The air at the peak of Zone 1 was so thin it felt like breathing through a straw.
We had been climbing the towering, petrified spires for hours, our gravity-trained lungs burning with the effort.
When we finally crested the summit, pulling ourselves over the edge of a massive, bowl-shaped crater, the sheer scale of what awaited us nearly made me lose my grip.
It was a nest, but calling it a nest felt like calling a galleon a rowboat.
The crater was lined with entire petrified tree trunks, woven together to form a cradle.
Occupying the crater were two of the most terrifyingly majestic creatures I had ever seen.
The first was the Sky-Rift Roc, a bird the size of a Marine battleship.
Its feathers weren’t soft; they were overlapping, metallic blades that shimmered like polished steel.
Standing beside it, equally massive, was its mate, a Storm-Weaver Condor, its dark plumage wreathed in localized, crackling lightning clouds.
But despite their godlike power, the two birds were in a state of absolute, frantic distress.
They were pacing the edge of the nest, letting out high-pitched, mournful screeches.
I tapped the black disk.
“Summon: HoHo.”
The jade Phoenix-Peacock materialized in a cloud of green mist, perching gracefully on a nearby crag.
I figured having a bird act as our translator would make us look much more favorable to the giant avian apex predators.
I channeled my Fa-Jin into the Digivice, bridging my mental connection with HoHo, and pushed it outward.
<Tell them we were sent by the Glacial-Inferno Sovereign,> I thought to HoHo.
<Tell them we’re here to help.>
HoHo let out a series of resonant, melodic trills.
The two giant birds froze, their massive, razor-sharp heads snapping toward us.
<You are too small and weak to help,> HoHo translated, the mother Roc’s intent bleeding through with frantic desperation.
<Their brood is being consumed.>
We carefully approached the edge of the nest and looked inside.
Resting in the center were three eggs, each the size of a two-story house.
But they weren’t safe.
The eggs were completely entangled in a creeping, parasitic plant.
It was a mass of sickly purple vines lined with glowing, pulsating thorns.
“Why don’t they just shrink down and pick it off?” Gammamon asked, remembering the Sovereign’s description of the Roc’s size-shifting powers.
<It is the Gorgon-Weed,> HoHo translated the father Condor’s sorrowful reply.
<It feeds on biological heat and Willpower.
If we touch it, our latent power causes the vines to gorge and constrict.
The shells are already cracking.
If we try to remove it, we will crush our own children.>
I stared at the parasitic vines.
It was a terrifying evolutionary trap.
The stronger the parent, the deadlier the weed.
“We can fix this,” I murmured, my mind racing through the abilities of my Elite Deck.
But before I could offer our services, Gammamon nudged my leg.
“Victor,” he whispered urgently.
“Tell them about the trade.”
I frowned, looking down at him.
“Gammamon, they’re losing their kids.
I’m not holding their eggs hostage for a power-up.
I told you, I don’t like making deals for lives.”
“And I’m telling you we don’t have a choice!” Gammamon hissed back, his yellow eyes dead serious.
“We need the Roc to leave the island.
If you don’t ask for the blood now, we might never get another chance.
Tell them what you need.
They’ll understand.”
I looked at the desperate bird couple, my gut twisting.
I hated this.
But Gammamon was right; without flight, we were trapped in the Grand Line’s most lethal hunting ground.
I looked at the mother Roc.
“We can save your eggs,” I projected through HoHo.
“I have a power that can freeze and shatter the vines without harming the chicks.
But…
I need a favor in return.
I possess an ability that allows me to forge a stone avatar of a beast, allowing me to wield their strength.
I need your flight to leave this island.
If we save your children, I ask that you willingly offer me a single drop of your blood.”
The mother Roc and the father Condor exchanged a look.
They didn’t seem offended or angry.
In fact, the mother Roc immediately bowed her massive, metallic head.
<If you preserve the lives of our young,> HoHo translated her resolute vow, <I will give you the blood, the feathers from my wings, and the wind from my lungs.
Please.
Save them.>
“Right,” I said, a wave of relief washing over me.
“Let’s get to work.”
What followed was a grueling, three-day surgical operation.
It wasn’t a problem of brute force, it was a microscopic puzzle.
I summoned the Glacial-Inferno Sovereign clone.
Working entirely through telekinesis, I had the Sovereign apply microscopic, pinpoint drops of Absolute Zero frost directly to the purple vines.
But freezing the vines dropped the ambient temperature around the eggs to lethal levels.
To counter this, the Sovereign simultaneously wove a delicate, protective blanket of her warm, blue fire around the eggshells.
Absolute zero to shatter the vines, and a gentle inferno to keep the chicks incubating perfectly.
The moment a section of vine froze and turned to brittle glass, Gammamon, in his sleek KausGammamon form, used high-frequency, low-power kinetic kicks to shatter the plant into dust before it could thaw.
We slept in shifts, eating dried rations, our hands numb from the ambient cold and blistered from the heat.
The giant bird couple watched us with bated breath, their lightning and steel feathers quivering with every precise strike Gammamon made.
On the afternoon of the third day, Gammamon shattered the final frozen thorn.
The three massive eggs sat pristine and untouched in the center of the nest, bathed in the gentle warmth of the sun.
The mother Roc let out a beautiful, echoing cry that parted the clouds above us.
She nuzzled the eggs gently, her metallic feathers softening against the shells.
The father Condor bowed his massive head to us, his lightning dimming in a show of profound respect.
<Our line survives because of you,> HoHo translated their overwhelming, tearful gratitude.
“Wait,” I said.
I tapped the disk and swapped the Sovereign out for the Silken Widow-Maker.
“Before we go, one more thing.”
I commanded the giant spider clone to start spinning.
For the next hour, it wove a massive, incredibly thick blanket of Haki-softened, insulated silk.
When it was finished, the spider draped the enormous white blanket over the three eggs, tucking them in securely.
“That’ll keep the heat in,” I smiled, looking up at the parents.
“And the weeds out.”
The Rocs were utterly speechless.
The mother bird gently extended one of her massive, metallic wings, resting the razor-sharp tip lightly on the stone in front of me.
<We owe you our sky,> she conveyed.
<Take what you need.>
I drew the right Jade Wing dagger.
I looked at the black disk at my hip.
I needed an empty slot.
I had already decided on the way up.
I wiped the Phase-Wolf’s signature from the disk.
HoHo was a stronger predator anyway, and had proven to be a perfectly capable translator.
I stepped forward and lightly tapped the Jade Wing against the Roc’s wing.
She didn’t flinch.
A single, heavy bead of silver-red blood welled up and rolled onto the jade.
The emerald light ignited, flawless and pure.
The Symbiotic Forge demanded no energy, no pain.
It simply accepted the bond, the light flashing against the mountaintop before culminating in a resonant, perfect CLICK.
The Transport slot was officially filled.
We said our goodbyes, leaving the overjoyed parents to their nest.
Instead of trekking back down the treacherous mountain, we hopped onto HoHo’s broad jade back.
The Phoenix-Peacock spread its wings, and we glided smoothly down the peaks, returning to the ferret burrow just as the sun was setting.
Zon, Pon, the pups, the Sovereign, and Chichi were all waiting for us in the clearing.
When we told them the eggs were safe and the Roc had joined the Deck, a massive cheer went up.
We built a massive bonfire.
For the first time, it felt like a true celebration.
I roasted meat, Gammamon played tag with the pups, and the Sovereign rested peacefully, her blue fire adding a warm glow to the evening.
As the night wore on and the kids finally fell asleep, the conversation turned to the terrifying realities of the island.
“You guys have survived out here for so long,” I said, looking between Zon and the Sovereign.
“But what happens when the Apex wakes up?
The Rainbow Dragon.”
The Sovereign’s blue fire flickered, dimming noticeably.
Zon pulled his sleeping pups closer to his chest.
<The Grand Sky-Swimmer is a myth made flesh,> HoHo translated the Sovereign’s intent, heavy with dread.
<It is a natural disaster wrapped in scales.>
<I have heard the stories from my grandfather,> Zon chimed in, his small body shivering.
<The last time the Dragon woke from its slumber to stretch its wings, the sky fractured into seven different colors.
Gravity inverted in the forest.
A third of the outer island simply…
ceased to exist.
It was erased into nothingness.
If you disturb its sleep, it will not speak to you.
It will unmake you.>
A cold chill ran down my spine, settling heavily in my gut.
I looked at Gammamon, who had lost his usual brave smirk and was rubbing his arms, completely covered in goosebumps.
“Yeah,” I breathed, staring into the flames.
“Okay.
Message received.
We skip the Dragon.
I think five Elites is plenty.”
“So…
we’re leaving?” Gammamon asked quietly.
I nodded.
“It’s been five months.
We’re as ready as we’re ever going to be.
We will start packing up tomorrow.”
<Where will the sky take you?> the Sovereign asked.
“South Blue,” I said, a bittersweet knot forming in my chest.
“An island called Baterilla.
There’s a woman buried there…
Portgas D.
Rouge.
I never knew her personally.
I never met her.
But I know her story.
I know the unimaginable sacrifice she made, holding her son in her womb for twenty months while the whole world hunted them.
As someone who shares her lineage…
as someone who carries the ‘D’ in their name…
it feels like my duty to visit her grave.
I need to pay my respects to my aunt before we head into the Grand Line properly.”
The animals didn’t know the history of the Pirate King, but they understood the profound grief and respect in my voice.
The Sovereign gently rested her heavy head against my shoulder.
The next few days were a long, heartfelt goodbye.
Because the first-time summoning of an Elite clone required a massive toll of Fa-Jin to solidify their jade forms, I could only manifest one per day.
It became a beautiful, surreal ritual in the clearing.
On the first day, I summoned the Night-Terror Ferret.
Zon and Pon circled the pitch-black, jade-carved ferret in awe, marveling at how perfectly the alchemical stone mirrored Zon’s presence, while Ron, Jon, and Don tried to wrestle with their father’s unblinking, shadow-manipulating twin.
The next day, I summoned the Glacial-Inferno Sovereign.
Chichi stood beside the massive, jade-carved unicorn, her eyes wide with wonder at the majestic, blue-flamed replica of her mother.
By the end of the week, we were ready.
We made one final flight up to the mountain peak on HoHo to say a proper goodbye to the Sky-Rift Roc and the Storm-Weaver Condor.
The parents proudly showed us their eggs, which were warm and entirely free of the Gorgon-Weed.
When the final morning of our departure arrived, we stood on the shores of the central lake.
Zon, Pon, the pups, the Sovereign, and Chichi were gathered around us.
There were no long speeches.
Ron, Jon, and Don hugged my boots, crying quietly.
Gammamon hugged Chichi around the neck, wiping his own eyes with his blue scarf.
“Thank you,” I said to the Sovereign and Zon, bowing my head deeply.
“For everything.”
I tapped the black disk.
“Summon: Sky-Rift Roc.”
The sheer volume of green mist that exploded outward was blinding.
When it cleared, the jade avatar of the Roc stood before us.
I had intentionally restricted its size output, scaling the massive bird down so it was only about the size of a small bus, perfect for a peaceful, manageable ride.
I climbed up the bird’s lowered wing, hoisting Gammamon up behind me and settling into the groove between its jade shoulders.
“Next stop, South Blue,” I said, feeling a rush of exhilarating freedom.
I took a deep breath, preparing to give the mental command for liftoff.
DO NOT LEAVE YET.
The voice didn’t come through HoHo’s telepathic bridge.
It didn’t come through my ears.
It bypassed my senses entirely, vibrating directly against the inside of my skull with a force that made my vision white out for a terrifying second.
It was ancient.
It was infinite.
It sounded like shifting tectonic plates and ringing crystals.
Gammamon gasped, clutching his head in pain.
Below us, the Sovereign and the ferrets collapsed to the ground, pinned by an instantaneous, crushing wave of supreme Conqueror’s Haki.
COME.
VISIT ME.
“Who…
who is that?!” Gammamon choked out, terrified.
LOOK TO THE WATER, the voice commanded.
My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird.
I slowly turned my head, forcing my eyes toward the center of the vast, crystal-blue lake.
The air above the water was warping, refracting light into a fractured halo of seven colors.
The Rainbow Dragon was no longer asleep.
Its colossal, snow-white body had uncoiled, rising high into the sky, dwarfing the petrified trees of Zone 1.
It was looking directly at us.
But it was the eyes that froze the blood in my veins.
They weren’t the slitted, golden eyes of a beast.
They were a piercing, glowing purple.
And radiating outward from the pupil were distinct, perfect, black concentric rings.
The Rinnegan.
The Dragon stared into my soul, and for the first time since arriving on this island, I felt completely, utterly exposed.
Word Count: 2342
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