C44 : Ancient Essence

• [Mokomo Dukedom of Zou on Zunesha] {Year : 20.6} •

"Oh, really?" Rin smiled at the little white-furred rabbit Mink who had her arms wide open.

"Yeah! Big sister said she was going to get him as her mate too!" The little white-furred rabbit Mink giggled and pointed at Rin. "You will have to watch out because big sister will take her position as alpha!"

She smugly pushed her flat chest forward, knowing big words were something admirable for her. Rin chuckled, patting her soft head. "Sure, sure."

Seeing that Rin was simply listening without a care, the little white-furred rabbit Mink pouted and said. "Fine! I'll go tell big brother that you smell weird like my mom did whenever she went into bed!"

When she mentioned that, Rin immediately blushed and shouted back at her. "You wouldn't!"

Although she seemed confused why Rin didn't want Ryu to know of this little information, the little white-furred rabbit Mink continued to blackmail her giddily. "Then you'll buy me more carrots?"

"Erugh!" Rin could already feel her money wallet running out the moment she used her wide eyes to look at her, combined with her little 'blackmail'. Then she childishly pouted too. "Fine, let's go get some carrots. You should be glad that you're so cute."

"Hehe~" The little white-furred rabbit Mink giggled and grabbed her hand to drag her. "Let's go!"

While this was happening, Kumiko took the time to learn the history of Mokomo Dukedom. Although there were already writings of its history in their homeland, there weren't any better witnesses than its residents. "Oh, the former Pirate King also came here for something in Whale Forest like Ryu?"

"Y-yes!" The black-furred lion Mink stuttered as he looked at Kumiko. He was slightly afraid of someone like her...

"Hm, perhaps you have any more information?" Kumiko asked. She didn't care whether the lion Mink was afraid or not so she continued her 'interrogation'.

"W-well, Gol D. Roger wanted to see the Road Poneglyph we possessed to attain the path to the 'final' island."

"Yes, that is obvious. What else?" Kumiko rolled her eyes. Wano Country created the Road Poneglyphs, and since it was due to the dealings with pirates, the stonemasons didn't bother for their privacy and wrote whom possessed them. If it was lost by the possessors then it was counted as lost.

"Erm... I apologize, but that is the limit I can tell about this matter." The black-furred lion Mink became flustered when Kumiko didn't stop. It was really off-limits for outsiders to know what else happened while the former Pirate King's visit. "If you want to know more, you would need to inquire from the Duke and Master. They were also involved with Gol D. Roger personally."

"Oh." Kumiko understood and shrugged. Even she had important information to keep from others aside her household. "Well, do have a good day."

She then promptly turned and walked to Rin's location, seeing her helpless look. The black-furred lion Mink heaved a sigh of relief. Although he told a lot about Mokomo Dukedom's history to Kumiko, there were quite few things that could be told but weren't willing to be revealed. He was glad that Kumiko knew her limits before probing for any more.

Kumiko finally caught up to Rin's side and understood the matter. She would have impulsively told the 'blackmailer' that Rin was the Heiress to a Noble Family of Wano Country and also wife to its Shogun, if not for the adorable little white-furred rabbit Mink. She glanced and thought for a moment what Ryu's children would look depending on his looks.

Rin was still holding onto the little rabbit Mink's hand when Kumiko suddenly spoke out loud. "I hope that our children would also look this adorable..."

She obviously knew what Kumiko was thinking of, so Rin was embarrassed. "Kumiko, what are you saying?!"

…

With Ryu...

"Ah, it's been awhile since I came here." He chuckled, looking at the rough battle marks in front of them. They were currently in the right side of Whale Forest, which was where he normally guided Duke Inuarashi and Master Nekomamushi to and beat them up. It was also where Carrot learned a lot of combat techniques and Haki from him. "Wanna do it again for old times' sake?"

"Erm..." Duke Inuarashi awkwardly laughed and said. "I'd rather be in pristine state when Zunesha has arrived. It would not give me an appropriate image if the civilians of Wano Country saw me beaten and bruised."

"What the dog sh*t said." Master Nekomamushi casually agreed with Duke Inuarashi while insulting him at the same time.

The brown-furred and large canine Mink rolled his eyes. Ryu shrugged and turned away to walk. "Alright."

"Oh, by the way, do you know why Zunesha has begun to move towards your land?" Duke Inuarashi asked, curious. The yellow-furred and large cat Mink was also curious as he placed his pipe in his mouth with his eyes looking at him.

Both of them was so expectant that they were flustered when Ryu answered. "Nope."

He was uncaring and did not care about Zunesha's route... Well, it wasn't like Zunesha was going to Wano Country to attack it.

"I'm not some all-knowing being." Ryu moved his eyes when they were nearing the tree that resembled a large white whale. When he spread his senses to the Road Poneglyph's location, Ryu could already feel the presence of something within it. It was cursed and screaming for blood slaughter.

"What is it?" Master Nekomamushi asked when Ryu suddenly paused mid way.

"No, just surprised that I didn't notice this when I came here before." Ryu shook his head. It was probably due to the new arc's beginning that it finally awoke. The bloodthirstiness intensified when whatever was inside the Road Poneglyph sensed a human approaching it.

It didn't react the slightest when Minks were around it, which was probably due to their presences always being near it that it got used to them.

"What do you mean? Is there truly something within the Road Poneglyph?" Duke Inuarashi was concerned about their safety.

Ryu glanced at him and snorted. "It's always been there since its creation. The reason why you've all never realized it is because it has grown used to you all. It might even be fond of the Minks..."

He laughed.

"The World Nobles being rejected by their very ancestors' creations will be on the history for the future to know." The Uncrowned Emperor and Solitary Pirate revealed to those around him. They were shocked to know that the World Nobles would be involved in this matter, moreover, it seemed that it would blemish their reputation as well which was bad for them if they knew of it. "Don't worry, I'm here to take it away from your hands."

Duke Inuarashi initially wanted to ask some more question but when he learned that it would greatly involved those World Nobles, and not in a good way, he put those questions to the back of his mind.

Master Nekomamushi, however, asked. "Wait, will it affect the Road Poneglyph?"

"No." Ryu shook his head and explained. "What's inside the Road Poneglyph is basically an essence. All of the Road Poneglyphs were created with one material and differing essences depending the stonemasons."

"Essences?" Duke Inuarashi took a thinking pose while walking along. "Is it similar to that of basics being the foundation?"

"Kind of." Ryu curtly answered, telling them that he did not speak of this. It was mainly because he didn't understand either. Essences were something that the stonemasons completely did not know of and simply implemented it in the Road Poneglyphs for their curiosity. Normally, they wouldn't have dare to do such thing to their creations, but they dealt with pirates so they didn't care if the pirates died because of their curiosity. All they learned from it was that what kind of essence appeared depended on them and that it was practically useless in its earliest stages.

Eventually though, they showed great power and would give whatever they were infused with, an attribute for said object to use. With this, blacksmiths took advantage of this and created countless weaponries and either sold them for money revenue or gifted some powerful ones to noble families to be their heirlooms.

Cursed swords crafted by Kitetsu school of Wano Country were made by infusing cursed essences they harvested from those who made them. Making an cursed essence was extremely hard and people whom were cursed had to sacrifice themselves with an 'blank state' essence while crafting it with any material. The type of curses were based on their creators' curses.

Turning into a permanent female curse, being sexually attracted to same gender curse, blood curse, slaughter curse, arrogance curse, sterile curse, and so on. Very few had the ability to be cursed and then transferring it without any backlash, but they were extremely rare to be found and seen.

In this Road Poneglyph, which were one of first experiments with essences, was a bloodthirsty essence. The stonemason who created this Road Poneglyph wanted the pirates who dealt with him to be dead.

"Well, it's unneeded to go inside, I'll be taking it from here." Ryu casually rose his hand towards the location of Road Poneglyph and made a grasping movement with it.

Within the dark cave where Road Poneglyph lied in, the large blood-red and square stele showed a similarly blood-red aura emitting around of it. It froze when Ryu made a grasping movement towards it, then the blood-red aura slowly left the square stele.

Although it tried to resist, it couldn't do much without anything. It was just a mere essence that would change the 'personality' of whatever they were infused with.

Ryu felt that it would be dangerous for this essence to freely roam shortly, so he sped up the process. After all, this 'bloodthirsty essence' was ancient and the stonemasons never knew what they were dealing with long ago. They were dealing with valuable and ancient things from Void Century, something of the Twenty Kings' possessions. It was unknown why their possessions somehow were out of their treasury, but it was obvious that the stonemasons didn't know while they were turning the 'treasures' into liquid to forge a new shape. Otherwise they would have immediately hid it and kept away from any of World Nobles' eyes.

The essence that was leaving the Road Poneglyph suddenly turned into a small shape and became silent as it arrived onto Ryu's hand.

Ryu was confused. It was as if it accepted and allowed him to do anything to it. The only way it would do such thing was whether you were of its creator's bloodline and/or had a good character that it liked. He was sure that he was not a descendant of the Twenty Kings of Void Century's times, so that meant it liked him.

"Is that it?" Duke Inuarashi looked surprised when looking at the essence. Normally it was only for those with decent Observation Haki being able to see it, but because he and other Minks had been around it so often, they could barely manage to see the outline of the essence. "It looks weird...?"

"Yup." Ryu agreed and the essence seemed to scowl at that as it aggressively crushed itself onto his hand. It was nothing for him, though. "Oh, it looks like it has sentience."

That was to be expected of centuries old essences. If they didn't have any sentience after those hundred years, it would mean that the creators were pathetic.

"Essences can obtain sentience?" Master Nekomamushi glanced at the 'weird' essence before looking at Ryu. "Well, is that all you're here for?"

"Yes, that's all I'm here for. I'm going to stay here for a month though." Ryu looked at the large and yellow-furred Ruler of Night as he somehow put the 'weird' essence into somewhere invisible. He then grinned in a way that a sadistic would. "You know what this means, don't you both?"

"D-did I not say that I do not want to be-"

Duke Inuarashi began but was interrupted.

"You know full well that I can..." The Solitary Pirate paused, remembering that the system was not there anymore. Due to this, Ryu groaned and sighed as he turned away to the direction of his wife. "I guess you both won't be bruised and beaten."

Both of them looked confused because they understood that he was about to say that he could heal them as before, but stopped mid-way as if remembering something of importance. But they weren't going to question it in fear of their mentality and physically.

• {Year : 20.7} •

Two weeks passed by during Ryu and his group stayed at Mokomo Dukedom. They weren't a pirate crew since Rin and Kumiko never went out of Wano Country, thus the Marines had no information on them.

Actually, if Ryu gathered a crew when he alone could overwhelm the whole World Government, it would be too much to call it a mere crew. None of the world's humanity aside from several, knew of the upcoming changes to their future as whole. Old races would rise to their former glory when the time came, and Void Century's history probably would be revealed amidst it. Ryu was one of few humans who knew of it and would be directly involved with it due to the being who reincarnated him.

Those humans who were of Void Century and perhaps even beyond it, also knew of the incoming great change. Those humans were ancient and extremely powerful and yet nothing before the overpowered Ryu. They either left a mark in the history and faded into hiding while expanding their lifespan and/or simply distanced themselves from worldly matters.

That or they somehow found out about Ryu and they went back into their bat cave to grief about the unfairness. Ryu was 20 years old and yet he was already overwhelmingly powerful than any of them. Compared to him, their actions in the past seemed nothing, if not second.

Even so, they would still come out for the sake of humanity together. Even if they wouldn't be able to do anything much, they would still want to be apart of the incoming change and watch it with their eyes.

As for this great change, several sightings of different races appeared all over sea. The World Government however, did nothing to this. They simply assumed that they were some races that went into hiding when the World Nobles demanded new and different sets of slaves. Because of this, the World Government barely gave them any attention out of pity. If they'd given them any attention, they would have found out that some of races were proclaimed extinct by history and yet they existed.

Either way, the incoming era was going to be destructive and wracked with battles all over the world depending on several beings.

…

With Ryu and his group at Mokomo Dukedom...

"Damn it! If I can't touch a single hair of yours, I won't call myself a panther anymore!" A white-furred panther Mink screamed as he repeatedly dashed in immense speed than his usual, he was truly going to his limit.

Ryu simply stood there, amused by what was going on. Although one month was considered brief to him, his time in Mokomo Dukedom with Rin and Kumiko made it appear as if they had been living here for quite a long time.

As for what was going on in front of him, there was a white-furred panther Mink repeatedly dashing in random directions while a beautiful young woman stood in middle of it. She simply grinned and continued to dodge the white-furred panther Mink's attempts to touch the slightest of her. Her Observation Haki greatly grew during her stay here. Indeed, going out of Wano Country and gaining experiences personally was far better than staying secluded.

When the beautiful young woman saw Ryu standing there with a full bowl in his hands, she smiled. "Hey, how much is it today?"

When she said that, the white-furred panther Mink suddenly further increased his speed. His claws were also out, with his beastly instincts taking over to even lay a single scratch on this young woman's clothes.

"Hmm, there's several more than before." Ryu said after taking a glance in the bowl he held. In the bowl laid a lot of 500 Belly Coins. Because this was the whole world's main monetary unit, the Mokomo Dukedom also had those. Wano Country was so secluded from the outside world that they did not even know of Bellys, and instead had their own monetary units of Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

Rin and Kumiko originally brought several of Gold Coins, which were usable in Mokomo Dukedom due to their relations with Wano Country, but they understood that they'd need to obtain Bellys from now on if they wanted to purchase any sort of things in the world. It was fortunate that Mokomo Dukedom had those that they began to gather them in their ways. Rin used her abilities to provoke the Minks into betting whether they'd even land anything on her. If they did, they'd get everything that was bet. Kumiko instead, went for part-time jobs that went well with her usual skills in Wano Country.

Both of them earned quite a lot of Bellys already that they could buy a land in a small kingdom. As for Ryu... well, he always had the system to get things for him, but now that it was no longer there, he was practically poor in terms of monetary. He didn't care though, he was a strong pirate after all. If he needed money, he would simply go rob.

*ding*

A clear ringing of a bell came right after the white-furred panther Mink missed yet another one. His beastly instincts couldn't even help him in this either as his body slowly thinned themselves to its usual appearance. He wryly smiled at Rin. "W-well, I shall be going..."

He promptly left in a quick walk. His dejected posture was not hidden at all. Rin noticed this and was about to say something but clammed it shut, remembering the last time she tried to encourage the past Minks who tried. They had looked as if they went through a traumatic experience when she tried.

Ryu laughed. "You're becoming a bit similar to me."

"Really? Is that good or bad?" Rin curiously asked him.

"Depends." Ryu smiled at her before turning away. "Anyways, let's go pick up Kumiko. It's time for us to leave."

Rin pouted as she nodded and ran to Ryu's side. She took a glance at the bowl and smiled. This showed that she could earn a lot of Bellys while growing her experiences. It was unfortunate that she'd have to watch out for stronger people. In this world, stronger people were nearly always with ill intentions. Ryu was simply one of those rare uncaring people, but would do a lot if he cared.