All Guided by Fate

"Yeah, Big Brother Bepo, Yake-sama saved me."

"I'm the Ark Pirates' cook, meow!" Anna said excitedly. It wasn't easy to meet a friend from her hometown out at sea.

"Anna, don't get so worked up. We'll be partners from now on," Yake said with a smile. Although Bepo wasn't particularly strong, being cute was enough. Besides, he was a navigator. His skills were average, but they were good enough.

"Really? That's wonderful! Big Brother Bepo, we can go on adventures together from now on, meow!" Anna happily hugged Bepo's round belly, while Bepo merely scratched his head and grinned foolishly. He had originally worried about how he would fit into a new pirate crew, but he had unexpectedly run into an acquaintance.

"Where are Robin and the others?"

Yake had not seen Robin and the others for quite some time, and he could not help finding it strange.

"Ah, Sister Robin and the others are really busy. They'll probably be back tonight."

"All right, then go play with Bepo for now. I'll take a walk outside. Luo, come with me!"

Yake brought Luo to the base of the Golden Bell.

"Luo, do you know what this is?"

Yake pointed at the Poneglyph on the base and asked.

"Captain Yake, I've never seen anything like this." Luo shook his head, indicating that he did not know.

"I came here and carried this text to the ends of the world."

"Those were the words left behind by Gol D. Roger. These writings are Poneglyphs, scattered throughout the world. Their contents include..."

"The meaning represented by 'D.'"

The moment Yake finished speaking, Luo immediately lost his composure and grabbed him.

"Captain, you must know something. Please tell me!" Luo said with a fierce expression, veins faintly bulging on his forehead.

Yake seemed to have anticipated Luo's reaction and was not surprised.

"Luo, our pirate crew set sail to pursue the truth of history! One day, we will personally uncover the meaning of D. My goal was never immortality." Yake's words carried a deeper meaning. Luo was meticulous by nature; force alone could never make him stay on the ship with peace of mind.

Only by unifying their goals could they become true companions.

"Captain, I..." Luo had indeed previously believed that Yake had invited him aboard solely for immortality. Now that Yake had said it outright, Luo felt as though he had judged a gentleman by his own petty standards.

"Luo, if my original intentions ever change, you can leave whenever you want. That's a man's promise."

Yake placed a hand on Luo's shoulder and spoke seriously, then turned and left, allowing Luo some time alone.

Yake had already gone far away, but Luo remained where he was, staring blankly at the writings before him whose meaning he did not understand.

Birka, Yake's hometown.

After moving Birka here, Yake liked to sit in Birka's forests whenever he had nothing to do. After all, this was where the turning point of his Fate had begun.

Yake calmed himself and spread his Observation Haki across the entire Sky God Kingdom, sensing the aura of this newborn nation. He quickly located Robin, Reiju, and the others. They were dealing with some troublesome pirates, though only comparatively troublesome. With Robin and Reiju's strength, they merely needed to spend a little more effort dealing with opponents of this level. Still, Yake intended to lend them a hand.

He would announce to everyone that he alone was the master of the Sky God Kingdom.

"Thor's Divine Punishment!"

Yake fired lightning into the sky. It scattered and shot in every direction, passing judgment on the pirate trash causing trouble.

"What annoying recovery abilities." Robin said with a headache. She had encountered a Zoan Devil Fruit user who simply would not die no matter how much she hit him. He would quickly stand back up after being knocked down, and his body was covered in sharp spikes. It was inconvenient for Robin to use her abilities, so she was preparing to call Perona over to hit him with a Negative Hollow and finish him off.

"Hahaha! Ignorant woman, I'm an Urchin-Urchin Fruit user! There's nothing you can do to me! Eat my Death Thorns!" the pirate laughed wildly, aiming the spikes on his body at Robin as he prepared to fire.

However, divine judgment had already arrived. A pillar of lightning struck precisely atop his head. Once it faded, he had lost all signs of life, his entire body charred black. If he had not been a Zoan Devil Fruit user, he would have long since turned to charcoal.

The same scene unfolded throughout every corner of the Sky God Kingdom. More than a dozen lightning pillars descended at once, and pirates died in their wake.

"Whew, looks like the captain is back..." Robin let out a sigh of relief. She finally understood how Shanks had felt.

Yake withdrew the lightning and said flatly, "Birka's forest is forbidden ground. Are you not afraid of death?"

The figure behind Yake slowly spoke. "For us to meet here, all of this is guided by Fate! God Yake."

Yake turned around and only then realized that the man looked somewhat familiar.

He was a tall man, more than a meter taller than Yake, wearing a strange hat and an eyepatch over his right eye. He wore a black cloak and carried a long rifle whose muzzle resembled a horn.

He was none other than Blackbeard's future crew member, Van Augur, known as Supersonic, a sniper born in the East Blue.

Luffy had only just set sail, and Teach had not even obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit yet, though that would happen soon. Blackbeard had not yet had the chance to recruit his crew, yet one of his future subordinates had already found Yake.

It had to be said that Blackbeard truly had an eye for crew members. Every one of the people he found could hold their own. The Van Augur before him could shoot at a distant flock of seagulls from a rooftop on Gaya Island's western coast, a feat that even God Usopp had declared impossible.

In a pirate world where firearms were not particularly developed, there were very few marksmen capable of such a feat. Usopp could not do it; he was merely a magic-bullet shooter. His father Yasopp might be able to.

Yake was pleasantly surprised inside, but he gave nothing away on the surface and asked with interest.

"What is your purpose in coming to find me? Was it because of Fate?"

Van Augur removed his hat, politely bowed to Yake in salute, and only then slowly began to explain.

Two years ago, he had been in Mock Town, watching Yake's battle against Garp and the vice admirals and even admirals surrounding Mock Town. But when Yake's Lightning Dragon fell from the sky, he believed he would be killed. He closed his eyes and stood where he was, waiting for death.

When the thunderclouds filling the sky finally dispersed, everything around him had become ruins, yet he himself stood there completely unharmed. Van Augur believed that all of it had been guided by Fate. He had searched the seas for Yake's trail ever since, firmly believing that as the gears of Fate turned, they would one day meet again at sea.

"God Yake, please allow me to join you. I want to witness the... destination of all this Fate."

Yake fell silent after hearing Van Augur's explanation. An encounter arranged by Fate? No. Van Augur and Blackbeard were the ones Fate had destined to meet, while Yake had been changing Fate all along—whether it was Robin, Reiju, Anna... or Van Augur before him.

Seeing Yake remain silent for so long, Van Augur was not anxious. The turning point of Fate had already arrived. Either he would die here, or he would become part of Fate...

"Your name."

"Van Augur."