A Clash Of Wills And A Long Forgotten Past

(A/N: I'm not entirely sure if haki is visible or not in canon as from what I've read sometimes it is and sometimes not so for this fanfic world I have decided to make all haki except observation haki visible to the naked eye. For armament haki, they will have the metallic black sheen seen in the anime with stronger armament users developing colored currents of energy that look similar to electricity that run along the covered body part and/or weapon with the color matching their conquerors haki if they have it. For conquerors haki, it will have stages. At first, it will be an invisible pulse and as it is developed by the user they will have white flame like aura around them and a continuous field of pressure similar to a domain when it is released, kinda like dbz.. and as it gets stronger it will take on a color unique to the user with the color continuing to deepen the stronger the person gets till when it is taken to the extreme with a deep dark color shade with streaks of black and same colored sparks of energy arcing through the air around the user.)

"Leviathan... so it's true then.. Hmmm this boy..." Hearing the nameless kid mumble the name of his fruit Seagull quickly loses himself in thoughts of his own, the implications of what this could mean for the world scaring and exciting him in equal parts. Looking down at the youth sitting there in concentration and remembering what he said about not having any memories about his past a determined look comes to his weathered face.

Even though Seagull was a bit suspicious about the claim that the kid truly doesn't remember anything since when he was walking up to the boy he overheard him say some strange things that even he has never heard of before. In the end, though, he chose to give the benefit of the doubt to the lad as he was no doctor and didn't understand how such memory loss works.

'With the power that he is sure to gain from such a legendary Devil Fruit if I can take this child and teach him about the world around him, it's beauty along with its flaws and darkness perhaps I can start him down the right path to make good and positive changes in this broken society.. Even if a turns out not to be some great hero, as long as I could raise him up not to be a bad person who only uses his power for selfish reasons and hurts innocence around him I can count my life as not having been lived in vain.' With these thoughts running through his head Seagull lowers his body down slowly and sits in front of the boy to wait for him to awaken from his trance.

Meanwhile, Michael has been immersing in the sensation radiating from the core of the power he received from eating the so called 'Devil Fruit'. He was shocked at the depth and intensity of the supreme arrogance he felt coming from it, as if all was beneath its feet. After taking a moment to wonder at this sensation, Michael suddenly felt his mind shaken.

As he was observing his core he suddenly feels like a pair of great red eyes open and observe him in return. Feeling these eyes looking through him to his very soul his mind is suddenly assaulted with a barrage of roars, telling that he is not worthy, that he is weak, to just kneel down and submit to a higher power, telling him that only by doing so that he will achieve anything in his worthless life.

Getting caught by surprise Michael almost has his mind and willpower completely crushed, bringing him to the verge of unconsciousness. He grits his teeth with cold sweat running down his back fighting to regain control. Clearing his mind and steeling his will, Michael's eyes blaze with hot fury and defiance in the face of such suppression. Angered beyond all reason that this entity, his own supposed power, would dare try to make him submit.. HIM!?! Michael THE REAPER Richards!?!!!?!

Within his mind, this voice continues to roar all these things at him, in a futile attempt to break his will, until Michael answers with a roar of his own, 'SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!!!! WEAK?!? YOU KNOW NOTHING!! ..WHILE OTHERS WERE OUT WITH FRIEND'S AND LOVERS LIVING THEIR LIVES I HAVE SPENT ALL MY TIME, HOUR AFTER HOUR, DAY AFTER DAY, YEAR AFTER FUCKING YEAR TRAINING.. HONING MY CRAFT AND TEMPERING MY BODY TO BE THE FUCKING BEST!!!

..NO MATTER HOW PAINFUL, NO MATTER HOW DIFFICULT, NO MATTER HOW BRUISED, BATTERED OR BROKEN, I ALWAYS PRESERVED!! ..EXCELLING PAST MY LIMITS TIME AFTER TIME, TILL I WAS THE GREATEST FUCKING CHAMPION THE WORLD HAS EVER FUCKING SEEN..

AND THEN I SOMEHOW GET SENT TO THIS SHIT HOLE PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF BUMFUCK NOWHERE WITH THIS EMACIATED LITTLE BODY ..MANAGE TO SURVIVE WITH NOTHING! ..MAKE IT ALL THE WAY HERE ..LEARN I HAVE GAINED A FUCKING SUPERPOWER!.. AND THEN MY SUPERPOWER HAS THE BALLS TO SAY I AM NOT WORTHY?!? THAT I SHOULD JUST GIVE UP AND SUBMIT MY BODY TO IT?!?!?!? ....

YOU KNOW WHAT I SAY TO THAT?! I SAY RICHARDS NEVER QUIT BITCH SO FUCK YOU!!! ...WANT ME TO SUBMIT?!? HOW ABOUT INSTEAD I MAKE YOU MY LIL BITCH AND USE YOU TO STAND AT THE TOP OF THIS NEW FUCKING WORLD.. THEN WE SHALL SEE WHO'S NOT WORTHY'

As if hearing and understanding the words Michael yelled at it, a heaven devastating willpower broke out of his core seeking to crush Michael completely for daring to curse it. Feeling this and taking it as a challenge he mustered up all his will and determination and met it head on. The thunderous clashing of two unshakable willpowers sounded as they battled in his body both unwilling to give in to the other.

While this clash was taking place, outside Michael's body Seagull was still sitting there watching over the boy before him and wondering what was taking so long for the boy to come out of his trance. Continuing to look on until suddenly a heavy pressure descended upon him and covered all the surrounding area.

Feeling as if gravity had suddenly increased 100 times, Seagull is sent tumbling by shock waves of pressure. At the center of all this Michael's body is seen with a shocking aura around him so thick as to be visible to the naked eye looking like blood-red flames with streaks of black around its edges.

Sinking down slightly, cracks start to form in the stone ground spreading out into a slowly forming creator centered around Michael's still form. Despite the pressure on his body, Seagull gets up from where he was tossed and raised his head to look upon this seen in shocked disbelief.

'What the hell is going on?! Conquerors Haki?!? But... but he is so young.. and for it to already be nearing the supreme level.. it's unheard-of even during the void century... what could have caused it to awaken so suddenly..' Thinking up to here Seagull is baffled as to what could cause this. Going over any possibilities in his head until he recalled just which fruit this child had eaten and what was written regarding its unique abilities.

Widening his eyes in realization as to what is happening he recalls what he had read back on the last island. Back then there had been an earth shattering war that was scrubbed from the history books and all information about that time was destroyed by those that ultimately won.

It's been 900 years since that catastrophe and with the never ending flow of time, it was all but forgotten.. Except by those few who refuse to forget. His captain was one such person. Gol D Roger was his name and carrying the will of D passed down from his ancestors in his heart as well as his name, he set out to uncover the truth and live his life to it's fullest.

Oh, and what a life it was, the stuff legends are made of. After meeting his captain and years of adventuring together with the rest of his crewmates they finally made it to Raftel the last island where they discovered the broken remains of a once great civilization and the ancestral home of the Divinities Clan.

Left there in the ruins, carved in indestructible stone were records detailing this incredible civilization. Calling itself "The Great Empire" and ruled by a clan called by its people the "Clan of the Gods" that was said to be touched by the heavens. These records told of its prosperity and about the many different people and customs that make it whole. Going on to record in great detail many achievements and advancements to better its people and the world around them, it was all written in a language foreign to all but our captain who could understand it for some reason that he never explained.

Seeing all this, a burning desire was lit in Seagull as he has always been curious and eager to learn new things. Despite how many people who see Seagull for the first time take him to be a dimwitted muscle head, as that is the impression his appearance gives off, that couldn't be any farther from the truth.

After much pestering his captain agreed to teach him to read the ancient language. After only taking about a week to get the hang of this new language and greatly shocking his captain, Seagull dove right into studying these ancient records and learned all he could from them.

Of the many things he learned from his study, Seagull noted that this ancient civilization continued to grow to envelope more than half the world. With only less than two dozen powerful kingdoms remaining who did not wish to join the Great Empire, despite the many powers before them that did so flourishing, the kings of these last remaining kingdoms instead chose to ally together to oppose the Empire.

Feeling their greed for power threatened and not caring that joining the Empire would better the lives of their people the remaining powers of the world banded together and with their combined might, stood firm against the Empires encroachment. The Empire, not willing to start a war that would end the lives of many for such a petty reason decided to instead make peace.

This statuesque held for many years till one day, a heaven shaking genius was born from the direct line of the Divinities Clan. Talented in all that he did but especially in combat and science. Known throughout his youth for greatly advancing the level of science and coming up with many new and novel inventions that bettered the lives of his people as well as creating many new techniques for his spear arts.

So great did this youth's light shine that he was given the name Artemis D. Joy by his grandfather the current patriarch of the Divinities Clan as a testament to the joy he brought his family and people. Though to those close to him he would simply be known as Joyboy.

Continuing on Joyboy was eventually named as the successor of the Divinities Clan. He also had a little brother that was born. He doted on and loved his little brother with all his heart and gave him the name Artemis D. Teach himself for all the things that he wanted to show and teach his baby brother. As he got older Teach looked up to his older brother like he was the hero of the world. Teach was talented in his own right and took after his brother's example in his love for science and technology.

However, as the brothers got older things began to change. Teach, after getting praised by his older brother for his improvements, sought the same acknowledgment from others including his parents. Instead of joy and encouragement, he was met with only mild reactions from others as when compared to the brilliance of his elder brother, Teach's own accomplishments were nothing.

Unable to escape the shadow of Joyboy's glaring light, the once adulation in which he held his brother turned to a seed resentment that only festered further when his brother made his greatest discovery. Joyboy, in all his genius, discovered the existence of another world superimposed with their own.

Invisible and unfelt but greatly connected with their own was this new world that was named as The Spirit World by Joyboy. After his initial discovery of this world and with much research and experimentation he was able to come up with a way to observe it with his own eyes. Looking into this new and wonderous place Joyboy saw that it is filled with what seemed to be animals of every sort imaginable along with laws of nature and abstract concepts that are given form and consciousness by the world and developed into unique creatures that coexisted perfectly, which Joyboy came to call spirits.

Announcing his discovery and showing proof that this was valid his colleagues Shocked and awed by this world-shaking discovery made by their young lord caused the scientists of the Empire to flock to his lab. Many of the following years were dedicated heavily to researching this new world. A consequence of all this fascination for his brother's discovery led to funding for the projects of Teach being denied. Projects that would later become the foundation for Haki.

He was told to forget the petty things he was working on and help study his elder brother's discovery. Such treatment even if done without any malice still stung the young Teach and with Joyboy being absorbed by his work these hurt feelings were left to fester and grow into anger and hatred.

Many years later with both brothers now grown men, another discovery was made by the Empires genius. With all his research and experimentation conducted throughout the years, Joyboy finally discovered a way to interact with the spirit world. After this new discovery, he continued on with his experiments. Renewed in his fascination with the other world Joyboy attacked his work with vigor and soon had results that shook the world to its core.

After months of dedicated and contentious research and various tests, he discovered a method to draw spirits out of the spirit world and into theirs. Seeing that his most recent experiment was a success brought him great joy and amazement that was swiftly followed by a hard hit of disappointment as he watched the spirit he brought to his world quickly wither and fade to nothingness.

Undeterred by this setback Joyboy searched for a method to keep a spirit in this world indefinitely without any decay. Dead end after dead end Joyboy was on the verge of admitting that keeping a spirit in his world was impossible when a fortuitous lab accident led the discovery that spirits are able to merge with organic matter.

Seeing this Joyboy wondered if it was possible to fuse a spirit with a living being and gain their powers. He tried merging a spirit with an animal but discovered that this led to the uncontrollable mutation in the animal, eventually leading to death. Thinking that perhaps an animal is inadequate in someway he called for death row prisoners, people convicted by the Empires courts of crimes such as rape and murder, to try and merge with a spirit.

For better or worse this met the same result as the animals, an uncontrollable mutation leading to death. Thinking that perhaps a catalyst was needed, Joyboy turned to the only other form of organic matter.

Plants, well specifically he chose fruits for their great variety and ease of modifying... and in hopes that the end result would at least taste good.

He wanted to see if he can modify the genetics of fruit to not only host the spirit but also stabilize and control the mutation to develop in a safe and favorable way. It took a long time but finally, he succeeded. He created what he called the Divine Spirit Fruit that was able to take in and house a spirit and then alter the genes of the one to eat it making them compatible with the spirit and merging them into one allowing the person to gain superhuman powers.

Bringing his discovery to his grandfather, the patriarch ordered him to keep his success a secret as the potential of this Divine Spirit Fruit was so great that it could destroy the world in the wrong hands. Agreeing with his grandfather he promised not to release his work to the world. The only one he told was the little brother that he cared for so deeply.

Knowing that his brother loves science as much as him, Joyboy couldn't bear to keep such a wonderous discovery from Teach and so swore him to secrecy before sharing with him the culmination of his life's work. Teach, upon hearing of Joyboys greatest creation, congratulated his elder brother with hollow enthusiasm and a fake smile all the while he was fuming on the inside.

Teach had just made a major breakthrough in his own project with a new type of energy he called Haki and was going to show off to his big brother and finally get some recognition. But then before he had the chance he was presented with a genetically altered fruit that granted people superpowers. Being one-upped by his brother once again drove Teach to near insanity and finally snapped something inside him.

Teach sold his research on Haki and all the techniques that he had discovered for it so far, along with the information about the creation of the Divine Spirit Fruits, to the allied kingdoms and framed a servant that was executed for treason. Tensions between the two factions rose quickly with the potential world balance breaker that was the Divine Spirit Fruit in play.

Seeing that a war might be inevitable the patriarch ordered the immediate expansion on all research and development in regards to the Divine Spirit Fruit. With all the resources and help he could want, progress quickened greatly.

Discovering that when an animal that ate a Divine Spirit Fruit died, instead of the spirit returning to the spirit world or just fading away in would instead transfer to the nearest fruit of the same kind. This meant that if the original fruit that was modified to house the spirit was an apple it would only reappear in the nearest apple in a type of pseudoreincarnation cycle.

Another discovery was that each unique spirit that was housed in a fruit changed the appearance of that fruit so that no two Divine Spirit Fruits looked alike even if the base fruit was the same. With these discoveries came the classification of Divine Spirit Fruits into the three categories that we all know today.

Among these classifications was a rather special type of fruit. This type came to be known as the Mythical Zoan. These were made using a special spirit that resembled animals but seemed to also have powers and abilities that can be similar to elemental and conceptual spirits.

These spirits were almost like a supreme hybrid of all three kinds haveing the transformation of a Zoan, the elemental affinity of a Logia, and the special ability of a Paramecia and among all the spirits observed, it was these that seemed to rule over the others in the spirit world. And with all the preparations for war going on, it is just this kind of ultimate Divine Spirit Fruit that Joyboy now set out to create for himself as he wanted the power to protect his loved ones and his people.

'But that is a story for another time' Seagull thinks as he pulls himself back from his reminiscing of all the incredible things he learned with his crew on the last island. Looking back to what is happening in front of him, Seagull sees everything come to a climax as the boy give out a mighty roar and the aura of Conquerors Haki surrounding him disperses in one last giant pulse that manages to knock him back a step even with how far away he already is.

Looking on as Michael lets out a victorious laugh before his eyes roll back into his head and he falls on his back unconscious from overexerting his will power. Shaking his head at how freakish this child truly is while going over to pick the kid up and take him to his home to rest.

Walking along Seagull mumbles to himself, "Damn the kid actually pulled it off on the first try.. to my knowledge that's something that only that asshat Sengoku has managed... of course, their fruits cant be compared as this kid's is in a league of its own.. but the damn little monster can even overpower the mythic will remnant and attain the approval of the leviathan on the first try.. how crazy is that... not even HE was able to do it first try.."