[3] A New Day

[2298 words]

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*Squawk*

The crows flew about as a heavy rain fell upon Renaissance Island.

It was now evening time.

The blazing flame had left the trees to ashes, a once booming forest reduced to blackened wood and debris.

Bloody rivers began to wash away in the storm to come.

…

[Near the Docks]

A heavy foot fell onto the wet docks as the coming ship lowered its anchors.

The ship had a jolly roger attached to it.

A skull with a flame behind it – the Blazing Pirates!

"The hell happened here… Didn't it say this was a forested island with a thousand or so inhabitants?" the captain of the ship questioned.

The man had a red mohawk hairstyle and a crimson coat draped over his shoulders. Thick muscular arms crossed before his chest.

He stood at a towering 12-feet stature, his name was Brando Ignis, a man with a bounty of 39 million berries!

.

"No clue Cap', should we send out some scouts?" Pabulum, the green-haired first mate, replied.

He was also the ship's main strategist, his intelligence being his forte. 

Ignis gazed at the burnt island and shook his head.

"Let's all go."

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[Three Hours Later]

"Hey boss, you wanna check this well?"

Ignis walked through the destroyed land and saw what his subordinate pointed at.

He gazed inside and saw a sheet of moss and vines covering it.

He looked at the recruit.

*Slap*

He smacked him upside the head, knocking him to the ground.

"You idiot, you think moss and cobwebs would grow overnight if someone was hiding down there?" Ignis roared in impatience.

He then pointed at the others.

"Look over the entire island, get the loot that remains, don't waste any more time."

…

The fodders spread out.

Pabulum walked ahead, a cigar in his mouth.

"Cap', you think someone killed all our men or those idiots fell drunk and got eaten by the fire?"

Ignis gazed at the dead men and shook his head.

"Someone killed them but there is no one here…"

His eyes then locked onto the giant structure that was right next to the well's entrances.

"That tree, it might be worth something. I've never seen anything like it."

Pabulum nodded as he looked at it as well, "Such a thick bark, and it also seems to have the face of a woman, Rubububu, to think such a tree could exist."

.

The men weren't wrong for their thoughts.

After all, there was a small mangrove of a few trees in the center of the island whereas everywhere else was burnt to cinders.

Not only that, the trees and greenery seemed to form the face of a beautiful woman, peering into the well as some flowers adorned her hair.

[Portrait Image (in Discord)]

…

What the men didn't know was that the dried well did indeed have a person hidden away within.

In the dark confines of the well were two sharp, crimson eyes, gazing into the darkness before him.

As the saying goes, if you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.

Damien, who had woken up, felt a flurry of emotions.

After drinking handfuls of rainwater, he had regained some energy. Many thoughts flashed through his eyes.

He wanted to get up and find a way up but something told him not to.

He heard some whispers, 'Not yet.'

And thus he waited while in deep thought.

"Seven years of peace," He muttered.

After living a life of constant ups and downs, he was thrown into this world. 

It isn't wrong to say that he was lucky. 

Beyond the idea of being reborn and given a second chance at life, he also had many other fortunes.

Compared to the children born into war and battle, he was indeed lucky.

He didn't need to grow through a famine or drought, there was enough food, good people around him, and a loving mother.

He fell into a delusion that he was safe in this remote village, willing to live out the rest of his life in this calm environment in the embrace of his loving mother, a feeling robbed from him in his previous life.

It wasn't a cowardly wish, just a foolish one.

Under the guise of this very peace and tranquility was the storm of reality that hit him last night.

"Mom is gone… and these bastards are here to collect the remains of whatever there even is…"

Damien clenched his hands into fists to the point that blood began to dribble out.

Happiness, joy, and freedom are privileges only for the strong to enjoy, anything even remotely close to that for the weak is simply delusion.

.

"It's easy to give up but if I do that, I would fail Mom… She carried me through nine months of pain and sickness and cared for me for seven years…"

The looming darkness continued as the red eyes hidden near the floor seemed to shine a fiery red.

"I will live on and claw my way to the top!"

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[Seven Hours Later]

"We found some jewelry that wasn't burnt by the fire and a decent amount of food hidden away," a pirate reported. "The people who lived here weren't too stupid, they seemed to design a fire-proof room to store the emergency food."

Ignis nodded.

"At least it wasn't a waste of time, store it back onto the ship. We'll camp out here for a few weeks. Hunt for Sea Kings by the shore too, we need to make the quota and this island is known to have a good position for those fish," he ordered.

The men nodded and began to move, leaving the well unattended.

Had they remained, they would be surprised.

The moss, vines, and even the spiders began retreating into the cracks of the walls as a ladder-like structure formed with the plants.

After a good 15 minutes, a small hand reached the top of the well and a young boy climbed out.

He was covered in sweat, grime, and blood.

The boy reeked of many stenches as his ripped clothes made him seem as if he had survived a great disaster—and he had, for now, that is.

Yet under all that filth were two bright eyes, filled with youth and determination.

.

"Finally those pirates left the area, I was getting tired of waiting."

He then looked forward and saw it.

A large collection of trees that seem to reach nearly 50 meters in height. They grew out from the center that seemed to form the face of a woman with her eyes shut, asleep.

"Mom…"

Damien smiled slightly as he saw the marvelous greenery, and then he looked around him.

His home was reduced to ashes.

He clenched his fists once more and let out a deep sigh.

Damien then gazed at his feet and his hand.

The previously broken legs and bloodied hands were healed, completely!

Even the deep gash on his face had healed though it left behind a diagonal scar over his right eyebrow. 

His body was fixed, though remained emaciated.

.

"I finally figured it out," Damien said as he climbed out of the well.

"All those times where the trees and grass seemed to move near me, and now I am healing so fast, could it be?"

"Was it mom's devil fruit?"

"Then why is it still active now? Once a fruit user dies their abilities should disappear. Why do I have these powers?"

Damien had naturally taken baths in the sea before, he never felt any weakness, and yet he was born with certain unnatural powers.

Damien touched the tree as he felt its vibrant life force, almost as if it was flowing in between his fingers.

"Mom seemed to have eaten her fruit at the moment of my birth… could it have gone to me?"

The boy then shook his head.

"No, she was also controlling the branches last night. So why?"

Damien failed to come up with an answer and moved on.

"If anything, mom has been protecting me even after her death…"

.

And then his eyes fell into another deep thought.

"One Piece has countless powers. She gave me so much and I returned nothing, maybe, just maybe, I can bring her back?"

"A resurrection fruit? If the Ope-Ope fruit can grant eternal youth, surely there is a fruit that can bring the dead back to life."

Damien slowly nodded his head.

"Regardless, even if such a power exists, I need to get stronger. So strong that no one can ever hurt or take away the ones closest to me."

"No matter what!"

*Grumble*

"..."

Damien coughed slightly, his soliloquy was interrupted by his empty stomach, destroying the moment.

"First, I need some protein."

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[Four Hours Later]

"Hey~ I could have sworn we had more *Hic* food than this, no?"

He was naturally drunk.

His companion looked to the barrels of food, his eyes heavy.

"Hey… whenever I look at the food it seems to double and quadruple in size. I'm sure it was nothing."

The two men were on guard at the food storage as the others had gone to sleep, even the captain.

What they didn't know was that there was a shadow sitting in the darkness, munching on some sea king meat.

'Delicious stuff.'

Damien felt the urge to burp and could only mask it with great effort.

He had been eating.

Eating well.

He ate for almost 10 people in just 10 minutes!

'Food equals growth in One Piece!' Damien determined as he recalled the ginormous humans that exist, all of which seemed to eat quite a lot to get there.

Though he didn't want to be 20 feet tall, Damien would want to at least reach the average Admiral height of 10 feet.

Therefore, he must eat!

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[The Next Day]

Damien stood at the edge of the island where his house used to be.

Naturally, it too was eaten by the flame and reduced to cinders.

He instead watched the calm seas, enjoying the salty sea air.

The pirates on land stuck near the docks, mostly fishing for something in the sea.

.

"Renaissance Island is remote and away from the world," he muttered. "Even the newspapers don't reach here."

Naturally, Damien knew very little about the time of the seas.

He needed information.

"Those pirates can enlighten me but at my current level I'm no match and they will be gone soon," He surmised.

Damien had a few choices.

1. Sneak on their ship and dock off at another inhabited island to gather information.

2. Wait for them to leave and make a ship or wait for another ship to arrive and hope they're friendly.

3. Kill them all and pry the information from their soon-to-be writhing corpses.

.

Though Damien could take one down and try to torture the truth from him, these pirates were quite punctual and a missing member would surely alert them.

Taking one down would need more thought and power.

"Sneaking as a stowaway could work but it may lead to a worse scenario. I could swim off but the Sea Kings would love a free meal."

Damien shook his head and continued to think, "Waiting would leave little food available, I can't count on other ships' kindness either."

He then gazed at the fruit in his hands.

"Though I can't take them down at my current level, this may just solve the problem."

Damien then reached to his side and brought out a fruit. It was the same one that he had seen growing up and the one his mother left him with.

The choice was clear.

"God-bless, Bismillah, Amitabha, may the force be with me, godspeed, to infinity and beyond," Damien uttered some random prayers and hoped the gamble would pan out in his favour.

He waited one second then decisively bit the devil fruit.

*Crunch*

The taste pervaded his mouth.

"..."

Disgusting.

Putrid.

Vile.

Repulsive.

Unpalatable.

Revolting.

Sickening.

Those were a few words Damien could use to describe the taste.

The urge to throw up was there but Damien persisted and swallowed the piece whole with determination.

A few bated breaths and his eyes finally fell onto the quarter-eaten fruit.

A sigh erupted.

"My paranoia will be the end of me."

*Crunch*

Naturally, he knew a devil fruit ability could be granted with a single bite but Damien's paranoia would not allow any chances.

He ate it whole.

"Absolutely disgusting…" 

He washed his mouth with some water and then focused on his newfound thoughts.

A devil fruit seemed to come with an 'instruction manual' that outlined the basics of the fruit alongside its name.

…

He gazed at his hand and concentrated.

A red mist of energy emanated from his fist as the air around it seemed to groan in pain.

Damien walked up to a 2-meter-tall rock and touched it with his hand.

*Creak*

The rock seemed to cry out as its entire body was covered in the same redness.

*Boom*

It then exploded into thousands of small pieces as if detonated from within.

Damien looked at the result, the tiny pebbles rained down, all equal in shape, mass, and size, as if they were cut by a million lasers.

He then raised his left foot which too began to glow the familiar yet eerily red.

He tapped the ground with the raised foot.

The sound of pixelation broke out as the ground, within 10 meters, seemed to turn into a large checkered field of tiny squares.

Moments later the entire area crumbled into the same countless pieces, leaving a 10-meter wide hemisphere depression on the land.

. 

Damien hummed in satisfaction. 

The ability to crush and cripple anything to everything into innumerable pieces through pressurization and pulverization.

"Paramecia-type: Pulverize Pulverize Fruit."

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q