The Story of the Millennium Dragon

East Blue, east of Warship Island.

The Lost Island had just surfaced.

Seeing the largest Millennium Dragon, the leader, having just finished his business with several females, he felt refreshed and let out a roar toward the sky.

Moya brought Apis over, preparing to engage in a friendly exchange with the Millennium Dragon.

"Mr. Millennium Dragon, I am Apis, and this is my captain, Moya. Hello."

"Hmm? Short-lived two-legged bug, how do you know how to speak the language of our Dragon Race?"

The leader Millennium Dragon was very puzzled; these two-legged bugs had actually spread across the entire world in just a thousand or two years.

He had heard from his elders that these two-legged bugs had created countless weapons and birthed countless powerhouses who slaughtered one another, especially during the great inter-tribal wars of eight or nine hundred years ago.

They had destroyed countless islands and affected the habitats of countless species.

This made these species somewhat resentful of these greedy, cruel two-legged bugs.

But fearing the strength of humans, many species chose to live in places far away from them.

"Our captain says that the information about this Lost Island may have already been exposed to the World Government, the strongest organization in the current human world.

So, our captain would like to invite you to open up a new place for reproduction. Our captain has already found a Sky Island on the Grand Line.

It is very safe there and will not surface periodically like the Lost Island, which hinders the communication of the Millennium Dragons and prevents aging Millennium Dragons from perishing outside because they cannot find their homeland."

Apis did not want the tragedy of Master Dragon to repeat itself, where a Millennium Dragon was about to die of old age without ever seeing the Lost Island surface.

"Impossible. We have lived this way for countless years; how could we change our traditions because of you humans?"

The leader Millennium Dragon was not afraid of human threats.

Apis told the leader Millennium Dragon about Master Dragon with tears in her eyes.

This caused the leader Millennium Dragon to fall into silence.

The surfacing time of the Lost Island protected the dragon eggs and dragon remains, but at the same time, it meant that some injured or aging Millennium Dragons could not hold on until the island surfaced.

In the end, they could not rest in their homeland, return to their roots, and were forced to die in a foreign land.

The Lost Island surfaced roughly once every two hundred years. Every Millennium Dragon was born on this island, and after two hundred years of incubation on the Lost Island, they would finally hatch and be able to fly.

Two hundred years later, they would be able to fly back to the Lost Island for the first time to reproduce.

Two hundred years was a very long time for humans, because everyone who had seen a Millennium Dragon would have died, and after another hundred-plus years of hearsay, the Millennium Dragon had become a legend on Warship Island.

It was not that other male and female Millennium Dragons did not reproduce outside.

However, without the unique substances of the Lost Island to incubate them for two hundred years, the Millennium Dragon hatchlings born outside were defective and could live for at most a few decades, never reaching the age of maturity at two hundred years.

Perhaps the reason elderly Millennium Dragons insisted on returning to the Lost Island even in death was their way of giving back to the island.

Therefore, the Millennium Dragons could not abandon the Lost Island; this was their destiny.

The leader Millennium Dragon explained all of this to Moya and his companion.

Moya was a bit disappointed. As expected, a unique island environment created a unique species.

For every gift of life, fate had already marked a price in the dark.

There are gains and losses; the scales of fate never tip in only one direction.

The thousand-year lifespan of the Millennium Dragons was already tied to the fate of this Lost Island.

This also meant that the Millennium Dragon race could not grow continuously and could only maintain a certain number.

"Then let us help you find a new habitat, and when the time comes to return here, we will provide you with protection."

Moya thought for a moment and made what he considered a very reasonable decision.

"Why would we need your protection? You are also short-lived two-legged bugs. Once the Lost Island surfaces for a day and the females finish laying their eggs, and the eggs from two hundred years ago hatch.

We will take the little dragons and fly away, and the Lost Island will sink. The next time will be two hundred years later, by which time you two-legged bugs will have long since died out."

The wise little eyes of the leader Millennium Dragon seemed to see through Moya's thoughts, and his words left Moya speechless.

Should he just give up, or should he resort to battle?

"Then where are you going to live now? I will find a Sky Island on the Grand Line to serve as your habitat; isn't that good?

We can also help you train the young dragons' abilities, allowing them to quickly grow into powerhouses."

Moya still did not give up.

"Young one, you are still too young. The area between the two Calm Belts, which you call the Grand Line, is very unfriendly to our flying species.

The unpredictable weather causes heavy losses for flying species, so we prefer to live in the Calm Belts or the Four Blues.

We only cross the Grand Line when migrating, and the two-legged bugs on the Grand Line are very powerful and even more cruel."

The gentle leader Millennium Dragon patiently answered Moya and his companion; he was truly a kind fellow.

"However, through your actions regarding the old Millennium Dragon, I know you are not bad people. I would like to entrust some little dragons to your care."

"What?"

The situation had taken a turn for the better, and Moya was quite surprised.

At this moment, the leader of the Millennium Dragons fell into a sorrowful recollection.

"Do you know why only thirty or forty of us Millennium Dragons returned this time?"

"Could it be that something happened?"

"Indeed. Remember, over twenty years ago, while our race was migrating in the second half of the Grand Line, a human king who possessed the ability to communicate with all things was consumed by earth-shattering rage. He summoned countless gales, torrential rains, and giant waves, causing countless species to respond in kind."

"Even super-giant Sea Kings were churning the seas, triggering a massive shift in the weather."

"In that war between the two-legged creatures, endless Conqueror's Haki and endless storms swept up more than half of our kin, causing them to die innocently."

Having said this, the leader of the Millennium Dragons suddenly shed tears. It was a feeling of utter helplessness; facing the deaths of their companions, they could only flee with the survivors.

Could it be the Battle of Edd War between the One Piece Roger and the Golden Lion Shiki?

"Therefore, for the forty-plus eggs laid two hundred years ago, even if each of us dragons takes care of one hatchling, that is already our limit. Our situation is quite dire, after all, migration is also fraught with danger."

"So, I must entrust the remaining little dragons to your care."

Moya did not refuse. The matter was settled in such an inexplicable way, even though Moya had just been thinking about fighting the Millennium Dragons to snatch some dragon eggs.

And so, as time passed.

Starting from noon, the little dragons began to hatch one after another.

Just like the little dragons of the Dragon Queen in Game of Thrones, these Millennium Dragon hatchlings were born with full plumage, and once their feathers dried, they had already learned to fly.

The twenty-three female dragons had laid twenty-three eggs for this generation; yes, after that catastrophe, the Millennium Dragon race had become female-dominated.

That was the only reason the leader of the Millennium Dragons could possess several female dragons.

The leader of the Millennium Dragons was also very pragmatic, picking the strongest hatchlings to take away and leaving the ten relatively weaker ones to be entrusted to Moya and his group.

Before the eyes of the Millennium Dragons and the Moya Adventure Group, the Lost Island, carrying the newly laid eggs, slowly sank beneath the waves. This was yet another cycle for the Millennium Dragons.

The Millennium Dragon flock and the hatchlings ate a grand feast provided by the Moya Adventure Group, and a sense of mutual sympathy shone in everyone's eyes.

Watching the receding figures of the Millennium Dragon flock, Moya could not help but feel a bit sentimental.

He then looked at Apis and the others playing with these Millennium Dragon hatchlings.

"Lads, set sail! To the Grand Line!!!!"

"Ah~~"