Pluton cut through the clouds like a steel leviathan, gliding straight into the skies above the Ice Kingdom.
Even the reclusive ice giants, who almost never cared about the outside world, heard the news.
After all, several of their own had already left. When the reborn New Ice Demon Pirates were shattered again by the constant conflict with Rocks, a handful of their former crew had chosen to join a stronger banner. Those survivors now served under the Hell Pirates.
They had gone back more than once, trying to persuade their old comrades in the New Ice Demon Pirates to do the same.
But the answer had always been the same.
The ice giants of the new crew refused to live under another's roof. They wanted to restore the glory of the Ice Demon Pirates with their own hands.
And the long standing alliance between the Hell Pirates and Rocks had only made them more stubborn. They could not bring themselves to kneel to their ally's rival.
So now, with Pluton in the sky, the New Ice Demon Pirates waited on the sea outside the Ice Kingdom, ships bobbing in the frozen waters.
Even if it meant dying here, they would protect their homeland.
The giant standing at their head was the captain of the New Ice Demon Pirates, an ice giant with a scarred face and eyes like deep glaciers.
His name was Terraria.
He was the same young giant who had once fled from Rocks and Wang Zhi.
More than ten years had passed since then. His face had barely aged, but his aura was steadier, the scars on his body more numerous. He had been hunted by Rocks' forces again and again, and every narrow escape had honed his strength.
Now he carried a bounty of 810 million berries and the epithet "Ice Slinger."
Among the ice giants, Terraria was something rare, even sacred.
A mutant ice giant who had awakened the "ice bloodline," a racial talent only one other giant had ever wielded.
The old Ice Demon captain himself.
This bloodline gave Terraria a power close to half the strength of an Ice Fruit. He could freeze seawater into enormous ice blocks and hurl them with terrifying force.
With the strength of an ice giant behind each throw, a single block could send a pursuing pirate ship to the bottom.
Brook knew all about him.
He had tried more than once to recruit Terraria and had long coveted that unique bloodline. Vegapunk would be very interested in such genes.
If they could isolate this ice bloodline factor, they might be able to create humans with built in special abilities, similar to the Vinsmoke sisters.
In recent years, Dr Vegapunk, Judge, and Queen had been pouring time into a shared project:
How to directly graft the bloodline factor of a Devil Fruit user into a cyborg.
To obtain part of a fruit's ability without the curse of seawater.
Terraria, meanwhile, stared at the massive shadow descending from the sky.
The legendary battleship Pluton.
The ancient weapon commanded by Brook, overlord of the New World.
Rumor said Brook had even defeated the World Government's king of the sky, Uranus. Terraria did not know if that part was true.
But there was no doubt about the power of ancient weapons.
Two islands, Hive Island and one of the Eighteen Hell Islands, had already been obliterated by Uranus.
If Uranus could do that, then Pluton, its equal, could certainly erase an island in one shot as well.
"Captain Terraria, we can't stop the Hell Pirates!"
One of the ice giants finally broke, shouting what they were all thinking.
The towering steel fortress in the sky seemed untouchable. Even a single full power salvo might be more than their fleet could endure.
And that did not even include the cadres of the Hell Pirates, each one a walking calamity.
Their New Ice Demon Pirates had only eight members left.
How were eight giants supposed to stand against the world's strongest pirate crew?
"We stop them anyway," Terraria growled, frost beginning to drift from his skin.
"Because our country is behind us."
He did not have the elemental nature of an Ice Fruit. He could not freeze an entire sea solid.
But he could still condense blocks of ice tens or even hundreds of meters across, turning them into projectiles. At close range he could use that freezing power to lock enemies in solid ice.
The Mink tribe could call lightning.
The fishfolk could command water.
The Elbaf giants were born with monstrous strength.
And the ice giants had their own heritage: the rare freezing bloodline.
"Captain."
A slightly older giant stepped forward, voice low.
"Brook never said he meant to attack the Ice Kingdom. What if we join the Hell Pirates and let that be our condition? If he takes us in, maybe he spares our land."
Facing the Hell Pirates head on was the most foolish choice they could make.
Only if Brook got something he wanted would there be room for peaceful coexistence.
And what did the Ice Kingdom actually have that the Hell Pirates might value?
These very ice giant warriors.
Did Brook really want this frozen, barren kingdom for himself?
"Yeah!"
Another giant added quickly.
"Captain, maybe it's because we've always rejected the Hell Pirates that Brook is coming personally now. With Pluton, no less, just to pressure us into yielding."
"Captain, for the Ice Kingdom… let us sacrifice ourselves and join the Hell Pirates!"
"We really can't beat them!"
"Don't die for nothing. Think it through!"
Terraria's hands clenched at his sides as the words piled up around him.
If they joined the Hell Pirates, the Ice Demon Pirates would never again have a chance to become overlords of the New World.
He had awakened the same ice bloodline as the old Ice Demon captain.
After all that struggle, would he really give up on reviving their glory?
"Heh…"
A bitter smile twisted his lips.
"What am I even hesitating for? Even Rocks couldn't stop Brook."
"If he couldn't clear the way, what chance do I have?"
From here on, there would be only one true ruler of the New World.
The Hell Pirates.
"For the Ice Kingdom," he murmured, exhaling a plume of white breath, "we surrender."
As long as Brook did not shatter their frozen homeland, that would be enough.
High above, Pluton's shadow blotted out the sky.
Brook peered over the edge of the deck as the shape of the New Ice Demon Pirates' ship came into view, surrounded by drifting ice floes.
He had barely entered the Ice Kingdom's airspace when the answer arrived of its own accord.
The New Ice Demon Pirates were already cowed by his overwhelming presence.
So this is what it meant to have momentum.
Once the tide turned, even if you stopped walking, the world still rolled in your direction like a wheel of history.
When Pluton hovered over the ice giants' ship, Brook heard the roar echoing up from below.
Terraria shouted his surrender, voice booming across the frozen sea.
In exchange, he begged that the Hell Pirates spare the Ice Kingdom.
"Yo ho ho…"
Brook chuckled.
"A very good start. Wonderful news."
Of course, he still planned to set foot inside the Ice Kingdom.
He would simply do it under a different banner.
A "friendly visit," as he'd phrase it in the newspapers.
Either way, he intended to confirm the old Ice Demon's condition.
And to find Boars' body.
By now, the Shadow Shadow Fruit of Abefu, had been developed to a frightening degree.
They had reached the point where a corpse infused with the shadow of an ability user could manifest part of that user's Devil Fruit power.
In the original history, when Boars stuffed Straw Hat Luffy's shadow into his own body, he had gained some of the Rubber Fruit's abilities.
He could stretch his limbs and neck at will and even use variations of Luffy's techniques.
That memory made Brook click his teeth thoughtfully.
He had seriously underestimated the true potential of the Shadow Shadow Fruit.
He had no idea how it worked.
Could it be that the shadow of a Devil Fruit user carried a copy of the fruit's "code"?
Or was a shadow itself part of the soul?
Or perhaps Boars' enormous corpse was simply too sturdy and could be "played with" as much as one pleased?
--------------
Brook looked down at the massive raft like ship belonging to the New Ice Demon Pirates. Its structure was very similar to the ship Blackbeard would one day command, with a hull nearly three hundred meters long, almost matching Pluton in sheer length.
But for the towering ice giants, a three hundred meter pirate ship was little more than a modest sailboat.
Far below the clouds, Brook remembered another colossal vessel.
Noah, the legendary ship of promise on Fishman Island, had once been commissioned by Joy Boy and Poseidon, the Mermaid Princess who could command the Sea Kings, asking the people of Fishman Island to build a ship capable of moving an entire island
"Lord Brook, we, the New Ice Demon Pirates, are willing to become your subordinate crew!"
Terraria's shout came up from the deck like a rolling avalanche.
"In exchange, please do not attack the Ice Kingdom!"
His voice shook slightly despite his resolve. With his current strength, he could not even guarantee victory against a single top officer of the Hell Pirates. Against Brook himself, he had no chance at all.
"Yo ho ho…"
Brook stepped off Pluton's deck, landing lightly atop the feathered head of Quetzalcoatl, the Seven Star Demon Sword's released form, and drifted down until he was level with Terraria's massive face.
"I accept your allegiance," he said with a laughing grin.
[TL: Changing Boars name to Oars in Canon]
"But I still need to enter the Ice Kingdom. Go back and tell the old Ice Demon I wish to pay him a visit. And while you're at it, help me search for the corpse of Oars, the Continent Puller."
He spoke as if he were discussing a casual errand rather than ancient power and a former overlord of the seas.
Up close, Terraria's scale was even more impressive. Besides the awakened ice bloodline, the ice giant was taller than most of his kin, nearly forty five meters in height, a walking fortress of frost and muscle.
Terraria finally allowed himself a breath of relief as he realized Brook truly had no intention of leveling the Ice Kingdom.
But a new problem immediately surfaced in his mind.
The Ice Kingdom was fully sealed off from the outside world. Under the old Ice Demon captain's orders, even ice giants who sailed as pirates were forbidden to return home unless they cast aside their flags and returned as ordinary citizens.
"Lord Brook," Terraria rumbled, bowing his head, "please give us two days. We will inform the Ice Demon at once and search for Oars' body as quickly as we can."
He had no choice but to grit his teeth and ask. It was the only way to avoid igniting a panic inside the Ice Kingdom.
Brook tapped his chin with his finger, then nodded.
"Very well. Consider this your first benefit as new members of my fleet. Report back as soon as you can."
Two days meant nothing to him.
Besides, the Ice Kingdom lay right next to the Kingdom of Westeros, homeland of the Dragon Queen.
It was in the borderlands between those two countries that Brook had killed the Night King Barrow and obtained the Shadow Fruit.
Since they were already in the neighborhood, there was another place worth visiting.
Dragonstone, Daenerys Targaryen's birthplace.
Because Brook had personally relocated the ancient dragon graveyard, Dragonstone had long since lost its original purpose.
But thanks to the efforts of the Hell Pirates, four young dragons now soared in the skies of this world once more.
Daenerys Targaryen and her daughter Shana each had their own dragon at their back, and even Brook had personally raised a red hatchling called Redforth.
With that, he had gained yet another magnificent mount to add to his collection, alongside the Kirin, Hera, and the Seven Star Demon Sword's Quetzalcoatl form.
As captain of the number one pirate crew in the world, having a few extra ways to travel in style hardly seemed excessive.
"It's a shame Shana didn't come along this time," Brook said with a smile, glancing at Daenerys at his side. "I could have taken her to see her hometown again."
"They're probably having the time of their lives on the Ancient Giant Island," Daenerys replied, amused.
"There will be other chances."
Now that she controlled the island nations around Westeros and served as one of the administrators of Doragonzo, her influence had climbed to a level she had never dared to imagine back in her days as a wandering princess.
"Brother Brook," Daenerys said after a moment, her tone turning thoughtful, "there's a legend in my homeland."
She turned her violet eyes toward the frozen horizon.
"It says a human once took in a mythical beast called the Three Eyed Raven and gained the power to see the future."
She paused, letting the weight of those words settle.
"They say the Devil Fruit behind that power lets the user's consciousness travel back and forth through history. I wonder… would you be interested in such a fruit?"
Brook's eye flames flickered.
"Yo ho ho. There's a Devil Fruit like that?"
If such an ability existed, it should have already reshaped the balance of the world.
"I've heard it carries heavy limitations," Daenerys continued with a small laugh. "The user cannot interfere with the events they see. And every time they use it, it consumes their luck and their lifespan. Sometimes, fate even snaps back at them."
"Accidents. Wounds. Misfortune piling up."
"In the end, the user becomes disabled, their body frail and twisted, and they die miserably."
Her voice did not hold much pity. Only clear, cold analysis.
"But some of his predictions did come true."
Brook fell silent for a heartbeat.
The more she spoke, the more plausible it sounded.
In this unreasonable world, a Devil Fruit that could peer through time but demanded a price in return felt… perfectly balanced.
"Then mobilize your people to look for it," he said at last. "Although, knowing you, I'd wager you're already searching, aren't you?"
He tilted his head toward her.
"You wouldn't bring this up without a lead. So."
"You already have one, don't you?"
Daenerys smiled, not denying it.
"I do have a clue," she admitted.
"Do you know why the old Ice Demon became so stubborn about retreating from the sea, disbanding the Ice Demon Pirates, and shutting the Ice Kingdom away from the world?"
Her words hung in the frosty air, heavy with implication.
She had indeed been tracing the shadow of this ability for quite some time.
Whether for the future of Westeros or for her standing within the Hell Pirates, she was always searching for more leverage, more reasons she could not be ignored.
"You're saying," Brook asked slowly, "that the current Three Eyed Raven ability user is under the old Ice Demon's banner?"
It made his interest spike.
If there truly was a Devil Fruit capable of predicting the flow of history, that was nothing less than a bug in the system.
Could even his arrival in this world have been foreseen?
"I don't know if he's formally joined the Ice Demon's forces," Daenerys said, shaking her head.
"But this generation's ability user seems to come from a declining noble family in our kingdom."
She glanced at the drifting snow below Pluton's shadow, remembering the documents she had once pored over.
"He once predicted the zombie invasion of the Night King Barrow."
"No one believed him."
"He disappeared soon after. Following the trail, I found eyewitness accounts. Someone saw him enter the Ice Kingdom."
"After that, he was never seen again."
"Which means," Brook said, "he may have been taken in by the Ice Demon."
"Or…" Daenerys replied, "he found his own way to him."
She had stumbled on that rumor while organizing the archives iafter slaying Barrow.
If she had heard such a prophecy beforehand, even she might have dismissed it. The idea of a tide of zombies storming a city sounded too absurd.
But when she compared the prophecy to what had actually happened, then dug deeper into older records and myths, a pattern began to appear.
She found references to the mythical Three Eyed Raven.
A beast tied to memory, prophecy, and the flow of time.
Then, after gaining access to the inner circles of the Hell Pirates, she had obtained detailed reports on the old Ice Demon Pirates, former overlords of the New World.
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