The Rumble-Rumble Fruit

--Sea Circle Calendar, year 1510

As though it were an opening line etched into his DNA-time flowed like water, and the years flew by.

In the blink of an eye, another two years had passed since Sephiroth obtained the blueprints for the Ark Maxim. He was now about as tall as Captain Levi.

If this were on Blue Star, that growth rate would certainly have been encouraging, but in the world of One Piece, he clearly wasn't heading toward Admiral-level height.

Of course, he wanted nothing to do with those abnormal heights anyway. His ideal height was around six foot three. As for why-that was a secret he couldn't tell.

Over those two years, while studying the ark's blueprints, Sephiroth had also developed some interesting relationships.

First was Isabella, the Scroll Bishop's granddaughter. After another two years of training, she became a knight at fourteen, setting a new record. She currently served as the Holy Son's personal guard.

With her blond hair and blue eyes, she looked every inch the classic knight princess, but she had a decidedly guileless streak. Once an idea entered her head, for instance, she would charge straight at it.

Her original personality had been closer to that of a noble girl at a church school, but under Sephiroth's deliberate influence, she was becoming more and more like a certain "umu" creature.

"Your Highness-Your Highness-!"

Her voice arrived before she did. A white blur flashed past, making the knights in the corridor blink.

"Come with me-let us train for battle-!"

How should he put it? Her booming voice and headlong charge practically produced a Doppler effect.

The door promptly burst open with a bang, and Isabella barreled in like a cannonball, looking brimming with energy at Sephiroth, who was buried beneath a small mountain of blueprints and mechanical parts.

"Umu~ Your Highness, at this rate, you will not even pass the squire examination!"

She wore an outfit resembling the first ascension of Nero Bride in FGO-designed by Sephiroth, of course.

She came crashing toward him in full "your adorable darling has suddenly appeared" mode.

"..."

Sephiroth looked at the young knight leaning toward him, half a head taller than he was. He felt he did bear a tiny bit of responsibility for how she had turned out.

She sprawled across his workbench, leaning her upper body forward until her face was only about a forearm's length from Sephiroth's. When he looked up, the girl's face intruding from the lower right filled a third of his view.

-Screen-peeking.jpg

Caught by her surprise attack, Sephiroth widened his eyes slightly in surprise... then quickly recovered his usual smile. He simply looked at her and started a staring contest. She was cute, after all. He enjoyed looking.

"...Umu, umu, u... oh... so you would resort to this! You would actually do this!"

Embarrassed by his unwavering gaze, Isabella crouched on the workbench, clutching her head and curling into a ball, her wings wrapping forward into a protective shield-face-up defense position.jpg

"...I haven't even done anything."

-What are you planning to do if I actually try something?

Lately, this girl had increasingly turned herself into a walking reaction meme. So this was her personality once she completely set aside her duties as a holy maiden.

"I'll do my best with training. Right now, the Ark Maxim really is important."

If he built the Ark Maxim according to the original blueprints, it would be little better than junk. Most of its design required the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's powers to function-a brute-force solution that made bricks fly.

Sephiroth was currently trying to use his own knowledge to replace the parts he couldn't solve with Sky Island dials, producing a modified version that didn't require the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. His main goal was to use that achievement to gain real authority early and become a priest or a bishop candidate.

Yes, over the past two years, he had located his greatest threat: Enel. The man was actually inside the church, but as one of the Wingless, his circumstances were even worse than a Black Wing's.

To compare it to India's caste system, the upper clergy were Brahmins, the middle ranks were Kshatriyas, the lower ranks were Vaishyas, and the servants were Shudras.

Even with the discrimination against her, Lilith was merely considered "ill-omened"-she still counted as a person. The Wingless weren't even considered people in Birka. They were the equivalent of Dalits, ranked below servants and effectively treated as slaves.

Because they were so "lowly," the Wingless normally weren't allowed to appear before the middle or upper clergy. Only lower-ranking clergy ordered them around, assigning filthy, exhausting work and heavy manual labor. Under normal circumstances, Sephiroth, as the Holy Son, would never have met them.

After learning this, he couldn't help understanding why Enel destroyed Birka after obtaining the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

"Why are you so fixated on the scriptures?"

Hugging her knees and spreading her wings, Isabella asked quietly, looking somewhat bewildered.

He couldn't very well tell her it was so he could deal with Enel after gaining real authority. If Sephiroth insisted on executing a Wingless right now, he could absolutely do it, but it would look extremely abrupt. Besides, he might lose his chance to obtain the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

The ideal scenario was to gain real authority, then have his thoroughly indoctrinated personal knights watch Enel around the clock. The moment the Rumble-Rumble Fruit appeared, they would gun him down from a distance.

There were roughly four years left before Enel destroyed Birka in the original timeline. If Sephiroth still hadn't achieved his goal by the third year, he would execute him directly as a last resort.

"Consider it the bride price for your family."

Sephiroth blurted out a different answer.

Missing out on the Rumble-Rumble Fruit would be a shame, but it was nothing compared to the life he currently enjoyed.

"...Wh-what?... But I, uh... what exactly are you...?"

Steam instantly rose from Isabella's face. She scrambled off the workbench in a panic, then sprinted toward the door, calling back with something that sounded like a line from a children's show villain-

"Next-time-I will not lose-! I will not lose-! Just you wait-!"

As though seamlessly taking her place, Lilith appeared at the doorway Isabella had burst through, carrying a tray of black tea.

"Your Highness, you haven't been teasing Lady Bella again, have you?"

With silver-white hair and ruby-like eyes, she was a beautiful girl who looked just like a doll. Also reflecting Sephiroth's personal tastes, she wore a black Gothic outfit resembling Mercury Lamp's.

"She ran away with quite astonishing momentum."

She had never seen a heavy truck, a dump truck, or a locomotive. Otherwise, Lilith might have offered a more precise comparison.

The trembling, perpetually timid Lilith he had first met had completely transformed over those two years. Now fifteen, she was gradually shedding her childishness. The once innocent, adorable girl was beginning to develop the personality of a stylish, unflappable maid.

Of course, she was still a considerable "fingertip's distance" from that legendary "perfect and elegant head maid."

That was only natural. Under Sephiroth's care, she could hardly develop Mercury Lamp's twisted personality. If she really turned out that way, it would be quite a headache...

"Yes, well, all I can say is..." Sephiroth spread his hands like a shrugging bear. "That's Isabella. She's adorable."

Lilith set down the tray and smiled faintly as she brewed tea for her master with crisp, efficient movements.

"You should still be careful, Your Highness. You can't beat her."

When she first met Sephiroth, the Holy Son's help hadn't improved the discrimination she faced. Instead, it had made things worse. In other people's eyes, a Black Wing receiving special treatment from the Holy Son was tantamount to arrogant presumption, which only invited more bullying.

As she grew older and her figure developed, male servants and even some lower-ranking clergy often directed sticky, lingering stares at her. That made the middle-aged matrons dislike her even more.

However, shortly after meeting Sephiroth, she had been specifically named as his attendant. Faced with the request of the so-called "Holy Son of the millennium," the pontiff could only scratch his head; he had no other objections. The other clergy were sane, neither mad nor stupid. Nobody was going to make trouble for themselves over this.

Two years ago, she had thought that miserable life would continue forever. Instead, in a remarkably short time, the Holy Son ignored criticism from every direction and used his privileges to make her his personal attendant.

"Oh, no, that's not a problem..." Sephiroth took a sip of tea and looked rather pleased with himself as he told the puzzled Lilith, "Honestly, a 'beating' at her level is practically a reward."

Hearing him so casually utter words that would shake the congregation's faith if made public, Lilith had no idea how to answer. She responded with a slightly troubled smile.

"...I-is that so?"

-His Highness really is full of surprises. He grew up in a religious country like Birka, yet he keeps saying such astonishingly heretical things.

Becoming the Holy Son's attendant merely stopped people from openly mistreating Lilith. In private, the rumors about her were vicious.

After all, an "attendant of the opposite sex" was jokingly called an "acolyte-in-waiting" behind closed doors.

And whenever the Holy Son discovered it, he never chose to smooth things over. Instead, he unequivocally took her side.

Once, he even clashed with a priest, using the Holy Son's seal as a weapon to stamp the man's face hard. He then reprimanded him and ordered him to stand for an hour-a punishment that was more humiliating than anything else.

That series of incidents convinced outsiders that she and the Holy Son shared an unspeakable relationship. As for those claims, Lilith now wished every word were true.

In reality, becoming a cleric's attendant didn't give the cleric unilateral permission to do things that couldn't be explicitly described for policy reasons. In principle, that was voluntary. Masters and attendants of opposite sexes without a special relationship therefore did exist.

However, if a beautiful maid or a nun without connections caught a senior member's eye, she could also be made to "volunteer," usually through threats and inducements. The rare few who refused might well be sent away to do menial work.

Force was relatively uncommon in most cases. Doing it openly carried too much risk to be worthwhile.

But...

Watching Sephiroth lavish praise on the refreshments she had made, Lilith occasionally imagined what it would be like if His Highness really did "force" her-both delighted and embarrassed, her cheeks warming.

"Hellooo~ Come back to us, Mercury Lamp."

Looking at the little maid standing motionless with a flushed face, Sephiroth waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Your Highness, please don't..."

With an undisguised, deeply meaningful smile, Lilith said something that couldn't be expressed in plain text.

"-What exactly are you imagining?!"

Unlike Isabella, who had high attack and low defense, Lilith had low attack and high defense. She rarely initiated anything, but Sephiroth didn't dare tease her too much. If things got serious, Isabella would run away, but Lilith really would lie down right there.

"Sorry, Your Highness. What I meant was, is there anything I should improve about today's refreshments?"

"Ahem, I beg to differ."

"...Huh?"

Your Highness, what are you talking about? Lilith's expression said.

"Because this black tea should be mixed with No. 42 concrete. The length of this screw can easily affect an excavator's torque. When you hammer it in, it instantly produces large amounts of high-energy protein, commonly known as a UFO..."

A long stream of inexplicable, incomprehensible language poured over Lilith like a waterfall... Yes. Our Holy Son is losing his mind again.

The church was so tolerant of the Holy Son mainly because his proven accomplishments as "the Holy Son closest to divinity in a thousand years" had set Sky Island's technology moving forward again after a millennium of stagnation.

Never mind the occasional heretical or baffling words and actions-even after he beat a priest with the Holy Son's seal, the priest could only obediently stand through his punishment.

After lightly counterattacking Lilith's romantic fantasies with some high-class nonsense in a blue-blooded London accent, Sephiroth watched her bow and leave, then secretly vowed, Tch. Give it a few years until it's legal, and I'll make sure you can't get away.

He returned his attention to the blueprints and reference materials. Over the nine years since regaining his memories, he had put in all sorts of work to prevent Birka's destruction.

Perhaps he simply lacked talent when it came to personal combat prowess. Of course, he might also lack the right mentality. Even though he diligently improved his swordsmanship and exercised repeatedly, no amount of subsequent training produced the results he wanted.

He had also tried learning Mantra from the Holy Knights, without success.

At first, he had really refused to accept that fact... but eventually, he could only admit defeat. The result was an assessment that he should be able to pass the squire examination at around fifteen.

In contrast to his martial abilities, his work on the scriptures had yielded some results thanks to his previous life's knowledge, though his progress was rather depressing.

Even though he had studied electrical and electromechanical subjects in his previous life, he had only been an ordinary undergraduate. Birka's technical materials were truly difficult to handle.

Knowledge had been preserved in the form of religious scripture, with much of the content interspersed with praises and adjectives. The technical documents actually used goddamn adjectives to describe certain quantities.

The other Tech-Priests, who knew how things worked but not why, could support conventional research, but their assistance with "innovatively redesigning blueprints" was extremely limited.

Worse still, his "archaeology" frequently uncovered contradictions, missing information, and crucial technologies skipped by cheating with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit-problems that sent his blood pressure soaring. He could only say it was marginally better than an uncommented mountain of shit code.

-The years vanished among the books.

Another three years slipped away amid his excavation of mountains of books and oceans of scripture. Only one year remained before the final Rumble-Rumble Fruit deadline.

One morning in Sea Circle Calendar year 1513.

On a plantation within the sanctuary, several seemingly leaden bodies swayed from side to side as they trudged listlessly through the fields. They were Wingless. Some were locals born on Sky Island; others were Blue Sea People who had violated Sky Island's laws.

...It was the same scene as every morning. Under the supervision of priests' whips, they performed work dirtier and more exhausting than that assigned to ordinary servants.

In fact, most Blue Sea People who reached Sky Island were either reckless or unlucky pirates. This left Sky Island with deep prejudices against them. Although they weren't automatically treated as criminals, their situation was roughly comparable to that of Black people in America.

Locally born Wingless were regarded as bastard children with Blue Sea blood. If a Sky Island family produced such a child, depending on the circumstances, the family would either fall apart or the parents would secretly abandon the baby.

"-What are you staring at?! Get back to work!"

In an elevated corridor diagonally above the fields, His Highness the Holy Son passed by with his Black Wing maid. They were so conspicuous that even the Wingless at the very bottom had heard the rumors about them.

And the consequence of glancing up was a merciless whipping.

The priests "exiled" to manage the serfs were themselves low-status members of the lower clergy. Although regulations forbade deliberate abuse of serfs, they found every excuse to amuse themselves by tormenting them.

"His Highness the Holy Son is far too exalted for the likes of you to look at!"

Though they spoke words of respect for the Holy Son, they also quietly traded unfounded little stories about the Holy Son of the millennium and the Black Wing witch, snickering crudely.

"Work hard and finish early. I still have to preach to you. Don't be ungrateful, you lazy wretches!"

Among those people was a young man with exceptionally long earlobes. Even beneath the whip, he showed no reaction. As he looked up, the Holy Son's broad, pure-white wings were reflected in his hollow eyes.

His name was Enel. He lowered his head under the blows of the whip, his previously expressionless face gradually twisting with venomous resentment. Through clenched teeth came a quiet voice filled with longing.

"-Endless Vearth-"

Birka's religion required that even serfs receive sermons. Although the low-ranking priests went through the motions in practice, they still conveyed the most basic information.

Thus, the serfs also knew about concepts such as Endless Vearth and God.

In fact, Enel didn't know that the Holy Son he occasionally saw passing by was, in a sense, coming specifically to see him.

He was thirty-two that year. He had been left outside the church orphanage as an infant, and the only reason he survived was a doctrinal prohibition against killing babies.

Nominally a servant but effectively a serf, he performed all sorts of filthy, exhausting tasks besides farmwork, including heavy labor, cleaning toilets, and disposing of garbage.

Even in farming, serfs were only allowed to tend ordinary crops.

Serfs weren't permitted in places like orchards. Only matrons and the maids they led tended those. Apples, as Holy Fruit, could only be picked by nuns. Most serfs had never even seen what a ripe red apple looked like.

Enel had once been fortunate enough to see some when nuns hurried past after picking them. Merely looking a moment longer and smelling the apples' fragrance earned him thirty lashes.

For twenty-five years, he had lived that same life over and over.

Endless Vearth, a god who commanded lightning-the stories those priests occasionally mentioned filled him with an intense yearning.

Those hypocritical clerics had never made the effort they should have to reach Endless Vearth. They were nothing but insects, fallen and rotten, delighting in cruelty.

-If one day I could become God...

In a dark corner, he imagined it with fierce intensity.

After the summer of Sea Circle Calendar year 1513 began, Sephiroth's enormous undertaking finally approached completion. He then drew up plans for the situations that might follow.

If the senior clergy allowed him to step down early as the Holy Son and become a bishop, he would carry out the plan to watch Enel around the clock and swiftly shoot him dead when the moment arrived.

If he failed to secure the position...

His conventional approach involved the loyal followers he had cultivated among low-ranking priests, squires, and even servants. Depending on the circumstances, he would set Enel up to cause trouble serious enough to warrant prolonged imprisonment or even execution.

If all else failed, he could only approach Enel himself, invent an excuse that the man had disrespected the Holy Son, and dispose of him directly.

Things were rather complicated, and not only because he wanted the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He was also somewhat uneasy about whether important characters from the original One Piece story possessed some sort of "destiny" in this world. So he had privately prepared an escape plan to take the others with him.

"...Your Highness, is something troubling you?"

In the training grounds, Grand Knight Ohm adjusted his sunglasses. A little white dog sprawled across his shoulder and barked twice as well.

"No, nothing. It's just that the new ship blueprints based on the Ark Maxim are nearly finished. My feelings are a little complicated."

Training with a wooden sword, Sephiroth gathered himself and stretched deeply. He had finally passed the squire examination at the beginning of the year. Although that wasn't disgraceful even compared with past Holy Sons, his level was truly very ordinary.

"I see... I understand completely."

Ohm showed no contempt for the Holy Son's mediocre fighting skills. Over the past twelve years, Birka's technology had advanced by leaps and bounds because of him, with applications in every aspect of life.

"Speaking of which, Ohm, I hear you're applying for the Holy Knight examination?"

Although Holy Knights and bishops held the same rank, bishops were the fixed twelve leaders of different departments. Anyone who met the standards for strength, character, and achievements could become a Holy Knight, with no limit on their numbers.

"Yes, Your Highness. That is correct."

"Taking the Holy Knight examination at twenty... you're not competing with Shura, are you...?"

Shura had passed the Holy Knight examination at the beginning of that year and succeeded as commander of the Sky Knight Order. That had caused quite a stir within the church.

"...Yes."

Ohm had meant to stay silent, but it occurred to him that leaving the Holy Son unanswered would be improper, so he muttered that reply. His background was actually a little complicated... which was why he hoped to prove himself better in every way than Shura, the other boy hailed as a genius.

His father had once served in the Divine Soldier Knights, the Imperial Guard, and had attained the rank of Grand Knight. Later, however, he had yearned for the outside world and ventured down to the Blue Sea. He had only returned to Birka in middle age, having picked up tattooing and heavy drinking along the way, which had put an end to any chance of returning to the order.

The one thing Ohm could thank his father for was the knightly training he had received since childhood, which included combat techniques from the Blue Sea.

"Shura is four years older than you. Challenging him three years from now wouldn't mean you'd lost to him."

Their chat during a break in training came to an end when Isabella, who had just failed her Grand Knight assessment, hurtled into Sephiroth's arms like a cannonball.

Ohm tactfully withdrew without a word, with absolutely no intention of being a third wheel.

"Your Highness! Your Highness! I was supposed to fight magnificently... I am terribly sad. But the past is the past. One day, I shall become a Holy Knight! Leaving that aside for now, I need your comfort! Not enough! My Holy Son levels are critically low! Come, praise me-!"

"Yes, yes, yes, Bella worked very hard! Yes, yes, yes, you're adorable. Very adorable."

Praise mode + head-pat mode, set the Pendulum Scales, Synchro(?) Summon-the Ultimate Umu Cutie.

Isabella was already a fully grown young woman of seventeen, and that solid embrace really did hit Sephiroth hard.

Another day of "magnificent swells" went by...

After having dinner with Isabella, Sephiroth returned to his sitting room. A sitting room in name, anyway. In reality, the room was spacious enough, and he had also knocked through the wall to his private workshop next door. Over the past few years, his private quarters had come to resemble a small research institute.

"Your Highness... your coffee and apple."

Another three years had passed, and Lilith had grown into a beautiful young woman with a dreamlike loveliness. Saying she looked like Mercury Lamp might no longer have been quite appropriate. Strictly speaking, she was a puffed-up version.

"Lily, thanks."

Lilith sat obediently to one side, quietly watching the Holy Son's profile as he worked intently. The scene had something of the charm of a lovely companion keeping a scholar company.

"...Hmm? It's getting late. Aren't you going back to rest?"

Even a personal maid had free time after eight in the evening when her master had assigned her no specific tasks. Lilith usually read in the study, and sometimes she got together with Isabella to read books whose titles they wouldn't let Sephiroth know...

"Indeed. If Your Highness has no further instructions, Lily will take her leave."

After answering, Lilith lowered her head and added in a voice so faint it was barely audible.

"I turned eighteen this year..."

With that, she bowed deeply and left with light steps.

"..."

All right, all right, all right, so that's how you want to play! Watch out, or I'll-natural weapon warning.jpg

Not long afterward, Sephiroth settled his emotions and prepared to pull an all-nighter, hoping to finish the last bit of work on his new blueprints that very day.

The clock ticked away... and the work drew ever closer to its end. At last, the design heavily modified from the Ark Maxim was complete.

Its shape was closer to a science-fiction spaceship. Indulging his personal interests, he had used the Pseudo-Nahel Argama-class assault landing ship from Gundam UC as a reference. It looked much more futuristic than the original Ark Maxim.

It had two propulsion systems. One was the original system based on the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, while the second, a backup, was a propulsion array built around Sky Island specialties such as Flame Dials and Wind Dials.

With only the second system running, it could barely move.

Sephiroth put the complete set of blueprints in order and bound them together.

With hopes of reaching the sea of stars, and the lingering ties of his past life, he wrote "her" name on the cover-naming her the "Wide-Area Silent Ship."

The moment he wrote those words and completed the blueprints, the apple on the desk transformed into the Rumble-Rumble Fruit before Sephiroth's disbelieving eyes.

(Regarding the protagonist's strength)

Initially, "Enel's stats + applications of modern electromagnetism." His physique and Haki issues would be addressed gradually later, in a plausible manner.

There were originally some explanations here, but they were moved to "Chapter 000."