Shock

Quinn dug out of the ground and dragged his hammer with him. He climbed up through the dirt, gritted his teeth as he went, until finally reaching the surface. Quinn stood up and looked around, only seeing the forest and nothing else.

Quinn stood at 10ft tall, he had black dragon horns that sprouted from his forehead, curving over his head and twisting mid-way, ending in points at the tips. There were still the golden cuffs his mother had put on him, at the base of his horns.

Quinn had pure white hair that was wild and flowed from the top of his head to the back, looking like raging waves crashing down on the back of his neck. His eyes were blood red and had slitted pupils. His eyebrows were straight like swords, his nose was thin and straight, and his chin was well defined.

Quinn was extremely handsome but the only thing at the moment was his body was extremely thin. Next to Quinn, standing upside down on the ground was his hammer.

His hammer was named Ikari and it was forged with his parent's scales and blood with his own essence blood in the mix, it was tradition. It was 4 meters long and the head was 2 meters long with the face on each side being 1 square meter. One of the sides was a flat square and the other was sharp spikes, the material looked like black volcanic rock and the handle was made of the same material but had a red cloth wrapping the bottom half. The bottom had a loop with a big golden ring attached and on the hammerhead, there was an insignia of a dragon biting its own tail.

The insignia was his own royal family crest.

Quinn's stomach grumbled and he muttered "Food.." he took off his luxurious clothing and left it on the ground before roaring and transforming into a giant 5000-meter black dragon.

Quinn's horns both split into 3 and hung on each side of his head. He had grey diamond-shaped scales going from under his chin, down his neck, over his chest, under his hind legs all the way to the tip of his tail, in a 'V' shaped pattern.

The rest of his body was covered in pitch black scales. He also had giant wings, the frame of his wings were covered in scales but the flesh of the wings was red. He had arms and legs and a tail that ended in a sharp pointed tip. His eyes were red and he had a tuft of white fur in between his horns, forming a mane traveling down the back of his neck slightly.

His entire body was sleek and sharp, his scales were patted down to his body with the only protrusions being the horns on his head. There was an armor-like quality to his scales, they were long and smooth.

Quinn looked into the forest and grunted, Ikari flew up and attached itself to Quinn's neck. Quinn flew into the forest, flapping his wings as he went, hunting for his meal. Quinn swooped down and grabbed a giant lion from the ground before swallowing it whole before searching for his next meal. A dragon's appetite is big.

1 hour later…

Quinn was standing in the place he woke up, he was currently in the middle of nowhere and he knew for sure that something had gone wrong. He wasn't supposed to be this skinny after 100 years, this led Quinn to believe he was in the ceremonial chamber for much longer than he thought. He raised his fist and it flashed black before reverting to normal.

Quinn frowned and looked at himself, he was almost a skeleton! For a dragon to become malnourished a long time needs to pass, a very long time. Since he has his foundations he could regain his strength quickly. Quinn stood up and looked at the forest and walked into it with Ikari.

Quinn started training to regain his strength on the island he woke up at, before anything else. He had to make sure he was strong enough to figure out what happened. He strangely felt that something extremely serious occurred otherwise, he would have woken up sooner.

Slowly, 2 years passed

Quinn stood above the hole he came from and collected the ceremonial chamber, strapping it to his back along with the various bones of several beasts in his backpack which he made from beast material during the first year. He was the same as before but his entire body had changed, it was now packed with dense muscles, every one of them bursting with immense power.

His muscles were perfect, not too big and not too small, they were the perfect ratio between fat and muscle. It was simply the most efficient body type, as it conserved the most amount of energy and exploded with the most amount of power while still keeping their agility.

This wasn't to say that Quinn had reached a peak in strength, actually, he was back at his strength however many years it had been since he went to sleep. Quinn lifted his hand and his fist turned black completely, there was also a barely noticeable blue hue glowing around it.

Quinn released his haki and transformed into his dragon state before flying towards the direction of the roar that woke him up. He could feel where it came from when he woke up and always kept the connection since he trained so he could explore later.

After a few days of flying

Quinn landed on an island and looked around to see traces of destruction naturally no one could be found. Quinn bent his head over and sniffed the red stains on the dragon, his face turned ugly and he mumbled "Dragon blood.. But who does it belong to is the question.."

Quinn sniffed the rest and smelled human blood as well. Quinn's frown deepened and he looked in a particular direction before flapping his wings and taking to the skies, shooting off in a different direction.

He flew through the skies but the scent was suddenly cut off. Quinn spread his wings and stopped mid-air, he looked around and sniffed the air as he flapped his wings slowly, hovering in place. His efforts were wasted as he couldn't find anything.

Quinn laid out his options, either wander around searching aimlessly for who knows how long or settle down and make other people search instead. Quinn thought to himself before turning around in the air and flying away, looking down at the islands he was passing.

He didn't know where he was, what year it was, nor what happened while he was gone. Quinn's top priority was to find the rest of his people and his family, but first, he would grow himself. Since there was dragon blood and human blood in the same place, he assumed that something was wrong.

Quinn also thought of a possible outcome that perhaps a dragon and some humans were fighting other humans but it wasn't very likely. Quinn himself could slaughter hundreds of thousands of normal humans easily. Plus the dragons were a peaceful race unless provoked so there wouldn't be a serious issue where humans fight alongside dragons.

Quinn found an island and swooped down, reverting to his human form and landing on the ground before walking into town. He was only wearing a lion pelt around his waist which he made during the first few months so his royal clothes won't get destroyed, so he was getting strange looks from the people.

Quinn looked around before walking up to a man and saying "Excuse me, sir, could you tell me where I am?" The man gave Quinn a weird look and walked away quickly, not wanting to associate with Quinn at all.

Quin felt his mouth twitch and he moved to a woman and asked the same question. The woman did the same, Quinn was confused and asked several other people only getting the same reactions.

Quinn frowned and scratched his head in confusion, wondering why everyone was avoiding him. He suddenly heard an old voice say "I say, youngster. Having some trouble?"

Quinn looked over and saw an old man sitting in a chair in front of what seemed to be a forging shop. Quinn smiled softly and walked over saying "A bit. Could you help me, sir?" the old man chuckled and stroked his beard saying "Sir? Haven't been called that in quite a long time.. Hohoho!"

Quinn smiled and the old man added "This is Carapace Island, in the East Blue." Quinn was confused and said "East Blue? What is that?" The only man chuckled and stood up slowly saying "Come inside, kiddo." before hobbling into the forge shop.

Quinn followed him and ducked under the doorframe muttering "These humans.. Can't they build bigger buildings?" The old man gave Quinn a side glance and a light flashed in his eyes as he said "Normally, I don't get very many non-human customers.."

Quinn smiled and said "I didn't think so." as he sat down cross-legged on the floor. The old man sat in a chair and Quinn said "Could you explain what this 'East Blue' you speak of is?"

The old man stuffed a tobacco pipe and lit it before saying "The sea is divided into 5 seas. 4 of them are known as 'Blues' while the last one is called the Grandline. The 4 'Blues' are 'East', 'North', 'West', and 'South' based on their geographical location."

Quinn nodded and the old man added "Separating them is the red line that circles the entire world, while the Grandline splits the 4 'Blues' down the middle. In between the 'Blues' and the Grandline, there are 2 bodies of water, lining the Grandline. They are the 'Calm Belts' they are still bodies of water, unable to flow and riddled with Sea Kings."

Quinn looked at the old man and said "You sure know a lot for an old man. Who are you?" The old man grinned and blew out some smoke as he said "Isn't it proper etiquette to introduce yourself first, little dragon?"

Quinn raised a brow and said "Quinn D. Kamui, a pleasure to meet you." The old man chuckled and said "Rocco Kajiya." Quinn smiled and said, "So how do you know so much old man." Rocco had a faraway look in his eyes as he said "I was a traveler a long time ago.." he paused and sighed before adding "But that was ages ago, I'm just a simple smith now." Quinn smiled and said, "That's not a bad profession, my people pride themselves on their smithing abilities."

Rocco laughed and shook his head, Quinn didn't push and changed the subject saying "Do you know what year it is? Also, do you know where the Dragon Kingdom is? My family is pro-" Rocco cut him off and said, "As far as I know, the dragons have gone extinct."

Quinn froze, and his face slowly drained off all its color as he said, "Not impossible! You're lying! They cou-" Rocco coughed and said, "It's also 1402, the only reason I know about dragons are from the stories passed down from my ancestors."

Quinn looked lost and he just stared at Rocco in a daze, unable to believe the facts. He went to sleep in the year 600, the Dragon Kingdom was at the top of the world, living peacefully. How could they possibly fall?

Quinn finally had the answer for why he was so terribly malnourished when he woke up. He had been sleeping for 800 years! Which made him 980 years old! The only good thing was that his body hadn't 'aged' and his functionality was still at 180 years old, which in human years was 18 years old. The two years he spent training and nourishing himself cost him 2 years so he was effectively 982 years old with a 182-year-old body.

Quinn refused to believe it and shot his arm forward, grabbing Rocco's neck as he shouted with tears in his eyes "You're lying, old man! You're fucking lying to me!"

Rocco sighed and said "I wish I was, kid. I'm sorry." Quinn dropped Rocco to the ground and broke down in tears. 800 years and rumors of extinction.. Quinn couldn't handle it. All his friends, family, the citizens, everyone.. Gone.

Quinn sat on the ground, staring at the floor in a complete daze, the final words of his father and mother ringing in his head over and over again. Rocco walked over and patted Quinn's shoulder before saying "I can't imagine your pain, kid. If it helps, I lost a lot of my friends once too."

Quinn looked up and Rocco smiled slightly continuing "I lost an entire crew in fact. A whole 80 of them, brothers, friends, loved ones, you name it." Rocco sat back down and sighed "I lost them to a vicious attack by a Sea-king…"

Quinn calmed down and said, "What did you do?" Rocco exhaled a mouthful of smoke and said "What could I do? The sea takes back just as much as she gives. I killed the Sea-king and fell in the sea to reunite with my crew.."

Rocco paused for a moment before sighing "Unfortunately, the sea had a different plan for me. I washed up on an island and received medical treatment before finally leaving and settling here to live out the rest of my life."

Quinn was silent and Rocco added, "Not a day goes by that I don't regret going out to sea that day, and if I was only stronger, I could've saved them.." Rocco teared up a bit before smiling "I was given life after losing everything and I moved on. They wouldn't have wanted me to give up and I'm sure your family wouldn't have wanted you to give up either."

Quinn felt a bell ring in his head and he remembered what his father said to him "You are the Prince of the Dragon clan. I expect a real man to come out and lead the rest of our race." Quinn clenched his fists and his eyes flashed with a determined light, firming up each passing moment.

Quinn wiped the tears from his eyes and said softly "Thank you, Rocco." Rocco smiled and waved "No problem, kid." Quinn sat up straight and his demeanor changed from slightly immature to determined. Rocco's smile widened a bit as he said "What now, kiddo?"

Quinn said "I will take on the mantle.. Can you teach me about this world?" Rocco rubbed his chin and said "I could.. If you work in my shop." Quinn was silent and Rocco chuckled and said "I'll pay you at the same time, how about it." Quinn finally sighed and smiled a little "Fine, old man."

Rocco chuckled and stood up saying "Great! I get to watch the legendary dragon forging technique!" Quinn laughed and followed Rocco to a room for Quinn to sleep in.

Quinn was about to start his new life with a heavy burden on his shoulders. The entire Dragon race's resurgence was on him now and he would bring them back to glory by any means necessary.