The Sun and History, Part 2

The world was burning a furious red, a divine strike erupting from the earth and soaring towards the shadow in the sky.

The next moment, flames and lightning clashed, Divine Might against Haki!

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

"Uro ro ro ro ro~ This is exhilarating! Monster brat!"

Feeling the heat radiating from his club, Kaido continued to increase his strength, pouring more Haki into it with even greater ferocity. Then came—Armament Haki.

A strange power seeped through the club into the flames, triggering a series of continuous explosions. Kaido in the sky was instantly blasted, his face covered in soot and his dragon scales flying everywhere!

But—

[Attack is being disintegrated.]

In Ra's perception, her solidified flames were being blasted apart and losing their power with each explosion, forcing her to continuously increase her Divine Power output.

However, this was ultimately like trying to quench a burning cart with a cup of water—futile.

Finally, Ra's Divine Power gradually depleted, and the flames of Divine Might Cannon began to dissipate. Kaido's attack finally broke through the obstruction and descended directly!

"Bang!"

It was the sound of a sonic boom at close range, mixed with the cry of lightning.

The club stopped just a fist's distance above Ra's head. The gust of wind it generated once again scattered her brilliant golden hair, and her plain white dress billowed up, its hem still shimmering with scattered sparks.

Kaido was smoking all over, large patches of dragon scales having broken off, revealing scorched marks underneath. He looked quite disheveled.

But he grinned, his mouth curled into a confident, unrestrained smile, his eyes shining as if about to emit light!

"I lost. We'll join."

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 closed and gone. She seemed to have transformed back from a 'god' to a 'person'.

However, compared to Kaido, she, the loser, looked much better. There wasn't a single scratch on her body, only a slight weakness in her breathing.

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

Kaido retracted his club, grinned, and officially called Ra's name. Then, he reverted to his human form, squatted down, and patted her head with his hand.

"Understood, Captain." Ra straightened her slightly askew side hair accessory and replied seriously.

[Pirates... and the name Kaido. It seems this is the world of "ONE PIECE." What a shame, my memories of this manga are too scarce.]

Yes, You Ling had surprisingly never watched this almost universally known work, neither the original manga nor the adapted anime. All he knew were some famous scenes that had gone viral and a few familiar but not fully understood names.

"Alright, go wake up those two brats following you. We're setting sail for South Blue immediately," Kaido said, hoisting his club and walking towards Oshi and Obe.

The island's flora and fauna had almost all been blown away during the recent battle. Those closer were likely reduced to their molecular state.

The hills and mounds of earth had also been leveled, and the flame barrier where the two were located could now be seen directly.

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

Kaido, walking ahead, noticed this but showed no intention of slowing down, as if deliberately wanting to see her like this. Ra could only follow behind him like a little tail.

But after the two, walking at different paces, had taken only a few steps, a booming sound echoed, and the ground behind them suddenly cracked open, revealing a vast underground space.

Ra stopped first and looked back.

"What is this... an underground chamber?"

She remembered that their battle had taken place near the island's ruins. It was likely that this underground room had been revealed by the aftermath of the fight.

Kaido also turned his head, and they both looked down. However, because the ceiling of the underground room had not entirely collapsed, most of the interior remained dark.

Fortunately, Ra's eyes could see clearly even in the darkness now.

In fact, she immediately spotted a large, regular hexahedron stone block standing in the center of the stone chamber. The block was cyan, and one of its faces was densely carved with many symbols.

These symbols were neatly arranged and regularly engraved, clearly unusual at first glance.

With a thought, Ra, who had recovered some Divine Power, conjured flames around the stone block, illuminating it.

"Whoa~ A Poneglyph? You're quite lucky." Kaido could see the stone block clearly through the bright flames.

"But this thing, though rare, isn't very useful. It just records some past history~"

Kaido, of course, had no interest in history at the moment. He glanced at it once and turned away uninterestedly.

[Recording history... the history books of this world? It's quite novel that it's carved onto such strange stones.]

Hearing Kaido's words, Ra glanced at the content, memorizing it all, and then paid it no further mind, continuing to follow Kaido.

"Snore... snore~"

Before they could be seen, their sounds were heard.

The two little ones within the flame barrier had somehow transitioned seamlessly from unconsciousness to sound sleep. The earth-shattering battle outside had not affected them at all. It seemed the flames containing Ra's Divine Power gave them an unparalleled sense of security.

"Wake up, Oshi, Obe."

After the flames dispersed, Ra gently swayed the two children, her tone as soft as if she didn't want to disturb their sweet dreams.

"Mmm~ Five more minutes, Mom."

Oshi mumbled drowsily in response before rolling over and hugging Obe beside her.

Obe, however, frowned as she was suddenly entangled, as if trapped in a nightmare by red tentacles.

Seeing the two little ones like this, Ra found it somewhat amusing. She was about to call out again, but Kaido stepped forward first.

As a powerful figure of the sea, several dozen feet tall, he wasn't as gentle. Seeing that the two on the ground had no intention of getting up, he let out a roar. His voice was so loud it even stirred up the sand on the ground.

"Hey! You two brats, get up for me!"

The effect was immediate.

"Gyaah!" Oshi was startled and jumped three feet into the air.

"Who! Who dares disturb my slumber! Behold my one million horsepower... uh~" After landing, Oshi looked at Ra in front of her, then at Kaido behind Ra.

She froze for a moment, and then...

"Superconducting Wave - Thunder Cannon!" Oshi opened her little mouth, and a bolt of golden lightning struck Kaido directly.

It didn't hurt... well, it did hurt a little.

Having just undergone a sunbath, even Kaido's strong physique hadn't fully recovered, and taking a Thunder Cannon head-on was still quite uncomfortable.

But he couldn't show it.

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

"Captain?!" *2

"That's right."

Ra explained the situation to the two children and informed them that this world might be the world of ONE PIECE.

"So, Sister Ra, have we become pirates now?"

"Yes, I'm sorry for making that choice for you without your consent."

"It's okay, Big Sister. Aren't the three of us one person originally? Your decision is my decision," Obe said seriously.

"Me too."

"Are you three brats done discussing? We're setting sail for South Blue now." Kaido, who had been secretly rubbing the spot Oshi had hit, turned and urged them on.

"Alright, alright, Captain Kaido? Sorry about that, I hit you without knowing what was going on." Oshi ran up to Kaido and apologized.

"Oshi is apologizing to you for attacking you just now." Ra, seeing that Kaido completely didn't understand, acted as a translator for the moment.

By constantly learning in her mind, she could now communicate fluently with Kaido.

Mastering a foreign language in half an hour was truly a "divine talent."

"Hmm? You still can't speak the common tongue? Never mind, they're just snot-nosed kids after all~"

Kaido didn't pay attention to Ra's suddenly fluent speech and was too lazy to pursue what language the three of them were speaking privately.

[These three brats are very special.]

This was something Kaido had realized the moment he first saw the three little ones. In fact, anyone seeing them for the first time in this world would immediately get this feeling—[These three people are very special.]

Ignoring the astonishing aura emanating from Oshi and Obe, which they couldn't contain, their appearance alone was enough to tell that they were no ordinary people.

Simply put, the three of them were too beautiful, or rather, too exquisitely made. This was a jarring presence that would be noticed at first glance anywhere.

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

It was as if three illustration-level character designs had suddenly appeared among a crowd of anime-level characters.

Of course, after arriving in this world, the three of them, having only met Kaido alive besides each other, had not yet noticed this issue.

Rather, even if they did notice, it was likely only Oshi among the three who would care about it~

"Ra, the task of teaching these two brats the common tongue is yours. We need to prepare to set sail for South Blue now."

Not wanting to waste any more time, Kaido transformed into a dragon again and, without further ado, lifted the three children with Flame Clouds, flying towards the southeast