Saint Sanming's Power of Prophecy

Miming was startled. He really had never considered that. Though he had thought about seizing power, he had only wanted to become the head of the Bird Family. Then, during that incident three years later, Fisher Tiger would escape and return to Mary Geoise, freeing the slaves, including the Boa Sisters. He could then sneak off to Amazon Lily and live happily with the Empress.

"No." Miming spoke seriously. "Becoming one of the Gorosei means working three hours every day. That's way too boring. I still want to travel the world. The world is so big—I want to see it."

"Not right away. We can discuss it whenever you become interested." Saint Ichi understood the young Celestial Dragon well, especially after hearing Cairns's report about Miming's prophetic dreams. After all, none of the five old men planned to retire anytime soon.

"You want to go to Alabasta, don't you?" Saint Ichi said patiently. "And... the island of the Amazon tribe? An orange grove?"

Miming was shocked. How did he know? Had Cairns told him everything?

"This is called Observation Haki." Saint Ichi smiled. "I sensed what you were thinking just now."

Miming's expression changed at once. Didn't that mean he knew everything? For an instant, he even considered running away, but he definitely would not make it past the door.

"Don't be nervous," Saint Ichi said. "I can only sense a few images, and it seems I'm not even as good as you. Is this the future you saw in your dreams? You possess an Observation Haki talent even more powerful than Conqueror's Haki."

Miming let out a breath of relief. As long as you can't tell that I want to rebel and burn Mary Geoise to the ground, it's fine.

"Powerful Observation Haki can sense an opponent's thoughts and affect their mind." Saint Ichi spoke proudly. "But this advanced form of Observation Haki is innate, and I possess it."

Miming realized something. "You mean I should have inherited this Haki too?"

Saint Ichi nodded. "That's right. But your Observation Haki talent may be even greater than mine, because you also inherited the bloodline from the Rosward Family. Tell me, what else did you see in your dreams?"

Miming thought for a moment. "I saw Mary Geoise engulfed in flames." You old bastards can't let me be the only one agonizing over this. You need to lose sleep too. Of all the memorable plotlines, the slave uprising three years later stood out the most.

All the Gorosei froze. This was no good dream.

Saint Ichi frowned. "You mean the main house caught fire?"

"No, I mean there was fire everywhere." Miming burst into laughter. "The whole of Mary Geoise was on fire! Someone broke in, and all the slaves escaped!"

"When?"

"Maybe two or three years from now? Four or five?" Miming looked utterly unconcerned. "How could I know that clearly?"

"And then?"

"Then I woke up." Miming spoke as if it were only natural. "There were corpses everywhere. It was terrifying. Those lowlifes will kill many Celestial Dragons."

I'll scare you first.

The Gorosei all furrowed their brows and paced around.

"These things may not necessarily happen. They can still be changed," Saint Ichi comforted him. "The future foreseen by Observation Haki is merely a key event with a high probability of occurring. Besides, it's so far in the future that the likelihood should not be very high."

"No—quite the opposite!" Whitebeard Gorosei's expression was grim. "The fact that such a distant future can be seen proves that it will be very difficult to change."

"It must be those Revolutionary Army cockroaches!" The Gorosei in the red suit had a terrible temper and was already swearing. "No, we must strengthen the Marines. We cannot let this weed grow into a real threat!"

The men looked at one another and nodded together.

"Then let's hold a worldwide draft." Whitebeard Gorosei proposed, "Strengthen our defenses and hurry to wipe out the Revolutionary Army."

"Agreed." All five nodded. "The Heavenly Tribute can no longer be squandered. Tell those wastrels to spend less."

Miming muttered to himself. The Revolutionary Army had only just begun to emerge, yet it had been saddled with a huge blame because of him. Sorry about that. But the Marines would get an early opportunity for a worldwide draft because of him—this should be a good thing, right?

Wait a minute. Miming narrowed his eyes. Hah, if he simply made up whatever dream he claimed to have had, he could influence the Gorosei's decisions. Wasn't that incredibly interesting? Besides, they had said it themselves—the future could be changed, so it was perfectly normal if nothing happened.

As he happily entertained himself, Saint Ichi clapped his hands. "Anubis—!"

Miming's vision blurred. A dark aura of death suddenly drifted into the hall and gathered into a tall man wearing a golden wolf-head mask, who respectfully knelt before the Gorosei.

Miming sucked in a breath. If this was the power of a Devil Fruit, then the man before him had undoubtedly eaten a mythical-beast-class Fruit! Could it be the Devil Fruit of Anubis, the god of death?

"Anubis," Saint Ichi ordered, "from today onward, you will no longer follow me. You will be responsible for training Saint Sanming."

"What?" Miming cried out. "Did I ever say I wanted to become stronger? Did it never occur to you to ask me?"

"In your heart, you wish to become stronger." Saint Ichi stared sternly into Miming's eyes. "There is no need to ask. Just now, I already sensed your intense desire to become stronger."

Before Miming could speak, the five old men shouted together, "Risk your life! You bear the future of the world, proof of the royal bloodline of the Celestial Dragons! This is your destiny—!"

Miming cursed madly more than a hundred times in his heart. Had "Risk your life!" already become a catchphrase? Plagiarism! This was plagiarism!

"Saint Sanming!" Anubis rose to his feet, standing a full five meters tall. The golden wolf-head mask on his face was enormous, but he had a lean, towering build, the sort that looked agile and battle-hardened.

As Miming watched him rise, he kept tilting his head back until he swallowed hard and asked, "Are you the strongest member of CP0?"

Anubis replied calmly, "I am not CP0. I am one of the guardian gods of Pangaea Castle. But I am certainly stronger than every member of CP0. Otherwise, I would not be qualified to instruct Saint Sanming."

Miming asked, "Did you eat Anubis's Devil Fruit?"

"It is a secret." Anubis's gaze did not waver. "Even Saint Sanming cannot be told this secret."

Miming fell silent. Other Celestial Dragons were all arrogant and domineering, so was he some kind of fake Celestial Dragon? Why did he keep running into walls everywhere? It seemed that the guardian gods of Pangaea Castle did not have much respect for Celestial Dragons other than the Gorosei.

"Whatever." Miming said, "When do we begin?"

Anubis said, "It began the moment before. Please come with me to the divine palace of our Twelve Gods. Awoo—!"

"Ah?" Before Miming could voice an objection, he heard a wolf howl. Anubis's body immediately transformed into a dark whirlwind that swept him up and hurled him straight at the wall.