Although Daenerys Targaryen had been investigating for years, the Ice Kingdom's isolationism had almost completely severed her trail.
Now, seeing that Brook was about to move against the old Ice Demon, she finally laid everything out.
Of course, she had once wanted to claim that fallen noble youth for herself. Anyone with a brain would understand why.
She was the queen of Westeros. The young man with the special power was her subject. Another hidden card in her hand was something any ruler would desire.
It wasn't only about competing with the other women around Brook for influence, either. She herself was not yet certain that this youth truly possessed the Three Eyed Raven's power.
Without solid proof, words were meaningless.
So she chose to speak now, letting Brook be the one to dig that ability user out of the Ice Kingdom.
After bearing Brook a daughter, Shana, Daenerys had grown more and more dependent on him. The layers of scheming and fear she once carried had peeled away, leaving something simpler, warmer.
Brook glanced sideways at her and could read some of her little thoughts at a glance.
It didn't bother him.
A woman who loved power wasn't a problem. Charlotte Linlin and Shakky weren't particularly interested in ruling anything anyway.
Most of the political work across their vast domains was shouldered by Stussy and Daenerys, while the right to wage war belonged to Golden Lion Shiki.
Redfield and Newgate had no interest in administration. One pursued strength, the other trained new blood.
Brook and Antonio set the overall strategic direction for the Hell Pirates, but the daily machine of governance ran because a few people were willing to grip the levers of power and never let go.
"That's a bit of a problem," Brook said at last, eye flames narrowing.
"I just promised Terraria and the others I wouldn't use force against the Ice Kingdom."
"And now you tell me there might be a Devil Fruit like that hiding inside?"
He reached out, pinched Daenerys' soft cheek, and deliberately mussed up her silver hair, a playful punishment for her belated revelation.
Daenerys let out a small breath of relief.
Brook wasn't angry. He didn't rebuke her for her calculations. To her, his teasing felt more like the flirtation of a young couple than any real rebuke.
Her gaze softened even further. She knew it clearly now.
She had no way to live without this man.
"Then we'll just have to see more clearly," Brook said with a smile, his tone turning sharp beneath the humor.
"What did the old Ice Demon see? What crisis, what disaster, made him retreat so decisively?"
The dragon blood in Daenerys' veins could be traced all the way back to the great kingdom eight hundred years ago. The more Brook looked at the board, the more all these lines seemed to converge.
Why had Joy Boy been able to carve prophecies into the Poneglyphs?
After Roger and his crew reached the final island, why did the message they leave behind speak of it being "too early," of a time still to come?
Why could Fishman Island's divination orb reveal fragments of the future?
Why did Zunesha and the colossal Sea Kings know the time of the "King's Return"?
Had Joy Boy himself possessed a power of foresight?
Or had someone with such an ability stood at his side?
The Time Time Fruit.
Some sort of Divination Fruit.
Prophecy Fruit.
Three Eyed Crow Fruit.
Even with every advantage, they had still lost eight hundred years ago.
If that was the case, what was the point of leaving so many predictions and backup plans behind now?
Brook felt a sudden, dangerous impulse.
He wanted to seize every one of Joy Boy's backup pieces for himself.
The ancient races scattered across the world, the giants, the hidden islands… all of them might be linked to that lost Giant Kingdom and the man called Joy Boy.
Was Noah, the ship of promise on Fishman Island, built by the Elbaf giants? By the Ice Giants? By the Ancient Giants?
Or did all those giant tribes share some tangled origin with the kingdom Joy Boy came from?
And the World Government's gigantification experiments… were they also chasing that same colossal military force?
··
Two days passed in a flash.
The world outside churned in turmoil, while Brook spent those days in rare peace.
Daenerys Targaryen even brought little rose Margaery Tyrell back with her.
Meanwhile, Shakky and Brook were busy "fighting" in their own way, since neither Shakky nor Angel had yet given Brook a child.
Angel, for her part, had remained behind at the Doragonzo, rarely sailing with Brook's expedition forces at all.
When Brook finally walked out to the frozen plain and saw Terraria and the other ice giants hauling a massive block of ice on an enormous wooden cart, his eyes were drawn to the crimson silhouette sealed within.
It was the corpse of Oars.
"Captain Brook!" Terraria boomed respectfully.
"The body of Oars you requested has been found and delivered. But our senior, the Ice Demon, is already very old. His body is failing him, and he can no longer move about freely."
"So he cannot meet you in person."
Terraria swallowed, then forced himself to continue.
"But he asked me to relay a message."
"Be careful. I hope you can escape from death. When the crows fly south, there will be a tree you can lean on… otherwise, everything will be in vain."
The words themselves made his skin prickle.
It sounded far too much like a death sentence for Brook.
"Is that old fossil trying to scare our captain?"
Redfield's temper flared in an instant.
"Tell him to crawl out and say it to our faces!"
In Redfield's eyes, Brook would one day topple the World Government, slaughter the Celestial Dragons, and become the true ruler of this world.
How could some retired relic talk as if Brook were doomed?
"Lord Redfield please, calm yourself!"
Terraria almost dropped to one knee in panic.
Just carrying that message felt like holding a powder keg.
"What else did he say?"
Brook's voice had flattened, the humor gone.
So the old Ice Demon thought he was destined to die?
If he didn't get a clear answer, he wouldn't be able to eat in peace, much less march to war.
Was he really going to die at Imu's hands?
"C Captain Brook," Terraria stammered, cold sweat forming on his brow,
"The Ice Demon also said… the crows will sleep for several years to search out your fate. That if you go looking for them now, it will only be a waste of time."
The closer he got to finishing the sentence, the heavier Brook's presence became.
Terraria, an ice giant used to blizzards and war, felt his heart clench.
Brook's mood sank into shadow.
Was he also bound by this world's so called fate?
What did it mean to "escape death"?
Damn it. Couldn't the old man at least explain himself properly before falling into his prophetic sleep?
Would the war against Rocks provoke Imu into personally descending onto the battlefield?
Would the war to unify the New World become Brook's own execution ground?
Would he die by Imu's hand?
Or Rocks'?
"Brother Brook, don't listen to that old fool," Redfield shouted.
"We are invincible!"
Charlotte Linlin and Newgate joined in, swearing at the old Ice Demon from the deck. To curse Brook like that, on the eve of their campaign… wasn't that the same as cursing the Hell Pirates to fail against Rocks?
"That's enough."
Brook raised his hand, cutting them all off.
"You lot stay here. I'll go in and take a look myself."
If he didn't see the Three Eyed Raven and the old Ice Demon with his own eyes, he'd never feel at ease.
If they said the crows were "sleeping," then he would go see exactly what that sleep looked like.
He wasn't afraid of wasting time on something this important.
Brook stepped onto the Seven Star Demon Sword, letting Quetzalcoatl's serpent body bear him into the icy depths of the kingdom.
The other cadres tensed and were about to follow when Terraria threw himself forward in a panic.
"Please, stay where you are!" the ice giant pleaded, shouting Brook's orders at the top of his lungs.
Under those firm orders and Terraria's desperation, the Hell Pirates' top fighters could only remain aboard the Pluton battleship, watching their captain's back shrink into the swirling snow as he flew alone into the heart of the Ice Kingdom.
-----------
Brook cut through the blizzard on the back of the Seven Star Demon Sword, flying straight toward the strongest presence on the island.
Damn it… so I'm "in danger of death," am I?
What did that guy see?
If he didn't get a clear answer today, this matter was not ending.
Ever since he traveled through time into this world, even Brook himself had not truly known what lay ahead.
And now there was actually a Devil Fruit ability that could peer into his future. That alone made his soul chill.
He refused to let some so called destiny dictate his end.
He would change it. He refused to die, refused to lose everything. He'd played things cautiously, pushed step by step, and yet there was still a "high probability" of death?
Am I not allowed to start a new world unification war?
If the crisis was that severe, then maybe, just maybe, he really would have to slow things down and let Rocks live a few more years… or a few more decades.
No. That feeling was worse than death.
He had to get to the bottom of this.
Riding the demon blade at full speed, Brook reached the Ice Kingdom's capital in less than an hour, the Immortal Volcanic Rock City carved into the living stone.
Ignoring the warnings of the ice giants, he flew straight into the deepest cavern, following the heaviest, oldest aura.
"You came after all," an old voice rasped from the darkness.
"Yeah," Brook said lightly. "I'm here."
"You shouldn't have come."
"Quit talking in circles." Brook's tone sharpened. "Does the Three Eyed Raven really exist?"
"He has truly fallen asleep," the old Ice Demon replied. "He saw your fate and suffered a backlash. Your future is too uncertain."
"I want to see him myself."
The old pirate sighed.
If not for his failing body, he would still have been willing to fight this new overlord. He had ruled the seas as captain of the Ice Demon Pirates for a hundred and fifty years. He hadn't feared Rocks, and he didn't fear Brook.
But age had stolen his strength. All he could do now was talk.
He reached to his right chest, pushed aside a mat of white hair, and carefully removed a box that had been bound to his body. Opening it before Brook, he revealed a pale youth curled within, as if only sleeping.
"I'm taking him back," Brook said at once. "I'll treat him aboard my ship."
He refused to give up this chance. He had to awaken this Three Eyed Raven and force him to speak clearly about what lay ahead.
"It's useless," the Ice Demon said flatly. "He will not wake for ten years. He told me himself that if you fail to survive this calamity, it will be even more dangerous for him to remain at your side. Better to sleep here.
"If you try to snatch him, I'll crush him with my own hands. He deeply regrets looking into your future. The backlash was too great. Your fate is a knot of possibilities. He could only glimpse a handful of high probability outcomes."
The old Ice Demon gently closed the lid, hiding the boy away again, giving Brook no opening to seize him.
He knew all too well that Brook possessed technology capable of stripping Devil Fruit abilities. Handing over a powerless ability user would be no different from handing Brook a precious resource to dissect.
"What did he see?" Brook pressed, impatience finally boiling over. "What did he say?"
"The more he says, the worse the backlash," the Ice Demon replied.
"Especially when the prophecy concerns a pirate of your level. He's a weakling. He didn't dare speak your future in detail. Just giving you that one warning has already left him sleeping for years.
"But he is very optimistic about you. If you survive this calamity, he believes you may truly overturn everything."
The old Ice Demon spread his hands. He knew nothing more.
"Be careful… escape this deadly place…" Brook clicked his tongue. "Can't you give me anything more specific?"
He left the volcanic stone city under the wary gazes of the Ice Giants, irritation smoldering in his chest.
If there really was a deadly chance ahead, he needed to find where the loophole lay in his plan, where the noose had been tied.
Back aboard Pluton, Brook's expression was unreadable as he gave the order to return to their base on Doragonzo Island.
The New Ice Demon Pirates sailed from New Pirate Holy Island and officially became an affiliated crew under the Hell Pirates' banner.
Under the combined power of Golden Lion Shiki's Float Float Fruit and Kaido's flame clouds, Ancient Giant Island was slowly dragged back toward Doragunzo, taking the place of Galle Island and Yindu Island, which had been obliterated by Uranus.
But ever since that prophecy, the atmosphere within the Hell Pirates had lost some of its easy, ferocious confidence.
They didn't fully believe in prophecy.
Yet this one concerned Brook's life, and that meant they had no choice but to treat it as real.
Again and again, Brook, Antonio, Redfield, and the others dissected their war plan against Rocks, searching for the fatal point.
In the end, every thread of danger led to Imu and Uranus.
Brook made his decision.
He gathered every last Dyna Rock he had acquired, those legendary motive stones capable of blowing apart the New World itself, and had them loaded aboard Pluton.
He intended for the Pluton to seize its chance and drag Uranus down into mutual destruction.
When the Three Eyed Raven spoke of "escaping death," had he meant that Brook needed to change the battlefield itself?
The boy had said Brook's future contained countless branches. Death was only one high probability result, not a fixed endpoint.
Time slid by like waves against a hull.
Brook's battle plan grew sharper, more ruthless. He would remove Imu and Uranus from the board, no matter what it took.
Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1484 — thirty eight years before canon.
The destined year finally arrived.
The war that had been building for a year was pushed into motion by fate's invisible hand.
Hounded again and again by World Government and Marine forces, the Roger Pirates could no longer linger in the Four Seas.
They had no choice but to retreat to the New World.
Driven into a corner, Rocks searched for one last chance at victory. In desperation, he resolved to crush the Roger Pirates, tear the Final Island's secrets from them, and claim that legendary power said to be capable of toppling the World Government.
With that power, he would challenge both the Hell Pirates and the Marines, and seize the New World for himself.
At this point, he had no other path.
The moment Roger's ship crossed into the New World, the Rocks Pirates sprang their ambush.
Roger fled. Rocks pursued.
No matter how he ran, he could not shake them.
And then fate twisted.
Driven into a dead end, rage and madness boiling inside him, Roger did the craziest thing possible.
He steered straight toward God Valley, where the Marines had established a temporary base.
It was a death charge, an attempt to drag Rocks into the jaws of another monster and turn a two sided hunt into a three way war.
This was Roger.
A man whose answer to a no win scenario was to flip the board and see which god laughed last.
Even Brook had not imagined the war would ignite like this, nor that the battlefield would once again be that cursed island.
God Valley.
When the Hell Pirates learned that Rocks had ambushed the Roger Pirates, they had already mobilized their full forces and set sail.
And then the final piece reached Brook's hands.
The war was breaking out at the Marines' temporary stronghold.
God Valley.
Was this fate?
Or was God Valley simply destined to be the place where Rocks fell…
…and where Brook's death was waiting as well?
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