18 Sworn Brothers

The next morning, Marcus and Mira walked into Orion's bedroom holding a cake with 3 candles in.

"Happy birthday kiddo. Blow out the candles and make a wish."

Orion closed his eyes and blew out the candles. As he opened his eyes, both Mira and Marcus noticed a change. It was very subtle, but it was unmistakeably there.

Mira let her curiosity get the better of her as she asked.

"What did you wish for?"

Orion looked at his mother and said lightly.

"Nothing."

Thinking her son wanted to keep it a secret she couldn't help but tease him.

"I didn't know we were keeping secrets from each other now. I guess my little Ori really is all grown up."

Hearing Mira, Ori could only sigh helplessly at the misunderstanding. He then proceeded to explain.

"I meant I didn't wish for anything."

As he said that, both mother and father were looking at him oddly. Marcus couldn't help but ask.

"Why didn't you make a wish?"

Ori looked at his father as he replied.

"This is a world where the strong thrive and the weak can only survive. Instead of making a wish to a higher power, I'd rather be strong enough to live my life however I choose!"

As he said that, the air around him changed. His presence wasn't overbearing in fact it was the opposite, it was almost soothing. It made both his mother and father want to relax as they embraced the feeling.

Marcus looked at his son with nothing but love and pride.

"You should get going, didn't you say you wanted to meet up with Rome before everyone else comes over."

Hearing that, Orion nodded as he picked up a small bag and headed towards the door excitedly.

Seeing the bag, Mira asked him.

"What's in the bag?"

"It's a secret!"

"You little twerp! Hurry up and go, make sure you're both back by noon so we can start the birthday activities with your aunts and uncle."

"Ok see you later."

As he said that Orion ran out the door and headed towards the spot he had arranged to meet Roman.

When he got there he saw Roman had already arrived.

"Ori, you're late!"

"I know sorry, I got caught up with my mum and dad."

Roman nodded as he said with a smile.

"Happy birthday, I left your birthday present at home, but my dad said he'll bring it to your house later."

Orion smiled as he waved his hands and said.

"Don't worry about that, we've got more important things to do right now."

As he said that, he reached into the bag he brought with him removing the contents.

"What's all th…"

He stopped half way through his sentence as he saw what was in the bag.

It was a bottle of sake and 2 sake cups. As he pulled it out Orion poured 2 cups out, one for each of them. Orion passed one to Roman and kept the other for himself as he said.

"Since my birth you've been the closest thing I have to a brother, but today I wanted to make it official. One of the stories Roger told me was the ritual of "Swearing Brotherhood". The 3 parts to the process are:

1. You pour out a glass of sake for each of you and then you put a drop of your blood in your brothers cup to symbolise the sharing of blood.

2. You then drink till there's nothing left and ignore the taste symbolising that you accept the other person completely for good or for bad.

3. You throw the empty cup on the floor smashing it into pieces symbolising that there is no going back.

So, how about it… Are you willing to be my brother?!"

Roman didn't answer with words. Instead he cut open his index finger using his dragonized claw and allowed for a drop of his blood to drop in the cup he was holding.

Not willing to be left behind Roman bit his thumb till blood appeared and allowed it to drop into his cup. Both boys then swapped glasses and downed the alcohol before smashing their respective glasses and smiling at each other.

Suddenly Orion remembered something as he said.

"I have something for you but before I can give it to you, I need to ask you something, if you say no, I'll completely respect your decision and I'll still love you as my brother!"

Roman could feel that it's serious so he focused and waited for Orion to continue.

"You know that my dream is to be the next king of the pirates but to do that I need a strong crew to watch my back… I want you to be my crew's vice-captain! So what do you say, are you willing to set sail with me and help me do what only one man has done before?!"

Hearing that Roman let out a sigh of relief as he replied.

"I thought it was something difficult! Haha I'd be upset if you didn't ask me little brother… No, Captain!"

As he said that he raised his fist in front of him, Ori replied in kind as they bumped fists both boys smiled fiercely as their blood boiled in excitement at what the future had in store. Orion was both relieved and excited as he now had a brother to pass on a gift to.

[Gift: Pure Yang Physique

Target: Gol D. Roman!]

As he thought that a flash of light shot out of his body and into the head of Roman.

Roman felt a flood of information entering his mind and eventually knocking him unconscious.

"Haha Rome has the Golden Dragon Devil Fruit making his body incredibly powerful anyway and now he has the Pure Yang Physique Art increasing the strength of his body even more. His future will be simply limitless."

Knowing Roman was going to be unconscious for a while Orion sat in the lotus position and started revolving the Heavenly Demon Sacred Art.

[I may as well get some practice in while I can!]

About 3 hours later Roman finally woke up and when he did he was shocked by the scripture that was in his mind. He looked up at Orion in confusion.

"Ori this…"

Orion smiled as he cut him off.

"The Pure Yang Physique Art is for you to train in. With that your strength should increase by leaps and bounds!"

Roman shook his head as he said.

"I know that, I read the description. What I wanted to ask is where did it come from."

Ori frowned as he looked towards his sworn brother. He loved Roman as a brother, but he just wasn't ready to speak about the fact that he reincarnated into this world with anyone.

"Rome, I can't bring myself to lie to you but there are still somethings that I can't say, not just to you but to anyone. I'm just not ready yet, but the moment I am, you'll be the first to know. And please keep the scripture a secret as not even my parents know."

Roman looked at Orion for a second before nodding and saying.

"So what's the name of our crew then?"

Orion was shocked as he thought that Roman would be a little upset for not telling him even after swearing brotherhood.

"Aren't you upset with me?"

Roman shook his head with a smile.

"I've been with you for the past 3 years, I've always known there was something special about you but even though I didn't know what it was I didn't really care because you always treated me as a brother.

I'm just happy you never lied to me, as your big brother the least I can do is wait till you're ready to tell me, but until then all I can do is prove that I'm worthy of your trust!"

Hearing his words, Orion felt his heart warm but also felt guilty that he couldn't bring himself to say his secret just yet.

[When I'm ready, I promise you'll be the first person I tell!]

Whilst Orion was lost in his thoughts Roman's voice snapped him out of it.

"So what is the name of our pirate crew?"

Orion smiled as he said.

"Have you ever heard of a Heavenly Demon?"

Hearing the name, Roman frowned as he tried to think of what a Heavenly Demon was but he shook his head as he had no idea.

Orion wasn't surprised as he only heard of a heavenly demon when he saw his Heavenly Demon Sacred Art. He then explained.

"A Heavenly Demon is someone who's is blessed with demonic strength to spite the heavens. (Changed the meaning of a heavenly demon as I preferred this description, sorry for the inconvenience.)

As pirate's we'll be hated by virtually everyone, even other pirates, but as the crew of the future pirate king we'll have them cowering because of our demon like strength. That's why I thought of the name:

The Heavenly Demon Pirates!"

"The Heavenly Demon Pirates… Pirates with Demonic strength to spite the heavens! Hahaha I like it!"

The more Roman thought about the name, the more he liked it.

Seeing the joy on Roman's face put a smile on Orion's face.

He then looked off into the distance as he said.

"We have 2 years left with our parents… Use that time to increase your strength and shock your dad by your rate of improvement. But above all, let's enjoy the time we have left with them."