2 2. Mysterious Island

I woke up to find himself mercilessly in the sea which if he was right in guessing was not possible.

Why you may ask?

It's cause the lake in which I was fishing/sleeping was a remote area and the nearest port would take almost 6-7 hours even in the shortest way.

"Then how the heck did I get here?"

I was surrounded by the sea for as long my eyes could reach and my buddy boat was nowhere in sight, and I just fell in water which means either I am a very heavy sleeper or...

"Did I just fall from the sky?"

If you eliminate the improbable the only remaining reason no matter how outrageous must be the truth-SH

Since I wasn't that much of a sleeper anyway which leads me to only one reason being I just now honest to God fell from the sky.

"Okayyy First things first, I am still alive and let's keep it that way and second ",the immediate huge wave which almost drowned me didn't help matters.

"I need to get out of the sea"

For hours after that all I did was keep trying to stay above the waves and all I found were huge sea waves and on one odd occasion when suddenly the sea became calm, I swear I felt something huge below me and I paled when I remembered the anaconda movies.

SHIT!

I calmed down after that since I didn't think they would be this far in the ocean but I still felt like I was missing something.

Oh well must be nothing..

After well more than a dozen hours swimming and trying to stay afloat, I finally saw a outline of a island just over the horizon.

It loomed menacingly and I more than seeing felt a sense of fear and danger that screamed at me to go away but I didn't have any other choice and without food or water I was on a quick track to death.

The island came closer and I finally could see more of I what earlier I had presumed to be trees were large jagged rocks and the only bit of greenery came from patches of different shrubs around. Except that all it had was a plain barren island with not a soul in sight.

I somehow reached the island in as a massive wave rushed at me and threw me on the landmass.

The moment I landed was the moment I started having a heart attack since it felt like there was something really heavy on top of body.

What the hell is with this gravity?

The gravity here wasn't the usual one i.e 9.8 g no this was different almost 10 times wouldn't be joking around. The pain was almost unbearable and thankfully I fell unconscious the next moment.

Next I woke up with a massive body ache and pressure enough that I would have already gone unconscious. The gravity had lessened or perhaps my body had adjusted,I wasn't sure but slowly over the course of an hour the pressure reduced enough that I could sit up and look around.

He island was just as big as my eye could see i.e half a km in radius I guessed. There were no trees no animals no living beings for that matter. Not even a drop of water of what I could see. The most I saw on the island were just some rocks leading towards the center of the island where a huge unnatural earth hole on the side of the hill in the center of the island which opened up seemingly looking like a huge tiger spitting out the island.

The stones were set at an irregular distances from each other and they ended some 5 m near the cave. I could see some tattered piece of clothing there.

Seeing nothing around and dead tired and hungry I started walking towards the only interesting thing around and that was the unnaturally natural(get it :}) earth hole right in the middle of the island.

Some distance away there was a wooden book which seemed to have seen better days. I walked towards it to pick it up. I was surprised to see writing on it. Even moer surprised to read it.

Diary entry #1

I have been searching for something that could make me rich and famous, now finally I find it. Having read from the Black Jumba Tribe's records the island was a very special place right in the center of the island. They say it was a God's resting place, but I think they mean just a very powerful item lies there. A very powerful and Precious item. I now understand the reason why almost all of them have such short statures. The island seems to make my body heavier than normal and I have found out that the further inland I progress the heavier my body gets.

I flipped through the rest of the pages directly to the end...

Diary entry # 140

I have been almost three-fourths of the way and as always I have recorded my progress and experiences of this bizarre island in my diary. The Tribe's records have stated that though their ancestors lived on the island for a very long time, they were forced to move due to a great calamity that has suddenly descended on it.

The days here have been unfruitful and I grow restless these days, it almost feels like the more I want the treasure; the stronger the power of gravity gets.

The time spend here is doing things on my mind, I don't think I am myself anymore. It seems today I will finally start my way towards the final leg of the journey and towards finding the God's resting place or perhaps a legendary treasure, I hope I succeed but if I don't I leave behind this entry in hopes of helping someone more worthy than me for this treasure. I have come to be suspicious that it is a Devil Fruit but I can't be too sure.

Diary Entry # 164

I want this power, I WANT WANT WANT IT!...NO ONE OTHER THAN ME WILL HAVE THIS TREASURE...IT IS MINE

Devil..Fruit! Where have I heard that name before.

Was this the reason this guy made it all the way here? Was this the reason this guy died here? Just how strong the power was to make someone die out here? It seems he went crazy towards the end. Man Got to pity the guy...

It wasn't all that difficult to figure it out after all this time. The piece that was placed near the end of the last stone placed was intact the clothes of the diary owner since due to the massive gravity the bones would all have been ground to dust leaving behind nothing but this book.

How trifling is Life that all you do ends within an instant and all that remains of you is just a speck of dirt..

The reason that man had died, I could already feel it since the gravity seems to have increased again the closer I get to the center. But the thing troubling me wasn't the death but possible ramifications of what I was watching. The reason all of this seemed to be not of my earth, my world even.

Increased Gravity! Devil fruits, don't kid me. All the scientist of the earth would have already found this island and scientified the heck out of it. But I have never ever heard of something like this. That all seems to point to one direction only...

I fucking am not on my home world

I read the whole of the dairy again, and slowly my understanding of the world increased but I felt some sort of un-explainable sort of familiarity with it. As if a very vague sense of deja vu especially with the word Devil Fruit.

Shit it seems I have already passed through earth and into a new reality. One where there are something called Devil fruits that give people power. I need to understand all of this before I make a big mistake. Now I think if I was brought here that means there is a reason for all this. SO...

1. Find out about this world

2. Find out about your objective

3. Do you like the objective?

4. If yes FINE

5. If NO then Find a different objective.

6. Forget about the above objectives, FIND just what treasure is in the cave?

I was insanely curious about the treasure mentioned by the Dead Guy (No Offense!) but the feeling of being a treasure hunter was something like a childhood fantasy like one of the bucket Lists. So no way in hell was I leaving this place before I find out about the treasure.

The part after this was quite simple actually, all I had to do was keep walking straight to the center of the island and go down the giant vertical (sort of) cave and find what's inside but the problem arose just as I took a step beyond the first well placed stone.

"Uwaaaa, the ...fuck is this pressure!", the gravity increased again enormously. Forget about being able to step ahead, I barely had the strength to step back and the moment I did so the pressure vanished like air. Compared to the gravity ahead, gravity outside was like fluffy cotton candy; it barely even registered. Then I finally understood the reason for the death of the writer. There were 5 stones ahead of me and thinking abut it now, they were placed for a reason. Every time I cross the stone the gravity should increase to terrifying levels compared to previous gravity and if I wasn't able to adjust or hold it, I was going to be the next corpse beside the writer or in this case should I say my clothes will remain besides the writer.

I had backed away now from the stone and was heaving because for a second there I almost felt my innards compressed. The feeling was terrifying, the pain real and the excitement kindled. For as they say; what is an adventure without Lady Danger.

I was thrilled now because the more the protections the more precious the treasure and besides it's not like I have many things to do now. First all I gotta do is get some food then I will start thinking on this problem.

Water was fresh and readily available since the gravity affected the nearby region, the layer above the sea surface was fresh drinkable water. I don't know how to explain that to scientist but whatever, I had drinking fresh water from the sea literally.

Food problem was easily solved, not because I was a great fisherman (and seriously I was quite good at it) but because of the island and it's gravity itself. The fishes which mistakenly came inside the radius of the island would suddenly start convulsing and all I had to do was take the food before the hunters get there. As like me there were other fishes around which seemed to have accustomed to the gravity. The island was like a floating city, it's edges ended abruptly and beyond lay the sea. The edges extended deep into the sea just like a mountain.

The point that I wasn't in my world was further proved by the size of the fish that I caught. They were massive and I had an idea that this was supposed to be the norm around here because the hunter fish was nearly the size of the whale. It was a goldfish with the size of the whale and that's why I was thrilled to meet it.

I don't know whether it could understand me or not but it seemed adamant on trying to eat me. Well anyway the method to catch fish took me all of the day and the actual catching part took barely half an hour with a small skirmish with the gold-whale, the whale-fish, the go-ale. Whatever.

The night descended quickly and with it, I finally had explored the rest of the island; of course outside the 1st stone boundary. It seemed like a concentric circle with the 5 stones acting as a point on the circumference of every circle with the cave as the center. Curiosity rising I had half a mind to re-enter and face the gravity but I controlled myself. The adventure of the day had caught up with me and even the rocky ground didn't feel all that rocky; on the contrary it felt like a comfy bed. So without further ado I fell down and slept the night away beneath the stars. The blanket of stars in the sky was truly mesmerizing and made me as if I could extend my arm and catch a bunch of stars.

The sky was never far away, I just didn't take my time and looked at it. I was not a fan of Star-gazing but I could understand why they did it now. They were truly beautiful.I didn't even know just when I was asleep.

I slept like a Log and the next day woke up to feel refreshed and active. I was lying in a crater of my body's shape. Quite comical, it was. It seemed the ground under me was pushed down due to my weight. Anyway I stood up from the small crater and studied my environment again. Hunting for Fishes was easy since all I had to do was watch their figure's in the sea and dive to take them up. My eyes caught sight of a white shape moving right towards the island and barely 5 meters away, it suddenly came to a stop.

'oh Fish there's my breakfast'

Thinking so I dived under the sea to find a fish struggling to stay afloat. The fish was barely even concerned with me as it was struggling to just live. I pushed it towards the island to increase the gravity and make it easier for me to catch it. As I was getting closer the moment I was dreading came in the form of a huge Gold-whale which came behind me and opened it's unearthly maw to fully eat me up. The reason I was able to avoid it was the huge form of water pressure which seemed to decrease whenever the fish opened it's mouth. Anyway premonition complete, I used my full strength to just barely avoid the Go-ale jaw. Though it still bit my breakfast and swam away, I hurriedly made my way to the surface and climbed aboard the island.

"Damn this Go-ale, I have to do something to do about it or else I was going to die from hunger'

The thing about fighting a whale sized fish who wished to eat me didn't scare me that much cause if you have to go tow to tow with The Great White and still live then the whole meaning of struggle for survival changed. If it didn't stop targeting me all I could do was find a way to make him uninterested in me or just finish it off. Both options felt very much better than dying off of hunger.

Thinking so I did the next thing I could do was explore and make my way towards the cave or as the writer called it The Lion's Mane, perhaps the local tribe had named it. It didn't suit it much but it was a better name than 'the cave' so I let it be and got to work.

The darkness awaits the next challenger..

The words written at the back of the book of the writer seemed ominous enough. The writer seemed to have become a bit too lunatic towards the end. This served as both The test had just began for me but there was a simple difference between me and the writer which was the knowledge of science and of course gravity...

Gravity is directly proportional to the mass of the 2 objects and inversely proportional to square of the distance between them. In this case I had to either increase my distance to the object producing this gravity or try and lessen the weight of the object or myself.

The first option went out of the window cause I was doing the exact opposite of that and the second was not possible since I neither could reduce my weight significantly nor the object which seemed to be at the center of all this.

So I was left with only one option i.e simple brute force and time. I had to start assimilating myself with the gravity of each layer before I proceed further and though it was a pain in the ass, I wanted to do it.

The start was just ahead of me and as I embarked on the journey, as I made my first step inside the stone. All thoughts vanished into thin air with the gravity and all that remained was pain. My vision went under tunneling-effect, my chest felt stricken and my vision was tinted with white cause of all the blood that seemed to just drain out of my eyes. They were some of the side-effects associated with massive amounts of g-force. I endured till I passed out..again.

And Again

Again...

By the time I woke up the sky had turned dark and my body felt so weak that it almost felt like all my bones had weakened. Unable to move my body out of the way, I did the only thing I could, I rolled out of the way and then got to my feet. Coming to the lower gravity region seemed to enliven me cause the moment I crossed the boundary , some of the fatigue would simply vanish. Simply giving me enough energy to hunt and feed myself. That's what I did.

I started thinking about the immediate thing useful for me to proceed further and that was my body. I grew worried of the fact that somehow I won't be able to live through this ordeal because a body needed multiple vitamins, minerals and whatnot which couldn't be fulfilled by simply eating fish. But slowly time went by and I started feeling that something was different about my body because every time I ventured towards the cave, my body started becoming stronger and more resilient. It puzzled me but I didn't think too much about the fact since my curiosity overwhelmed me. The days went pass quicker than imagined and now I stood before the last ring with just 10 meters between me and the cave.

Here I stopped because I barely could breathe and I hadn't even stepped inside the ring now. I retreated cause this shit was getting nowhere near my tolerance level. The gravity should increase by more than 1000 times the gravity of earth inside the 5th ring. Even inside the 4th ring where I stood the gravity wasn't so heavy. It was merely some 100 times earth's gravity I guess.

Another problem lay behind me, the island was crumbling now either due to the increased gravity or because it had reached it's end but the 1st and 2nd ring had vanished and fallen down to the sea which brought my real problem: The Go-Ale Gigantic Gold fish-Whale kind of a thing which was adamant to eat me. Though while fishing all I had to do was pick up some fish and return on the land but if the island kept on crumbling like this than the next time there would be no land to be safe on.

I had to do something but no matter what I did there was just no way for me to make my way out of this region with the Go-ale so close. I had started to feel depressed on this but chose to focus my efforts on something productive i.e trying to find my way into the cave which now had come to a screeching halt. The gravity didn't increase uniformly and that was my reason to not proceed further.

"Grrrllrllrlr", my stomach grumbled for food and I retreated to the west edge of the island to catch fishes. This edge is free of the Go-ale for some reason. It doesn't come all this way, never in the west region. I had great luck cause just as I arrived, there was a salmon like fish which was trying to escape the gravity. I dived down immediately to catch it, the clear blue water was devoid of salt so my eyes didn't hurt at all. The water was refreshing and cool so I threw away my earlier depression and proceeded further. The moment I was close enough to the fish to catch it, it turned around and swam away in a hurry though very slow. It seems the fishes were slowly getting use to the gravity pressure.

I shook my head at the unlucky incident, now I had lost my food and my horrible mood was back.

'Sigh well whatever!'

Thinking to myself that now I had to go hungry for some time, I turned around and lo and behold, I saw below the island now. Due to the gravity the outer edges of the island had been corroded and vanished in the sea and there was my answer to fulfill my curiosity. I had dived in the sea around the island many times and I thought that the island must be like all the other islands i.e it was connected to the earth's crust through a volcano or a seismic plate but...

But the truth was completely different now, the island was connected to the sea floor by a hundred or so pillars just like Venice. They were honest to God wooden logs as thick as 10 people standing side by side and they extended to somewhere so deep that I couldn't even see the bottom of it. The layer of earth that I saw before must be a layer of sand and dirt formed around these logs. They felt absolutely ancient with a few showing signs of breaking. I went forward and touched one of the logs and then the most miraculous thing happened. The pressure I felt was minimal was suddenly gone and I felt as if I became too light. In a sudden situation I removed my hand from the pillar and the pressure returned placing the nominal authority on me again.

My breath hitched and I made my way to the top of the sea. What I wanted lay right in the center of this land and the underwater way was something that I could give some effort since the normal way wasn't working anymore. The logs acting as pillars to the island had somehow find a way to negate gravity and become completely harmless to it. I could use that to my advantage so I knew now what I had to do.

1. Either use a part of the logs to negate gravity of the island and just waltz in to the cave but I didn't know the conditions for it to work. What if the part I took didn't work after getting separated from the main log, what if there was some sort of time effect and it stopped working inside the cave. Then by the pressure inside I will die. This way needed much experimentation before use.

2. OR I could just focus my efforts on the underground way and try to scout the underside of the island. Who knows maybe I will find the object creating this pressure down below or perhaps something to negate it indefinitely (eternally). But then the oxygen was the problem, though I had a great endurance for underwater diving but still I was only a human, I could atmost remain for a few minutes down below.

Hmm... choices choices...what to do?

I resigned myself to the 2nd option because I just hate to waste time in things that need well time so the 1st option was out, moreover I had a feeling that below the island was some sort of mystery that awaited me. I made the decision and got to work.

I dived again after getting my bearings and got to scout around the underside of the island. I think I will call it Gravi_land form now on. Such an easy name, I don't know why my friends told me that I had a bad naming sense.

The so called gigantic logs were just so closely placed that they barely had space left in between them. This was amazing, the whole groundwork of his island was artificial on a a scale that can hardly be imagined even by the engineers on my world. This was marvelous, as down as I could see the logs continued on and on. I think they went right down to the sea floor but that would mean they were thousands of meters in height. Just what was so important that the creators had to create such an enormous setting just for an island. Perhaps what I was trying to find in the cave was far more important than just some treasure.

'SHIT got to breathe!'

The whole minute of mine went away looking at the awe-inducing work done on the island. I left the logs briefly and hurriedly swam towards the surface and took in mouthfull's of air the moment I broke the surface, it wasn't long and I wasn't deep-diving so it was okay and I wouldn't suffer from decompression sickness. So I took a deep breath, stabilized myself and then dived again. This time I went farther than the previous times while still holding onto the logs, I tried to remove my hands once but the mere thought of the pressure this close was something horrifying. So I just let it be and slowly moved forwards all the while trying to minimize my movements and not waste oxygen. I was searching for air pockets, they were a natural event and happened often so I was hopeful to find one here so I didn't have to return.

My priorities were right now screwed a bit so I didn't care about the naturally threatening option of drowning and persisted on the simple belief that my senses were right and there was an air pocket just ahead. The waters were exceedingly clear and though I could see much further the dense foliage of logs made my vision limited and me irritated. The air supply was getting short as I slowly felt the clear need of the body for oxygen but I persisted and moved ahead stubbornly. My vision started getting darker around the edges and my swim more frantic. The reality was descending now that I would drown if I didn't find the air pocket but I was prepared. This wasn't the first time I had done such a thing and my senses were one of the most trustful things I had in life.

So I didn't care about the lack of oxygen or how my heart kept thundering in my ears but kept moving forward and my senses came right, there up lay an air pocket through which even one of the logs went. All the other logs ended at the bottom part of the island but this one went all the way inside. I touched it and hurriedly made my way to the top and through the air pocket. What lay beyond was magical to say the least.

I pulled myself out of the water and lay down breathing heavily. For a second all I saw was darkness and then countless lights started twinkling and the next second almost everything went to hell...

Thousands of miles away, on a similar yet different island lay a vast regiment of soldiers. People who wore short sleeved white shirt with a weird symbol on it. This symbol to people of this world brought forth fear, admiration, disgust,anger, ridicule or for some very few people nonchalance was the symbol of the Marines.

Right now these marines were barely conscious, many injured and some hanging on a thread of life and death. The reason was a ruin which they had just come out of. A majestic castle as dark as the night sky and which reeked of blood and death stood in the center of the island. The remaining soldiers were looking towards the castle with naked horror and then towards the man standing in front of them.

They were looking towards their Captain,a man they would give their lives for. The commander looked on towards the center with fascination and hints of fear was standing at the hill watching the castle.

Pururuurururururru

He looked on towards the snail that was ringing in his hands. He knew who was on the other side, someone who wouldn't be happy to hear he had failed to find it again. His gaze turned back to the cave, he sighed in his heart. This too was a futile search, they had been here for several months now searching for something which was now just an urban myth but his superior's thought otherwise.

"Report", the voice was heavy and carried with it a strong sense of heaviness.

"Done a thorough search of the island C4767, it's not here. Slight traces were found on the sight indicating it was moved away from here. Still trying to confirm where it went after this"

The reply was short and to the point.

"You know what to do. No Witnesses. Keep searching"

The Captain turned around to the cold faces of his sub-ordinates. All of them were his permanent crew members. But the rest of the crew were truly unfortunate, truly unfortunate. The captain smiled cruelly and people in front mirrored his smile.

"Finish the work, we have got loads more to do"

The night after that was filled with screams of betrayal and anger and death.

"What happened?", an old man asked looking over a city from a huge building.

"The mission failed", was the reply.

"Leave", was the order.

The marine complied without thinking and left the room. His back was already soaked with sweat and his heart hammered in his chest. Meeting them was just one of his work but every time he does, he just freezes. He didn't know why they gave such a mission but for them to search for something meant it was either very useful (world-changing) or perhaps dangerous (world-destroying). The marine was a seasoned veteran of the force and though he had been through his share of battles, he would still not be able to maintain his composure in front of the Six Elders.

"Is it necessary? It might be that the infernal thing is already lost to time. Searching for it in some long-forgotten ruins for so many years, is it worth it?", said another voice while the owner held a long sword in his hands.

The elder who faced the night sky outside sighed and deliberated once again the futile search going on for the past century, the search that would yield them one of the lost powers of the void history. It was what they had been searching for the last century and the people before them had been and he wished the people after them still only searched for it; never find it because the power it had was far too destructive to be given to any single man; pirate or otherwise.

He sighed in his heart but his mind remained free from its restraint, the object was far too powerful to be forgotten. It had to be found by them or no one else. They had come too far to just let it go now.

"Perhaps you are right , perhaps this is just some old man's senile nature or perhaps a legend too good to be true but if there is even a single bit of it that is the truth, then the whole world will become chaotic more so than ever and us...we may...no we will not be able to endure such a misfortune.", the elder nodded to the other five, they knew just what was at stake here.

Then he turned around; stared right out to the stars once again and remembered the only known information that their predecessors had on it.

THE DARK KING

It is a Devil Fruit ranked Alpha from now on.

Capabilities : Unknown.

Power : Unknown. (extremely destructive)

Awakened : Unknown.

Disadvantages : Unknown

Origin: Unknown

Be wary of it and it's user. No one who has fought with it has lived to tell the tale.

Known Sighting: Void Period

Island Sasha, Night

All the eye-witnesses say that all they saw was a pillar of darkness from the island and they all fell unconscious. No sighting of any people of the island or the island itself. It had been thoroughly destroyed in a single night.

We know it is a Devil Fruit because the other devil fruit users can sense it.

"Just where are you hiding Dark King? ", a hint of madness flashed through the elder's eyes before they returned to normal.