[4] A Storm of Change

[2450 words]

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[The Following Night]

More food disappeared from the storage as the guards continued to drink away their confusion.

And then, one moved from his post.

"Oye, I'm gonna take a leak~"

The remaining guard seemed rather annoyed, "Hurry up, if the Cap' noticed the disappearing food and will kill us both if it continues!"

"Yeah, yeah~"

Slow and limping steps resounded as the man walked off the ship near the shoreline under the vessel.

He unzipped his trousers and gave out a sigh of relief.

*Zip*

The pirate hummed in satisfaction.

He looked up and enjoyed the night horizon.

"Ugh!"

And suddenly his vision went dark.

…

The same pirate regained consciousness 10 minutes later as he ended up in an unknown area.

Behind some large rocks that blocked the vision from the ship that now stood around 1.5 kilometers away.

"What the hell…"

He was about to get up and then a black shadow was cast over his body.

"Huh? A brat? Where'd you come fro-"

The child drove his foot into the man's liver area before he could finish his as the air in his lungs escaped without control.

The pirate was only 6 feet tall, giving Damien enough confidence to take him down without much worry.

.

Damien's hand shot forth and grabbed the man by his brown dreadlocks while grabbing his right arm as well.

"Here's how this goes, I ask, you answer." 

The pirate regained his breath and was about to struggle.

"A little boy thinking he's everything, let me teach you something, kid!"

The pirate began to wrestle out of Damien's clutches and then suddenly froze.

A sound of pixelation seemed to resound on the calm shore as the man gazed at his grasped limb. 

The arm suddenly turned red as it abruptly ruptured into a mist of blood, dyeing the blackened soil a new crimson colour.

"My arm… Ahhh!"

The man began to roll in pain as his cry sprang out in all directions, hoping it would reach his comrades.

Unfortunately for him, a scream could only travel to about 1.2 kilometers and was unable to reach his companions.

Damien then grabbed the man's remaining arm and began to speak, "Stop screaming or I'll double the pain. Answer my questions and it'll be over fast."

The man woke up from his pain in great struggle as he gazed at the immature face of the boy.

He saw black hair with red streaks running down one side and a thin scar above the right eyebrow.

.

Damien saw his unrelenting eyes and channelled his power onto the limb.

The pirate felt heat over his arm and immediately gave in, "Stop! I-I'll talk! Ask away!"

Damien waited a few seconds as his powers remained in wait for his orders to pulverize under the fearful eyes of the victim. Then slowly retreating, temporarily.

"Tell me who you are and why you're here."

The pirate frantically nodded and began to say, "W-We're the Blazing Pirates, our mission was to come to this island in search of a rare fish that migrates this season."

He continued, "W-We knew of primitive people living here so naturally they needed to be… r-removed."

Damien gritted his teeth as the man could only retreat in fear with an audible gulp.

"So you burnt it down after ransacking it?"

The pirate squealed, "I-It's the fastest way!"

His voice seemed to be filled with desperation as if wanting to convey that he was the victim and what transpired was only natural.

Though it did give him a single second to notice Damien's pause of anger.

"Die brat!"

The man roared out as his remaining hand shot forth with a small dagger hidden in his pocket.

The motion took barely a split-second as the blade was inches away from Damien's throat.

And yet it stopped.

*Drop*

Droplets of blood fell as Damien's left hand held the blade in a vice-like grip, cutting into his palm.

"It hurts… but not as much as hearing my own mother breathe her final breath."

The man's eyes widened as the dagger soon glowed the nostalgic red as it exploded into tiny metallic pieces, the moonlight reflecting off their surface.

The young boy's hand then descended onto the pirate's remaining arm causing it to explode into tiny chunks of flesh accompanied by a shower of blood.

The screams continued as Damien gazed back down.

He looked at his bleeding palm that had begun to heal, ignoring the pain.

"What about the marines? The naval base on Greta Island is not too far out, there's no way a ship of eighty men could get here without stepping in their jurisdiction."

The pirate began to cry with tears as he heard Damien's voice, knowing that the boy could explode in anger any second caused him to be quite truthful.

"W-We paid them off! The Marine Captain in charge could care less if some small village outside of their jurisdiction gets raided! It's nothing new! Ugh!" the cries of pain ensued alongside the explanation.

.

Damien glared at the weeping man and could only accept the truth: some marines are good, but just as many are corrupt and despicable. 

Beyond that, Renaissance Island was a poor island, naturally unable to pay the Heavenly Tribute and therefore not a member of the World Government; the Navy had no 'duty' to save them.

The blackened soil crumpled as Damien walked towards the man and grabbed his head by the long dreads.

"You're right, leaving one's fate in the hands of others is the greatest sign of weakness. Thank you for teaching me that."

The man thought this was his saving grace, ultimately, he was wrong.

*Splash*

The head exploded like a grape, fresh blood and brain matter all in the shape of a few centimeter-wide cubes rained down.

Damien's face was soon covered in the red liquid as he gazed at the headless body before him.

The young child subconsciously took a deep breath as his hand shook slightly.

This was the first life Damien had taken.

It was an odd feeling, robbing a man of his life. Perhaps if this was before, Damien would be quite shaken up.

But now, it just felt like it needed to be done—a soon-to-be natural part of his life.

Damien then walked to the shoreline and washed his face and body, though his ripped clothes remained bloodied.

He then kicked the body into the sea, such fresh blood would surely invite some Sea Kings to an open buffet.

…

"I swear, Captain, he said he'd be back soon!" a pirate explained as his mouth dribbled with blood.

Ignis snorted as he gazed at the pirate kneeling before him.

Pabulum walked beside him and asked, "Cap', I'll send out the men to scour the village, There's gotta be a few survivors here thinking to take revenge."

But then the crew's strategist shook his head, "Though he could have become lost under this much saké, that fool."

Ignis looked at his strategist and nodded, "It should be nothing too serious. But we can't mess up the contract either so it's best to check, if there are survivors then I hope they're ready to be skinned alive!"

The pirates nearby raised their weapons in agreement, however…

*Pitter Patter*

A rather unnatural storm suddenly formed above, heavy rain pouring down without any prior forecast.

Ignis looked up at the storm and squinted his eyes, though he felt something afoot, it was not that serious.

"Wait till tomorrow, let the storm clear away."

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[On the Other Side of the Island]

"What a random storm," Damien commented as he felt the rain wash his clothes, his hair already damp.

He went back to the familiar edge and thought to wait out the storm.

The pirates were his target and they required some thinking to remove.

His devil fruit worked great in close combat and even had some range capabilities Damien wanted to try out.

Since the Blazing Pirates were offering themselves as training targets, Damien could only humbly accept.

Yet the storm had other ideas.

Damien suddenly felt a chill pass over his body as he subconsciously looked up and saw some bright plasma.

*Boom*

Thunder roared as a sharp bolt of lightning bathed Damien with 300 million volts of electricity. 

And it all went black.

…

Time passed.

Ten minutes of rain continued as the downed child slowly regained consciousness.

His fingers twitched under the sound of heavy rain.

The crimson pupils reappeared as the boy sat up without difficulty.

"What the hell, did I just get struck by lightning?"

He looked over his body and didn't see much, not even any Lichtenberg figures.

There were no other obvious markings of what had happened either.

No displaced soil, no charred ground, no echoing sound.

At first glance, it was as if nothing odd even happened here!

"Perhaps I used all my luck on this devil fruit and the lightning strike was the remaining bad luck?"

[I wouldn't say that.]

Damien blinked.

He looked around and saw the usual blackened soil, though swamped in water, there wasn't anyone else.

[Don't look around, I'm inside of your mind.]

The young boy stabilised his breathing.

"Perhaps the influx of emotions is causing hallucinations, it'll pass," He comforted himself.

"..."

[I assure you, you are of sound mind. I am a collection of intelligence and data called 'Sibyl'.]

Damien took another deep breath and chose to humour the insanity, "A collection of intelligence and data? A system, like from those trashy fanfics I read in my previous life?"

[...]

[You could consider me so. Though I would appreciate not being associated with the term, "trashy".]

Damien slowly nodded, "Okay, whatever. Though I think you're a little late, seven years at that. Shouldn't you be thrown into this world with me?"

[Not exactly. You see, I am not "your" system and neither was I paired with you. If it makes any difference, I have been searching for you for centuries now.]

Damien could only pause, though Sibyl continued:

[I cannot say much, just know that my true user, the person I was sent with, fell dead many, many years back.]

[I have been searching for you throughout the entire world since that day. It took a while to lock onto this primitive island so far from the epicenter of worldly powers.]

"Why am I here? Does my rebirth into this world have to do with this original system host of yours?" Damien asked a barrage of questions.

[Your rebirth here was directly caused by the original host, yes. But I cannot give you any more answers, unfortunately. My memory was locked away and I only had the mission to find you.]

Damien shook his head in slight disappointment.

"And what exactly will you do now that you found me?"

Sibyl replied in her usual tone, [My duty is to assist you in gaining strength and power. Ready you for a certain objective that too was locked away.]

Damien scowled, disliking the idea of being led on by some aged mission he could care less about.

[Don't worry, every lock has a key. I'm sure there's one out there that will answer your questions. I know it may worry you to be kept in the dark but I can only ask for your patience, Damien.]

Damien could only relent, "Fine. Tell me how you can assist me."

[I can grant you a storage space, first of all. It will allow you to store inanimate objects. I can translate the data of the world into text to be displayed. I can store any information you need to archive to be pulled whenever.]

Damien blinked.

"All you have is storage, some worldly details, and a notes app?"

It was certainly a slight let-down, though Damien was ready to train for power, he wouldn't mind some freebies.

"At least tell me you have some immediate benefits?"

Unfortunately, reality was often disappointing.

[Nope. As I said, you are not the original host, therefore, the gift pack was opened by the original host and that is it.]

Damien rubbed his head in thought as Sibyl continued with some decent news.

[However, the previous user did send you some tools to aid in your path to power.] 

[Though I currently need to observe the surroundings, being in motion for centuries has led me to a need to update. It will take a handful of days.]

Damien waved the little delay aside but then asked a question that was on his mind.

"..."

"Sibyl," He said in a solemn tone.

"Can I rid myself of this system of yours at any point in time?"

Though Damien didn't mind the bonuses of the system, he was wary of the story behind it and naturally had some reservations.

[...]

[Yes.]

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[Two Days Later]

Time flowed as a couple of days went by.

The missing pirate was never found and the others gave up, concluding the man was swept away by the storm.

It was barely 8 am and the pirates had spread out once more throughout the island, looking for their missing comrade.

"Qulalala! I got one!" 

A pirate suddenly pulled hard on his rod as a shadow of a fish shot out from the sea.

Most of them continued the daily fishing, having already caught ninety of them.

They were only a meter in length and had a small pink body that was only a third of their size. The rest was a gorgeous rainbow-coloured tail, giving them a mystical appearance.

They were called the 'Rainbow Betta Fish of West Blue'.

[Image (in Discord)]

.

"Good work, we are only ten short of the quota then we can get off this burnt rock," the pirate's partner said.

Ignis who was drinking by the side nodded in satisfaction.

He then glared at his strategist, "Oye, Pabulum. You still think someone's after us? Igugugugu! Give it a rest and drink with me!"

Pabulum slowly nodded, though his thoughts elsewhere, 'This unsettling feeling, I cannot put my finger on it. Could a survivor have killed that fool?'

He then shook his head and went to reluctantly drink.

…

[Six Hours Later]

"That's the last one!"

"Cheers!"

"All done!"

A banquet exploded at the large ship as the pirates raised jugs of saké in celebration.

A boisterous environment ensued as the warm night continued.

Though none of them saw a pair of crimson eyes watching them from a distance.

A fiery glint passed by the pupils as the night passed on.

Suffice to say, a bloodbath would soon arrive.

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

There won't be great drama with the System i.e., nothing annoying. Though it being someone else's is an important plot point.

Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q