Sun and History, Part 2

The world burned crimson as a blow from a god rose from the earth and struck at the shadow high in the sky.

The next instant, blazing flames collided with falling lightning, divine might clashing against Haki!

Sand, trees, seawater, clouds—everything was blown away in that instant. This nameless little island seemed to have finally met its end.

"Worororororo~ This is incredible! You little monster!"

Feeling the heat traveling through his spiked club, Kaido poured in even more strength and Haki, becoming even more ferocious. Then came—Armament Haki Flowing.

That strange power invaded the flames through the spiked club, triggering explosion after explosion. Kaido in the sky was immediately blasted black and blue, dragon scales flying everywhere!

But—

[The attack was being dismantled.]

In Ra's perception, her solid flames were blasted apart by the repeated explosions and lost their power, forcing her to continuously increase her output of divine power.

But in the end, it was merely a drop in the bucket—a futile effort.

At last, Ra's divine power gradually ran dry, and the flames of the Divine Might Cannon slowly faded away... Kaido's attack finally broke through the obstruction and came crashing down!

"Boom!"

It was the thunderous crack of a sonic boom at point-blank range, mixed with the shriek of lightning.

The spiked club ultimately stopped only a fist's distance above Ra's head. The gale it created once again scattered her brilliant golden hair, sending her plain white dress fluttering as sparks continued to glimmer along its hem.

Kaido's entire body was smoking. Large swaths of dragon scales had been blasted off, leaving charred marks beneath them. He looked thoroughly bedraggled.

Yet the grin on his face was full of confident delight, and his eyes shone as though they were about to emit light!

"I lost. We'll join you."

Less than ten centimeters from death, Ra's tone remained calm.

She had already returned to her original appearance. The Eye of Ugar on her forehead had closed and vanished, making her seem to have changed back from a "god" into a "human."

However, compared to Kaido, she looked far better despite being the loser. There was not a single wound on her body, only slightly weakened breathing.

"Welcome to my Beasts Pirates, Ra! From now on, I'm your captain."

Kaido withdrew his spiked club and grinned, formally calling Ra by name. Then he returned to human form, crouched down, and patted the top of her head.

"Understood, Captain." Ra straightened the slightly crooked ornament in her hair and answered seriously.

Pirates... and the name Kaido. Then this should be the world of "ONE PIECE." Too bad my memories of that manga are so limited.

Yes, unexpectedly, You Ling had never seen that nearly universally known series—neither the original manga nor its animated adaptation. All she knew were a few famous scenes that had spread far and wide, along with several familiar names she knew little about.

"Alright, go wake those two little brats following you. We're leaving for South Blue immediately." With that, Kaido hoisted his spiked club over his shoulder and headed toward Oshi and Obe.

Nearly all the island's plants and animals had been blown away in the battle just now. Those closer to the fight had most likely returned directly to a molecular state.

The hills and mounds had all been flattened as well, and the fiery barrier where the two girls were now could be seen directly.

Kaido's strides were huge, and Ra had to jog to keep up with him.

Though Kaido, walking ahead, had noticed this, he had no intention of slowing down. He seemed to be deliberately enjoying the sight of her like this. Ra could only do her best to trail behind him like a little tail.

But before the two of them, moving at entirely different paces, had taken more than a few steps, a rumble sounded out. The ground behind them suddenly cracked apart, revealing an enormous underground space.

Ra was the first to stop and look back.

"This is... an underground chamber?"

She remembered that their battle had taken place near the island's ruins. This underground chamber must have been exposed by the battle's aftershocks.

Kaido turned around as well, and the two looked down at the same time. However, since the upper layer of the underground chamber had not completely collapsed, most of its interior remained pitch-black.

Fortunately, Ra could now see very clearly even in darkness.

In fact, she immediately spotted a massive regular hexahedral stone block standing in the center of the stone chamber. It was bluish-green, and one of its sides was densely carved with numerous symbols.

The symbols were neatly arranged and precisely engraved. At a glance, they were clearly extraordinary.

With a thought, Ra, having recovered a little divine power, conjured clusters of flames around the stone block and illuminated it.

"Ho~ A Poneglyph? Your luck is really something." Kaido clearly saw the stone block below through the bright firelight.

"Though this thing is rare, it's useless. It just records some history from the past~"

Kaido naturally had no interest whatsoever in history at this point. After one glance, he turned away in boredom.

Records history... Is this this world's history book? It's actually carved onto such a strange stone. How novel.

Hearing Kaido's words, Ra scanned it twice and memorized all its contents. Then she ignored it as well and continued following Kaido away.

"Hrrrnnngh~~ Hrrrnnngh~"

Their voices arrived before they did.

At some point, the two little ones inside the fiery barrier had seamlessly switched from unconsciousness to deep sleep. The earth-shattering battle outside had not affected them at all. It seemed the flames containing Ra's divine power gave them an incomparable sense of security.

"Wake up, Oshi, Obe."

Dispersing the flames, Ra gently shook the two of them. Her voice was so soft that it was as though she could not bear to disturb their sweet dreams.

"Mmm~ Five more minutes, Mom."

Oshi responded groggily, then rolled over and hugged Obe beside her.

Obe, meanwhile, frowned tightly after suddenly being wrapped up, as though she had fallen into some nightmare where red tentacles had tangled around her.

Ra found the sight of the two little ones somewhat amusing. She was about to call out again, but Kaido stepped forward first.

As a powerful man of the seas standing several zhang tall, he was nowhere near as gentle. Seeing that the two girls on the ground showed no sign of getting up, he directly bellowed at them, his voice so loud that it stirred up dust from the ground.

"Hey! You two little brats, get the hell up!"

The effect was immediate.

"Gah!" Oshi instantly jumped three feet into the air in fright.

"Who! Who dares disturb my peaceful slumber! Behold my one million—uh~" After landing, Oshi looked at Ra before her, then saw Kaido behind Ra.

She froze for a moment, then...

"Superconducting Wave—Thunder Cannon Mouth!" Oshi opened her little mouth, and a bolt of Golden Lightning blasted directly into Kaido.

It didn't hurt at all... alright, it hurt a little.

Having just gone through a sunbath, even someone with a body as tough as Kaido's had not fully recovered yet. Taking a Thunder Cannon head-on was not particularly pleasant.

But he could not show it.

"Stop, Oshi. Mr. Kaido is our captain now, not an enemy," Ra said as she stopped Obe, who was also preparing to attack.

"Captain?!" *2

"That's right."

Ra explained what had happened to the two of them and informed them that this world might be the world of "ONE PIECE."

"So, Sister Ra, we're pirates now?"

"Yes. I'm sorry for making the choice for you without asking."

"It's fine, Sister. Aren't the three of us one person to begin with? Your decision is my decision," Obe said seriously.

"Same here."

"Have you three little brats finished discussing it? We're leaving for South Blue now." After secretly rubbing the spot Oshi had hit, Kaido turned around and urged them on.

"Alright, alright. You're Boss Kaido, right? Sorry, I hit you without asking questions just now." Oshi jogged over to Kaido and apologized.

"Oshi is apologizing to you for attacking you just now." Seeing Kaido's utterly confused expression, Ra temporarily acted as a translator.

Through continuous learning in her mind, she could now communicate fluently with Kaido.

Mastering a foreign language within half an hour—truly a "god's talent."

"Hm? They still can't speak the common tongue? Whatever, they're just two snot-nosed little brats~"

Kaido neither paid attention to Ra's suddenly fluent speech nor bothered to pursue what language the three of them had been speaking in private.

These three little brats are unusual.

Kaido had understood this the moment he first saw the three little ones. Or rather, anyone in this world who saw them for the first time would immediately feel the same way—these three people are unusual.

Even ignoring the astonishing auras Oshi and Obe made no effort to conceal, their appearances alone were enough to show that they were no ordinary people.

Simply put, the three of them were excessively beautiful—or rather, excessively exquisite. It was the kind of striking presence that would draw attention at first glance anywhere.

They were somewhat out of place with this world's rather rough art style.

It was like three illustration-quality character portraits suddenly appearing among a crowd of animation-quality characters.

Of course, having seen no living people in this world besides each other and Kaido, the three of them had naturally not noticed this issue yet.

Then again, even if they had known, Oshi would probably be the only one among them who cared about it~

"Ra, I'll leave the task of teaching these two little brats the common tongue to you. We need to prepare to depart for South Blue now."

Not intending to waste any more time, Kaido transformed into a giant dragon again. Without giving them any say in the matter, he lifted the three little ones into the air with Flame Clouds and flew toward the southeast...