence, why weren''t the pirates coming? Didn''t they want to loot?


    He was quickly answered when a terrifying explosion resounded a couple dozen meters away from him, wiping out an entire street.


    "WHAT WAS THAT!?" Simun cried out as he stared in shock. The explosion had pulverized the men stationed in that area and inflicted serious damage to the road and nearby houses.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    He looked back at the pirate ship, but unfortunately for him, that was the last thing he saw as a flash of light traveling at lightning speed flew towards him...


    <hr>


    KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM


    The sweetest of sounds traveled all the way back to Linda''s ears. She laughed evilly, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction at finally shooting living things instead of wood.


    It was a strange joy, but joy nonetheless. "Hahaha, this is fun!!" Linda exclaimed as she pointed her right hand towards the men that had gathered in the harbor.


    Her men were all waiting behind her. She had instructed them on what to do, and for now, they weren''t needed. She didn''t want to suffer casualties, as she already had a very limited number of men.


    "For now... Let''s play as the artillery a bit more." Linda smiled as she fired another laser cannon. Another explosion resounded, shattering the defender''s morale and making them flee like headless chickens.


    She frowned a little. If they retreated further inland, she wouldn''t be able to snipe them anymore. "Now! Full speed onwards!" She roared and her men obeyed.


    The small ship had gone through an intense evolution. She had forced her men to toil for days, improving and cleaning the ship whenever and however they could. Now, it looked new and perfect. She still wasn''t satisfied, but it was enough for now.


    As they sailed forth, Linda kept firing her laser cannons randomly, causing immense damage to the town. She could see the residents fleeing randomly, panicking. Most were running inland, but some fools had jumped into the sea and a small minority had even boarded small fishing boats and tried to get away.


    "Like sitting ducks..." Linda smirked as she pointed at those ships and fired more laser cannons. Inland, they had a good chance of survival, but in the water... Where could they run?


    When her ship finally anchored in the harbor, she instantly sent out her men, who had all gone through intense drills and ''re-education'' (brainwashing).


    "Slay anyone you can find. I don''t care about the children, but kill any adult you come across. I don''t want anyone native to be still alive after 3 days. Meet back at the ship in 6 hours from now. GO!" She roared and her men roared back "Yes, master!"


    As she watched her men rush out like madmen, beginning a carnage that would never be forgotten by the inhabitants, Linda frowned as she looked at her own hands.


    These very hands had, at least, killed hundreds of people already. And even more would be dead by the time the sun went down, however, despite her core values screaming at her that what she was doing was wrong, all she felt was a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. It was similar to what she felt whenever she did something that pleased her parents.


    "Have I gone insane already?" She wondered but decided not to put too much thought into it. Rather, she took this time to destroy any ship that tried to sail away and fire at the occasional group of run-aways that passed near the ship.


    After a couple hours, she decided to go for a small walk, never leaving the ship out of sight. As she passed by the now deserted streets of the town, she hummed a cheerful song.


    At one point, she found something that interested her. It looked like a Halloween shop, and it was relatively intact.


    She entered it out of curiosity. Inside, there were plenty of masks and costumes. Looking around, a wonderful and actually smart idea came to her...

 Chapter 13 - Dead Ambition

    Upon entering the shop, Linda examined the various things inside. There were plenty of spooky costumes, some perfumes that smelled like dead corpses and there were even a couple of armors, presumably fake.


    Overall, it looked like your normal and boring shop that sold dumb little gimmicks. However, Linda was not so easy to fool.


    "You have 5 seconds to come out before I erase this store from the face of this planet." She said in a relaxed tone as she gathered energy in her hand. After her barrage of the island, she had been quite drained, but after eating up the corpses near the beach, she had replenished her energy. She had also found out a useful property of Haki, but she wasn''t bothered with it for now.


    "... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." She slowly counted down, and right before she hit 0, an extremely skinny man with an even skinnier face jumbled out from a closet at the edge of the store.


    The man was extremely pale and malnourished. He was trembling so heavily it looked like he was having a seizure. Linda sized up this skeleton of a man, judging him as either the owner of the store or one of the things they sold.


    "W-who are you? Wh-why are you here?" The man asked as he edges back from Linda until he had his back against a wall.


    Linda narrowed her eyes and dashed towards the man extremely quickly, her fist raised and aiming at the man''s face. The man''s eyes widened as she approached and he threw himself at the side.


    When her hand hit the wall, it made a loud exploding sound and that part of the wall was completely pulverized. Thankfully, the store didn''t collapse.


    "Yes... Now I know why I felt something strange in this building..." Linda smiled from ear to ear as she grabbed the man''s collar and dragged him to his feet.


    The man had fainted, so Linda shook him a bit and slapped him twice, forcing him awake.


    "Wake up. I know you''re not just a random dude. Not even the captain of the ship I captured, who is supposedly as strong as 10 men, could see my punch, much less dodge. Who are you?" Linda questioned.


    "I-I''m just a store owner! I know nothing!" The man cried, begging to be let go. Linda slapped him again, leaving on his cheek an angry red mark.


    "I''ll only ask one more time, who are you?" Linda asked again.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    This time, the man held nothing back. Under the promise that Linda would release him and let him live, he was like a fountain of information.


    Apparently, this guy had been a very famous pirate from the grand line who had the misfortune of being cursed. He told Linda of many, many wonderful things.


    "So... You''re saying that the Pirate King was only executed 15 years ago?" Linda questioned. The man nodded and took a breath of relief when Linda walked away from him, pondering something.


    ''I''m not an expert on this world, but it does seem like this might not be the best time to make an appearance. I''m sorry, Ren, but I feel that your ambition will have to wait.'' Linda sighed. Her gut was shouting at her that right now was not the time to start making trouble.


    She knew basically nothing, and although she was far more powerful than anyone she had ever met, she didn''t dare think she could match up to the marines, who in this time of relative peace, appeared to be extremely powerful and influential.


    She needed more opportunities to grow. She had almost reached the limit that regular training could bring her, and she was somewhat at a loss. The only way she could see herself becoming powerful enough to achieve her desires was one built upon millions of corpses, all of them inside her.


    She felt she should feel disgusted by the idea, but she wasn''t. This scared her a bit, but there was nothing she could do. She didn''t have much choice, and to be honest, perhaps attacking an island like this and wiping it out wasn''t the best idea.


    Nonetheless, she needed money, information and fame. Furthermore, the corpses she had absorbed before had provided a nice boost to her energy reserves, so it wasn''t a complete failure.


    When she turned around, the skinny man had run off. That pissed her off a bit, as she had been occupied with her thoughts and didn''t pay attention to where he was. However, she took no action to pursue him.


    For the next three days, she ravaged the island like a passing tornado, destroying resistance after resistance. It seemed as though no help was coming on the island, hence, every day she would send out her men to scout for places where people had gathered and to collect anything of worth.


    At the end of the third day, she had gatheredaround 10.000.000</a>(beri symbol) in loot and hard cash. Finally, in the morning of the fourth day, their ship set sail, filled to the brim with treasures and a battle-hardened crew who had fought against an entire island. Only 6 people had died during the assault on the island, so now the ship carried 18 people, not including Linda.


    Within her cabin, Linda studied her own powers. She could feel an almost infinite potential, body-shifting, godly regeneration, teleportation... She could feel that she had the potential for almost anything, but as of now, she only had her massive strength and artillery capabilities, paired with abnormal regeneration and a natural shield.


    As she left the cabin and all her men looked at her, she put a black mask on her face, leaving only her eyes exposed. The mask had the eyes outlined in red, making her look extremely fierce.


    "Men, I announce the birth of the Demon Pirates. Raise the sails, for our destination, lies ahead, Maionese Island...

 Chapter 14 - The Rise of the Demons

    "Lord madam, the watcher found the ship. He says we can catch up to it if we go full speed." An aged man said as he bowed towards a masked woman.


    "That''s great, do so. This chase is taking longer than I expected, do you think the marines found out of our previous raids?" The masked woman, Linda, asked back.


    "I''m positive, lord madam. We''ve already destroyed 6 islands so far, and I''m sure the marines aren''t stupid enough to not link us with the destruction." The man answered.


    "Mhm, I expected as much. How are the new recruits?" She asked as she got up from her desk. 4 months had passed since her first raid, and during this time, she had been always busy.


    Upgrading the ship, training herself and her men, gathering resources, plotting and informing and also hunting down particular ships with particular cargos.


    "They''re alright. Although they''re newbies, sir Breaker is confident he can shape them up in less than 2 weeks." The man nodded, his eyes narrowing. He was the chief of staff of the ship, the one who organized everything and made things orderly. Naturally, Linda liked him a lot, considering she gave him so much power.


    Still, he considered the Breaker his main rival. After all, Linda had taken quite a liking to the man and showered him with gifts of all sorts. Slave women, jewels, expensive weapons...


    "Good. Leylin, please come back from your own world." She waved her hand in front of his face, startling him.


    "I apologize, lord madam. Old age must be getting to me." Leylin apologized and retreated out of the cabin.


    The ship had gone huge upgrades. From a mediocre ship that struggled every storm, Linda had built a powerful battleship able to match up against an entire fleet. It had hundreds of cannons itssides and many rooms had been built for the crew.


    Linda had broken down the ship and rebuilt it from scratch, enlarging it to be over 100 meters long and 30 meters wide. She had also hired the very best shipbuilders she could find, partially by threatening them and also by promises of huge amounts of wealth, which she gave them.


    She had also gathered a much more experienced crew, gathering criminals, outcastsand even just young men wishing for adventure along with half a dozen sea-hardened veterans, which she had searched far and wide for.


    Leylin was one of these men, along with the Breaker. She had appointed them to the highest offices in the ship. It has to be noted that Linda''s plan was not limited to merely one ship. All of this organization and preparation was the start of her plan to build up a grand fleet, but for now, she was satisfied with just this.


    As she looked out the window in her cabin, Linda sighed with a somewhat sad smile on her face.


    "Work, work, work. Only work. Can I never get a rest?" She murmured in a sarcastic tone. She had no intention of stopping now, as she had already got the ball rolling.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    For the following 3 hours, Linda was in her room talking with her subordinates, usually either deciding on the division of loot, planning on their next raid or checking that everything was going well. Everyone on the ship was loyal to her, especially now after the latest batch of recruits had a rebel in it, who was promptly put to the sword, his head cut off and his body thrown to the sharks.


    Although people like the Breaker, a man with a bounty of 3.000.000, was considered someone very powerful in the region, he was nothing in front of Linda, who could subdue him with her pinky (not including her death beams).


    The marines hadn''t yet certified who was behind the destruction of all the islands, but they were starting to close in on her. In her last raid, there had been a garrison of 400 marine soldiers and even a captain, but they had all been slaughtered and devoured by Linda, so they were never able to report any concrete information.


    By now, Linda was starting to raise her eyebrows on the situation. Either the Marines were concocting a master-plan to catch her off-guard, or they were depressingly incompetent. Being in the East Blue, she knew there were very few powerful marines around, hence she had a strong desire to just annihilate every marine base on this sea, but she held off. For now.


    At the dawn of the fourth hour, Linda received a report that the ship they had been hunting for the past few days came into sight. With a smirk, she ordered the ship to get battle-ready.


    The enemy ship had a huge sail with five circles, one in the middle and four on its edges. The ship was manned by a huge number of slaves and a good number of Marine soldiers, but they stood no chance against the much better-equipped pirate ship.


    This was a world government ship. More precisely, it was a ship who was carrying tribute from a nearby nation. Normally, pirates would steer clear of these ships due to the danger attacking one entailed, but Linda had no qualms about obliterating a couple.


    Linda''s ship effortlessly boarded the world government ship, slaughtered any resistance and enslaved the rest, took over 100.000.000 Beri and then sank the ship. All of this happened in less than an hour, and soon, they were off.


    In a nearby Marine base...


    "God damn it! Damn, damn, damn!" A large and muscular man cried out in fury. The assistant nearby trembled and quickly excused himself out of the room.


    "Those fuckers! How dare they attack a world government''s ship?? Argh!" He roared as he bashed his head against a wall several times.


    He had every right to be angry. He was the one supposed to protect the area from pirates, but not only had he not been able to stop them, he hadn''t even discovered what kind of pirates were doing this.


    He was well aware of the destruction of 6 islands, but despite the strangeness and danger of the situation, he had chosen to deal with other things (sucking up to his superiors for a promotion) and hence let all of this happen.


    Now, it was basically a confirmed thing. He was the one responsible for this, and soon, the government would come for him. He didn''t dare imagine what they would do to him if they found him guilty.


    His only choice was a desperate last stand against the pirates. He had received several valuable reports during the boarding, namely the ship''s type, size, and name as well as a general idea of the strength of the ship.


    There were several 1.000.000 million bounties on the ship, and there was even a report of a couple big games on the ship, like The Breaker Kazan, Snake-eyed Leylin, and a couple others.


    What was so terrifying about this was that it was common knowledge that these pirates would never normally band together. Hence, there had to be something, or someone, forcing them to work together, and that was the real problem.


    Despite being a powerful and feared captain in the area, he was still nothing in front of the big boys from the New World. If someone like that had decided to take a trip back to the Blues, he was in a whole lot of trouble.


    He grit his teeth, and despite the danger, shouted at his snail-phone "Prepare the warships, we''re going pirate-hunting."

 Chapter 15 - Stand your ground

    "... Dark clouds gather ahead." Linda commented as she looked at the sky.


    Leylin, who was sitting next to her at the open lunch area of the ship, looked at the sky and squinted his eyes before asking, "If you would allow me, I don''t believe there will be a storm. The sky is quite clear."


    Linda shook her head as she looked at the horizon. "My gut never lies. Something will happen soon, something we might not be ready for."


    She looked at Leylin with serious eyes. "Leylin. Take the ship and go, stay under the radar while you grow our army"


    Leylin''s eyes almost bulged out of his sockets, "L-lord madam, what do you mean? What''s going on?"


    She smiled sadly as she took a paper out of the hidden pocket in her shirt, "I received a report from a spy I sent to a nearby marine base. Apparently, the marines got desperate, and someone you people can''t handle volunteered to help."


    "But, lord madam, can''t we just escape? We can simply hide for a year, wait for the water to cool..." Leylin begged. Linda was the heart of their ship, their strongest and fiercest member, as well as the de facto leader of the ship.


    If she was gone, who knows what might happen. Their combined strength was powerful enough to challenge the strongest rival fleets that roamed the East Blue, but with Linda, they stood uncontested. They had already established that after a short meeting with a few other pirate fleets, where Linda had single-handedly beaten all their captains in a few minutes.


    "Don''t worry. I don''t plan on abandoning you all. I only ask you to stay low for a while, because I have a plan. A very risky plan, but I believe the risk is worth it." Linda got up as she walked over to the edge of the ship, watching the deep blue ocean below.


    "Have you ever heard of Impel Down?" Linda asked. Hearing this, Leylin became horrified as he recalled what he knew.


    "The hell on earth, the world government''s ultimate prison, a place where none can escape. Lord madam, you surely don''t intend to... to..." He staggered a bit. He, Breaker and a few other advisors were the only ones who knew fully of Linda''s powers, as she had explained it to them in great detail.


    "Indeed. Although it isn''t guaranteed that they won''t execute me, I''m confident in being able to hide in that prison. Then, I can slowly start becoming stronger. The level system also works great for me, as it''ll allow me to start off easy and then move on to harder prey." Linda slapped Lelin on the chest, pushing a small card on him.


    "I got a Vivre card just because of this. As long as it remains, you will know I''m alive. Should it burn out, well... That means you will all be free to go. You can use it as a negotiation card, to remind the other captains that I''m still here. Now go, I can sense that they''re near." Linda looked at the horizon as Leylin reluctantly obeyed.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    This was extremely sudden, but not impossible. They had been doing extreme act after act, and it was a wonder why the Marines hadn''t responded sooner.


    The morning of the next day, the entire ship knew about the event to some extent. Linda patted a small 13-years old boy on the back as he silently looked at her.


    "Don''t worry, Breaker. I''ll be back. For now, focus on maintaining the ship and it''s crew, alright?" Linda asked. The Breaker nodded silently as the watchdog shouted.


    "4 marine ships at the horizon! Three regular marine ships and a strange... dog ship?" The watchdog sounded confused. The entire crew rushed to look at the encroaching fleet.


    "Mhm... We''re screwed. That''s Marine Hero Garp''s ship." Linda sighed. "Damn it all to hell, you guys tuck your tails and run as fast as you can. Full speed ahead!"


    Although their ship was faster than the 3 regular marine ships, Garp''s ship seemed to be even faster. Soon, it was less than 300 meters away.


    Seeing this, Linda snarled as she slammed her hands together. When she reopened them, an almost fiery blue sphere of energy was in between them, pulsing.


    "Stupid Marines, meet Shining Death Ball." She roared as she threw the death sphere at the dog ship.


    Instead of exploding, however, the sphere was met with another sphere, a cannonball. Although it wasn''t damaged, the death sphere deviated it''s course, hitting the ocean near the ship instead of the ship itself.


    After a few seconds, a tyrannical roar erupted from underwater and a great column rose. Other than that, however, there was no damage to the ship.


    Seeing this, Linda jumped down from the water and literally ran on water, abusing her barrier powers to create large enough footholds beneath her in order not to sink as she ran towards the Marine ship.


    When she was less than 40 meters from the ship, she could see Garp standing at the edge of the ship, staring at her with arms crossed. He wasn''t wearing the usual marine outfit, making him look much fiercer.


    She wasn''t dumb enough to attack the unknown head-on, and furthermore, her role was not to win but to stop the ship from chasing her crew. Hence, she began to bombard the dog ship as she ran circles around it, tanking all the bullets that the Marines tried to shoot her.


    Finally, Garp jumped down from the ship and tried to punch her, but she jumped back and ran off towards the other marine ships, forcing Garp and his ship to give chase.


    "Stop running!" He roared out, but Linda completely ignored him while giving him the middle finger. This angered him, and he began swimming alarmingly fast towards her.


    "Get me if you can, you male bitch." She laughed. When she reached the other marine ships, she threw herself in one of them, destroying everything in her wake. Shining rays of death constantly came off from her, making loud explosions and ravaging the ship.


    In less than 20 seconds, she slaughtered almost 1/3 of the crew and destroyed half of the ship. Before Garp could catch up, she quickly moved on to the other ship.


    Instead of destroying it, she turned towards Garp and shouted: "Stop right there, or I''ll kill everyone here."


    Garp''s face twitched but he didn''t stop and continued to swim after her. Seeing this, she shot over 100 rays into the ship. This time, the entire ship blew up, killing almost everyone. She then jumped off of that ship and landed on the other ship, facing Garp and smiling cruelly.


    This time, Garp stopped as he snarled. "What do you want and why are you doing this?"


    Linda lowered her hands as the marines of the ship, although terrified, surrounded her. "I''m willing to surrender under these conditions..."

 Chapter 16 - In the depths of hell

    "Move, you bitch!" A marine shouted as he pushed a woman forward. Behind them, the great gates of justice were closing.


    The woman, Linda, didn''t say anything as she kept walking forward. If she were to rate the Marine''s prisoner''s treatment, it would be null/10. Not only had she been handcuffed with sea stone, ''beaten up'' several times and not given an ounce of food, but once, a Marine had been perverted enough to try and rape her. He thought that since nobody else was around, he could do whatever he wanted, but turns out, since nobody was around at the time, Linda could also do whatever she wanted.


    It didn''t take long for a boat to arrive and pick her up. In less than a day of traveling, she was in Impel Down.


    Surprisingly, Magellan, the prison''s warden, was there to greet her. After he and the Marines exchanged a couple words, his men took her and dragged her into the prison.


    Inside of Magellan''s office, she had been forced to her knees as Magellan listed her crimes. "Mass murder of 8 islands, attack on a world government ship, resisted arrest, led a pirate ship... Level 4 it is. Send her to the Baptization."


    "Baptization?" Linda wondered a bit, but 20 minutes later, she realized what they meant, as she had been hanged on a rope and was slowly being lowered into a giant pot of boiling blood.


    She forced down her instincts to escape as she was put into the extremely hot blood, and as she suspected, other than a lot of discomforts, she didn''t feel anything. Her natural barrier hadn''t been destroyed by the sea stone.


    After she was dragged back up, she was stripped of all her clothes and given new ones. Supposedly, this process should have been shameful, but Linda''s snarky in-your-face attitude made the guards the ashamed ones. They tried to remove the demon mask she had been wearing for a long time now, but they couldn''t do it.


    Linda had basically morphed the mask into a part of her face, and although she could remove it at will, others couldn''t. Either they decapitated her, or the mask stayed. Luckily they wanted her to suffer before dying.


    As they were walking across bridges with pits of fire beneath them that seemed endless, Linda suddenly stopped.


    "Move! Move!" The guard behind her shouted as he slammedhis rifle into her back. Instead of answering, Linda took a deep breath before doing a quick spin, kicking the guard behind her hard enough to break his spine.


    Seeing this, the other guards aimed at her and prepared to open fire, but before they could do so, Linda sprinted towards the edge of the bridge, and in an assassin creed style, jumped down.


    The boiling air cut into her as she fell. For a couple dozen seconds, the fall seemed endless. During the time, she ripped off one of her hands and slipped the handcuff off, reattached her arm and then did the same for the other. Naturally, this process hurt like a bitch.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Eventually, she was able to land. She couldn''t see due to the searing flames and smoke everywhere, but luckily, she could hold her breath for over 4 hours, so she was fine for now. However, even her barrier struggled to resist the terrifying temperature of the flames.


    "Alright... What do I do now?" Linda was honestly unprepared. Although she had a general idea of what to do (eat, get stronk, eat, get stronker...), she didn''t know how to accomplish it.


    She sighed in exasperation. "I''m getting too old for this..."


    Suddenly, Linda''s eyes widened into saucers. She hadn''t really thought about it, but this body was still human. Although she could heal, what about old age?


    She was currently in her prime or at least close. However, what about in 20 years? 30? What would become of her?


    As she thought of this, her thoughts kept getting more and more depressed. She had experienced first-hand the corruption and ignorance the people of this world lived in. Although she had done things that, back in her world, would have deemed her a demon, monster, in this world, she was just another powerful criminal.


    She wanted to change that. Her plan of becoming the absolute dictator that needed to exist for this world to unite required that she be so strong that none can oppose her. However, if she dies before she could become so strong, wouldn''t that be pointless?


    "Immortality... I didn''t want to think about it, but I think there''s a way." She whispered to herself. She sighed. When she received her absorption powers from the System, she had been taught several techniques. One of which had the ability to make her immortal, but it did not come without its costs.


    She would have to give up her humanity. Although she had done terrible things, Linda was still human at heart. That was why she had cared enough for her crew to be willing to take such a big risk like coming to Impel Down.


    As she walked through the walls of fire, Linda kept pondering. Finally, she found a somewhat cooler spot in this hell and quickly got to work.


    In less than 2 hours, she had dug a burrow deep into the stone of Impel Down. She was between the fourth and fifth levels, the heat of the fourth level canceled the fifth''s freezing cold, making it a rather comfortable place.


    After she finished digging her little oasis, Linda sat down in a corner and simply closed her eyes. She had decided.


    <hr>


    It didn''t take long for Magellan to notice something strange. Prisoner''s kept disappearing one after the other. Sometimes, they would disappear from the first floor, sometimes from the third, sometimes from the fifth. It seemed completely random, and he couldn''t wrap his head around it.


    "Shit! Why are you people so useless?" Magellan roared at the beast wardens, all of whom trembled before their boss and master.


    "Ugh. I can''t deal with this right now. Whatever, they''re just prisoners. There might be a disease spreading or something, I don''t care. Send in the rifling squad." Magellan basically gave up as he gave the orders. The marines had been on him for a while now, trying to get him to take a position within the marines.


    As Magellan dealt with his own conflicts, within the depths of the fourth hell...


    A group of around 50 prisoners was dragging massive wood logs down a bridge surrounded by flames on both sides. Behind them, guards followed them with rifles ready.


    "Move, you scum. Move those logs like your life depends on it!" The captain of the guards shouted.


    Asthe group traveled indefinitely, the administration panicked as all mushi-mushis in the area suddenly stopped working without any apparent reason.


    Meanwhile, something lurked beneath, hiding in the roasting flames. Waiting for its next target to pass by, so it could continue to feed and provide much-needed energy for the transformation that its main body was going through.