Some Thoughts and Settings Regarding the Protagonist's Identity as a Celestial Dragon

Joining the Yatogami Family and becoming a Celestial Dragon was a decision I made only after much deliberation.

At first, I was afraid this setting would become a deal-breaker and people would call it "a fantasy novel wearing the skin of One Piece."

Families, rankings, auction houses, harems, mysterious old grandpas, secondary classes—yeah, the golden fantasy novel formulas from ten years ago.

Back to the point. There's a saying: "To punish darkness, one must first become part of it."

Justice is a relative concept, not an absolute one. Since Long Yi wanted to bear the name of justice, then the Celestial Dragons were an obstacle he absolutely had to overcome.

So-called justice and evil were merely concepts based on differing positions. Whoever was strong was justice; whoever was weak was evil. No matter how loudly one shouted their slogans, without strength, they were ultimately just a joke.

I didn't want to write a saintly protagonist, but I did want to write a character with sound values.

What was evil? Pirates were evil, but they were merely evil. Even if they brought disaster to one region, they would not shake the foundations of the world. The Celestial Dragons—or rather, the World Government that had established an entire set of inhumane systems—were the greatest evil, the root of all oppression and exploitation.

Ironically, the Marines, an organization that claimed to uphold justice, were merely tools used by the World Government to maintain its rule. Even if most Marines longed for justice, under such a system, no matter how much power they possessed, they were powerless.

Because an individual's strength could not overcome a ruling system.

In such a situation, there were generally only two methods.

Either one could be like the Revolutionary Army, completely overthrow the World Government and rebuild the world order, or reform the current system from within.

But in my view, neither of these methods was the best solution.

First, the Revolutionary Army founded by Dragon was a group I admired. To make enemies of the entire world, one either had to be a hotheaded fool who cared about nothing, or a fighter with lofty ideals. The Revolutionary Army leaned toward the latter. But that path was simply too difficult. Their path was one of destruction before rebuilding. Though there could be no victory without sacrifice, those sacrificed in the process could only be the weak and the common people. That process required far too much bloodshed.

As for internal reform, I was even less optimistic. A system that had lasted for hundreds of years would not be so easily changed. If Long Yi had no background, the moment he touched the interests of the nobles, he would become the enemy of the Celestial Dragons, the World Government, and the Marines. He would be trapped with no way forward or back, with the entire world against him. Then he would be forced onto a path of defying fate... Yeah, a textbook fantasy novel trope.

Therefore, Long Yi would take the third path.

He would neither break through from the outside nor reform from within—he would break through from within!

In terms of status, he was the young master of the Yatogami Family, the highest-ranking noble, standing at the very peak of all Celestial Dragons. In terms of noble status, few people in the world could compare to him. He would use rank to suppress those Celestial Dragons and show them what status and position truly meant.

In terms of strength, bearing the four major Ghost Swordsman classes and possessing countless epic weapons, he was the strongest in the world.

The Celestial Dragons could not suppress him. The World Government and Marines could not suppress him. Even the combined forces of the King, Pluton, and Poseidon could not defeat him. Yeah, he was the protagonist, after all. It was normal for him to be a little invincible. (laughs)

In other words, Long Yi was a "traitor" among the Celestial Dragons. Though he was a Celestial Dragon, he did not use his mind to preserve the class system—he thought about overthrowing it.

Those were the author's humble thoughts. If you have any opinions, please discuss them in the book reviews. (Civil discussion is welcome; trolls are not.)