User blog:AYET/Prologue - Straw Hat Separation (Part 2)

At an unknown location, Monkey D. Dragon was seen walking alone in a think rainforest in the middle of the night. Stalking him was a white, partially transparent tiger, desparate and hungry for a satisfying meal after a long 3 days of starvation. The leader of the Revolutionary Army was not unaware of the predator's presence as it jumped out from hiding and about to pounce on its prey. All that's required was just a simple wave of his hand (the gesture to shoo something away) and the tiger stopped still on its feet, at a couple of feets away from its intended meal, turned away and disappeared into the darkness surroundings.

After a few more minutes of walking in the thick forest, Dragon finally stopped and closed his eyes to feel the presense of all living beings on the island. Yup, no human presense was felt, thus the location was safe and secure. He took out a den den mushi and placed it onto the ground, with the eyes facing away from him. The LED on the tip of the receiver antenna blinked red. Then he sat down and patiently wait...

Not too long afterwards, the LED started to blink blue. And after a minute or so, it started to turn yellow, illuminating him and the surroundings. Dragon stood up on his feet. Shortly after, the eyes of the den den mushi projected the holographic outline image of a 22 feet tall man, nothing else about the image could be seen (face, appearance, etc) but just the outline of the appearance.

Dragon: Is it secure?

Den den mushi: Yes.

Dragon: Good. How did it went?

Den den mushi: Moriah was soundly defeated.

 >>> Flashback begins <<< 

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Shortly after, at elsewhere...

''Den den mushi: Buru buru buru... Buru buru buru...''

Den den mushi: (ka-chak) Speak.

''Kuma: Its me. Your predictions were right, I have found him to be here in Thriller Bark, challenging Gekko Moriah.''

''Den den mushi: So, he's now up against another Royal Shichibukai. Who would have thought of him doing this just not long after what he did at Enies Lobby... ... ... Listen, can you do a favor?''

Kuma: Just name it.

Den den mushi: I want you to ...

 >>> Flashback ends <<< 

Den den mushi: It was not an easy battle. I witnessed Moriah's defeat by your son single-handedly myself. He is as strong as you predicted but immediately after the outcome has been decided, he fell unconscious and somewhat turned into a small boy for a while for some unknown reasons.

Dragon: Turned into a small boy???

Kuma: Yes. A moment before, a part of his body enlarged into giant size and that took out Moriah. Then a moment after, his whole body shrinked to the size of a boy for a while but returned to normal not long after though losing consciousness.

Dragon: ... Then?

Kuma: I have tested his crew's strength just as you requested. Majority of them were pretty weak, despite just coming out from the gruesome battle with Moriah. But two amongst stands out from the rest, Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro and Black Leg Sanji. Both of them had significant level of endurance to survive my Ursus Shock and both were ready to lay down their life in exchange for his. But at the end, it was Roronoa Zoro who takes the challenge by knocking out Sanji.

Dragon: And how did you lay the challenge?

Kuma: I extracted the pain and fatigueness from Luffy and the challenge was for Roronoa Zoro to absorb it all into him. I gave him a taste with a small amount of it and he felt it with agonizing pain and understood quite well that in his current state, it would meant a certain death.

Dragon: ... Did he survive the ordeal?

Kuma: For sure he will, I did apply a small level of handicap into the transfer, it will not end his life. After all, the objective was to determine if his crew members were loyal and supportive to their captain, not to take their lives. I did not stay behind to watch him absorb it, but I'm sure he will be render immobile for months to come to recuperate from it. Don't worry, he will be fine.

Dragon: At least that will buy him some time to train on "that"...

Kuma: One thing I found weird though, when I asked for the crew to hand him over or otherwise suffer the wrath of my attack, not only the crew strongly defended him but the entire people in Thriller Bark as well. It seems that he has made some friends during his short stay at Thriller Bark and they think highly of and looked up to him.

Dragon: ... Friends? Hmm...

Kuma: Anyway, the conclusion is your son has got a good and loyal crew

 >>> Flashback begins <<< 

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 >>> Flashback ends <<< 

Kuma: I am now required to report myself to Sengoku, he will not be pleased to know that I did not return with Luffy's head.

Dragon: ... Look for an opportunity when you have my old man together with Sengoku when you make your report, I'm sure things will turn out just fine.

Kuma: I will end the conversation here.

Dragon: All right.

Den den mushi: (buzzzzzzz, kroop)

The LED on the den den mushi goes out, everything around Dragon dimmed into total darkness. An unknown creature was felt lunged out of hiding straight onto Dragon from his back. He turned around and an aura burst was felt, knocking out the creature which fell just short of a metre away from his feet. He grabbed a part of the creature and drag it behind him while he started to walk in a direction.

The den den mushi used just now was left with only its shell, the snail has burrowed itself into the ground, signalling the end of this den den mushi device. And while burrowing itself deep into the ground, the snail will regrow a new shell and come out from the ground when its ready to be used afresh as a new holographic den den mushi. (reference: think about the self destruct mechanism used in the Mission Impossible movies but without killing the snail of the den den mushi)

Dragon has reached the shores where his flagship, the Overturn was anchored on the beach. His crew had made camp on the shores for the night.

Crew member: (yelling) Everyone, Dragon is back!

From the the ship's crow nest, a tall young man jumped all the way down onto the sands with great agility to greet the Leader of Revolutionary Army. He wore a white short sleeves shirt, a loud hawaiian surf pants and a black top hat on his head. He had visible burn marks on the right side of his face, his right arm as well as his right leg.

Young man: Dragon sir! Welcome back. Orders?

Dragon: (tossing the creature which turns out to be a huge mammoth sized lion to the young man) Our breakfast! Afterwards, we are setting sail. Prepare the ship.

Young man: Aye-aye, sir!

Dragon: And I need some information which I require of your assistance to gather.

Young man: Of course, sir! Who about?

Dragon: Mugiwara.

Young man: ... (huge grin, a missing tooth can be seen...) Sure thing!

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