134 The King of the Pirates

When we reached the last island, we learned everything about the world. What is the Void Century? What is the people of D and the origin of Devil Fruits? Who's Joy Boy and what's his relationship with the Ancient Kingdom?—And all the important events that happened 800-900 years ago were unfolded before us…

The Poneglyphs are the only recorded history of that 100 years gap, and they were written during the Void Century.

The current world that we live in is actually a post apocalyptical world of an era of greatness that came before hands, an era where an ancient great kingdom ruled the world.

This kingdom was a highly advanced civilization that thrived during that time. They advocated for freedom, equality, the harmony of all races and nations and most importantly Peace.

The Ancient Kingdom was an immense and thriving nation with an incredible power and they were the responsible of the creation of the Ancient Weapons.

The very existence, the idea and even the name of this Kingdom is what makes the World Government find the study of the Poneglyphs and the Void Century so threatening.

The name of this Kingdom was very shocking, and it made sense why they were trying to hide it, because everyone across the world would instantly recognize it. Its name was…The Kingdom of One Peace.

1200 years ago, the residents of the moon immigrated to the blue sea due to lack of resources. The Skypieans and the Birkans settled on sky islands, the Lunarians settled on the Red Line while the ancestors of Shandians formed a magnificent civilization which became a multi-cultural kingdom later on with the "city of gold" Shandora being a remnant of it.

One of the key figures from this kingdom was Joy Boy who played a significant role in the events that happened between 900 and 800 years ago.

A goofy dude who most of the times acts similarly to Luffy made the story more amusing. Gaining allies by accident and his strong desire to live freely was what motivated him to become an adventurer and traveled the world.

Joy Boy was considered a champion of the ancient kingdom's ideals. As a charismatic leader, he aimed to bring about a world of freedom, equality, and unity among all races. He traveled all over the world, Wano, Zou and even of Fish-Man Island, where he made a promise to the mermaid princess Poseidon to bring them up to the surface in their united world by constructing the great ark, Noah.

Unfortunately, that promise was never fulfilled due to unexpected events. Twenty kingdoms rebelled against them, using the ancient weapons Uranus and Pluton they created against them.

The Ancient Kingdom knew how to directly harness the energy from the Sun in the form of Electromagnetic Waves and based on that they came up with an idea and managed to create their own miniature sun. It allowed them for an infinite energy source. And by sharing that technology with the rest of the world they believed it would allow the Kingdom to flourish as free energy for all and ultimately ending all conflicts which prompted the Twenty Kingdoms to rebel against them in fear of losing their power and position.

Amongst the kings and queens of these kingdoms is Queen Nerona Imu who was the leader of the alliance and Queen Nefertari Lily who was pressured by the people around her and the other 19 Kingdoms to join them which she did out of fear of her own people.

The 'Will of Drums' is what 'D.' initial stand for. Drums, represent a powerful and steady beat, symbolizing resilience and the ability to endure challenging circumstances, echoing the resounding beat of a drum that reverberates with resolve. The individuals with the 'D.' initial are characterized by their unwavering determination and unyielding spirit in the face of adversity. They possess a deep inner strength that allows them to persevere through hardships.

The Ancient Kingdom is the origin of the D clan. The citizens of the kingdom did not all have the D. Initial by birth. Instead, when the world government Nations first banded together and rebelled on the Ancient Kingdom, they conducted an extermination operation on them. The survivors of this Extermination agreed to take on the 'D.' in the name to distinguish amongst themselves and always be reminded of their homelands and families and allies and friends, they spread and hid across the world and the hope of one day, they will be able to build back what was destroyed.

That's why the people that bare the D. initial always disdain the World Government in some form or another, carrying the will of their ancestors in the hope of one day they could restore back what was wiped out by the World Government whether by using good means like Luffy or bad and extreme one like Xebec and Teach.

After taking over, the World Government proceeded to perform a 'Great Cleansing' after that. A mass genocide to erase every person, every technology that was deemed dangerous to their rule and everything related to the old kingdom, including the language itself which caused a major technological set back, effectively regressing the world hundreds of years backwards. The knowledge of everything happened in that period was erased from people's memory that's why the only knowledge known about it is from the Poneglyphs.

And that's why the World Government fears the idea of anyone finding out and spreading what happened. If the people of the world find out that the so-called gods used to be part of a kingdom and they 'Rebelled' against them and succeeded, it would light the fuse of war across the world.

Regretting her decision later, Lily decided to help Joy Boy. Adopting the D. initial and helping him in secrete to steal away Pluton from the newly found World Government and delivered it to Wano with the help of Zunesha on the cost of Joy Boy's life. He left her with a final message and task, an apology to the Fish-man for not being able to fulfil his promise and the task of telling the Kozuki Family to build the Poneglyphs in order to preserve the knowledge of the falling kingdom and what happened.

The Poneglyphs were made in Wano and after the Void Century ended 800 years ago, the stones were left to be guarded with Joy Boy's allies and the descendants of ancient civilizations like Wano, Alabasta and so on.

Before his death, Joy Boy had put together a plan to restore all what was destroyed and unite all the races…basically making the world in One Piece, by leaving all the important pieces and information in Laugh Tale, as well as an extraordinary treasure.

The One Piece is essentially not the treasure itself but the culmination of everything that would allow for Joy Boy's plan to come to life. Though if it fell on the right hands that is.

By utilizing Pluton to destroy the Red Line which would result in the destruction of Fish-Man Island, using Noah to and Poseidon's power to bring the Fish-Man race to the surface, as well as to make the Sea Kings stop attacking ships in the Calm Belt, which would create a one united sea, the All Blue.

Just like Pluton, Uranus is a weapon of mass destruction, a colossal flying ark capable of wiping out entire islands in one shot. And just like Pluton, in order to power this ancient weapon a specific type of energy is needed, the same energy source that the Ancient Kingdom used which Vegapunk managed to come close to it in what he called the Mother's Flame.

Which confirms that the World Government right now is in possession of that weapon.

Then we have the existence of Poseidon, one of the Ancient Weapons, was made possible due to a unique combination of factors. The ancient kingdom's advanced biotechnology and genetic engineering allowed them to identify individuals within the mermaid race who possessed the rare ability known as the "Voice of All Things." This ability enabled them to perceive the Sea Kings. The ancient kingdom recognized the significance of this ability and the potential influence it held over the Sea Kings. Therefore, they designated the individual with the "Voice of All Things" as the manifestation of Poseidon, the chosen one who would maintain a harmonious relationship with the Sea Kings as well as commanding them.

Despite the capacity to destroy the world, all Poseidon was tasked with is the job of commandeering the Sea Kings into moving Noah and stopping them from attacking ships in the Calm Belt rather than for military purposes.

As for the origin of Devil Fruits, its directedly tied to the Lunarian race and the Eve Tree.

The Lunarian were the first ones to live on top of the Red Line, the supposed location of the Eve Tree. They also lived as far away from the ocean as physically possible. They are known for their fire related abilities which they don't do well in the water—the devil fruits single and greatest weakness is the sea like wise.

It all made sense to me. Known as gods and having heavy referential connections with Lucifer also known as the devil who's often described as a former angel of the highest rank known as a Seraphim who is commonly depicted with black wings and resides in a blazing hell and is the same devil who tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit…devil fruit.

Nika was a Lunarian as well, it came as a surprise to me at first but when I did some comparisons, it made sense. Nika was known as a god, he had white hair and red eyes, his body generates fire and his highly resilient as well.

Lunarians are like every other Sky race, originates from the moon. They also had a similar societal structure like them with their leader being worshiped and hailed as a god, similarly to Gan Fall or Enel in the Original Timeline, which would explain why Luffy's transformation of Nika didn't have wings.

Now to grow a devil fruit is a little similar to growing a normal one, you would need sunlight and water. But to make the said fruit bare special powers you would also need a soul.

Unlike my original world on earth, here everything living or not has a soul. But even with knowing all that it would still be impossible to do that as there is still another variable…The Voice of All Things.

In order to perceive these souls, one has to be able hear them using the Voice of All Things, an extremely rare ability that only a handful of people possess. Using it, Nika managed to place souls or parts of them into the Eve Tree which then formed into various Devil Fruits.

Now, how exactly did he do it? It is by using music…the souls in this world can be manipulated by music. Someone like Brook can influence and rock the souls of others by playing music, it also makes sense that the Drums of Liberation which is associated with Nika are a rhythmic beat.

As for the reason why devil fruit users have weakness to the sea is because, the sea in this world is seen as a resting place for souls. When Devil Fruit users are submerged in water, the soul within them begins to fall asleep and rest because the ocean doesn't kill the devil fruit power itself, it kills the user for not being able to breath under water. It is also the same reason why Pluton is said to be resting beneath the submerged Wano, as its soul is resting.

Now for Laugh Tale itself, it's not just a normal place but a remnant of the Ancient Kingdom, it was evident from the first time I looked at it. Though, everything is ruins right now.

All of these information were overwhelming to take for all of us, but what's even crazier is the treasures left behind by Joy Boy…A Memory Archive Crystal that contains all the technological knowledge that the Ancient Kingdom discovered at that time including their energy source which could instantly power up the dozens of Iron Giants that are lying dormant here in Laugh Tale and with this knowledge there could be a technological revolution which will advanced the world into an era that is much more advanced than modern earth. Along with this is an unbelievable amount of gold that could instantly crash the market and make it worthless along with even more silver, jewelry, valuable ancient artifacts and very advanced weapons…

…It was truly the ultimate treasure that made all this journey worth it.

"…" Everyone was speechless while looking at what lied before them. It was a literal sea of treasures that you can't even begin to imagine.

"Yo, this is unbelievable!! Is this real or an illusion?!!" Yamato exclaimed, her eyeballs popped out from the shock.

"It feels real…" Enel said while examining it.

"This is crazy, how can all of this be true? This Kingdom was really something!" Calvin said, still having a hard time grasping all the information we just learned.

"Those Celestial Dragons bastards, they are acting as if they are gods, and they were only a bunch of dogs under the rule of another kingdom!" Ian said.

"Who would have thought that Imu, the ruler of the world was actually a woman and one of these founding kings and queens. Though it does not state when and how she became the ruler behind the shadows, she must have done it secretly…It also make sense for the Elders to call her the creator since she was the leader of the alliance and the one who prompted them to start the rebellion in the first place" Ashen stated, then added "Though I thought she would have had some kind of connection with Joy Boy, but it turned out it was nothing personal"

"…" There was a moment of silence before Ashen burst out of laugher and was preceeded by everyone else.

"Hahahaha!! I can't believe all of this was right before us and we couldn't see it or even think of it!!" Everyone burst into laughter as Ashen exclaimed in amusement. The sheer irony of the situation was too amusing to ignore…There Journey Ended where it Started.

They couldn't believe they hadn't considered it before—the hidden location of Laugh Tale right beneath their noses all these years, under Reverse Mountain. It was as if the answer had been right in front of them all along, waiting to be uncovered.

The laughter echoed through the group as they imagined the absurdity of missing such a simple clue. They visualized the map of the Grand Line, and there it was—a perfect 90-degree crossing between Reverse Mountain and the Grand Line, forming an unmistakable X. How could they have overlooked such a glaringly obvious connection?

They chuckled at the idea that the water intersects at the top of Reverse Mountain created another X with a point in the middle. The symmetry was uncanny, and it was right there, laughing at their obliviousness.

"Hahahaha!!...I would have named it Laugh Tale as well if I was in Roger's place!...It's such a funny journey…" Ashen said with a smile in his face before he turned back to everyone "Hey, everyone…Let's use these treasures and knowledge to bring down those World Government bastards!"

…

A few days later…

The Shocking news of the Ashen Pirates reaching the last island was spread across the globe like fire.

The printed newspapers covered every street, every town and every island in the world leaving everyone in utter shock.

"U-Unbelievable… Someone did it after 25 years!"

"…"

"--The Ashen Pirates finally did it!"

"--The Pirate Ashen traveled around the world for the second time in history and finally found the One Piece!!"

"Now there is a conqueror of the sea!"

"He's the King of The Sea!..."

"…The King of the Pirates!!"

…

['King of The Pirates' Ashen]

Shiki who was sitting on his ship's deck and reading the newspaper cracked a smile…

"…Jihahaha! You finally did it…Ashen"