Chapter 12: Transformation
Time passed, and minutes felt like hours; just when Mark was starting to think Saturn knew he was secretly using life return, Saturn abruptly stopped.
He casually took his hand back and turned towards Charles.
This made all the stress inside Mark's heart go away, letting him breathe a sigh of relief.
Saturn didn't look at Mark after that, and simply spoke to Charles.
"I don't know what is happening, but Mark Rose isn't sick."
"For some reason his body is changing; he needs a lot of food to let this transformation happen."
"This kind of thing happens once in a while; it's a rare phenomenon, but it's something natural."
Looking towards Luna, he sharpened his eyes and spoke further.
"The latest occurrence of such a phenomenon was with one of the pirate emperors, Charlotte Linlin, also called Big Mom."
"She was born normal but changed after turning a few years old."
"Although Mark's change isn't at the level of Charlotte Linlin, his body is also changing."
Pausing for a second to think of someone he could compare Mark to, someone that Luna might know, Saturn said.
"After his transformation is over, Mark's body will be comparable to the Marine Hero Garp's well-trained body."
"While Garp gained his strength bit by bit throughout the years, Mark, on the other hand, will reach his maximum potential naturally."
The Elder saw that both Luna and Charles understood what he was talking about, so he stopped explaining.
He then looked towards Mark with a smile.
"You are in no danger as long as you keep up your food intake."
"The constant hunger will go away when your transformation is over."
Tapping his cane on the floor, Saturn said gently but firmly.
"Visit me when you feel better; you are reaching your maximum potential without any time to adjust to your growing power."
"You won't be familiar with your strength, nor will you know how to use it efficiently."
"This can cause a lot of problems; we need to get this under control as soon as possible."
"I will help you with that."
Looking towards Mark's parents, Saturn said one last thing.
"It is the eternal pride of celestial dragons that Mark can undergo this transformation."
"You can come to Castle Pangaea and claim the symbol of glory for the Rose family."
Luna and Charles Rose puffed their chests with pride. Now that they knew Mark was going to be fine, they were happy that their Rose family would have one more honor added to them.
"That is all."
"Be sure to tell me when you're better."
"And remember, the process of controlling your strength might be painful."
A magic circle opened beneath him once more, and Saint Saturn vanished soon after; only his last words were still echoing in the room.
"But you must already know that; your drive for strength is clearly there."
As soon as Saturn left Mark's room and reappeared in his own room, his eyes sharpened.
'Mark's body transformation is pushing him to the peak of his potential.'
'He has a strong observation haki; and he was able to stay calm in my presence.'
'There is a high chance that Mark Rose is conqueror like us; he either has king's haki or he will gain it later.'
Saint Saturn had come to the Rose estate in hopes of visiting Mark; multiple doctors had visited the Rose family since Luna's scream this morning.
He had questioned those doctors and found out that Mark was feeling abnormally hungry.
The Elders had unanimously decided this was worth looking into; Mark was a God's Knight after all.
But Saturn didn't think he would find something so amazing after his visit.
'Just in case, we should tell Im sama about this.'
Saint Saturn thought while walking towards the rest of the Elders; they will hold a discussion, and if they feel the need to, they will let Im know about this.
A mutated body with possible King's Haki isn't something to take lightly, especially when Mark isn't as stupid as the rest of their descendants.
They needed to put Mark on the right path; he was a celestial dragon, and strong men like him were rare amongst his group.
_Step_
Walking through brilliantly lit hallways, Saturn made his way towards the Elder's room.
He had a slow and steady pace; only the tapping of his cane was sounding in the empty hallways.
It took him a minute to reach the room his fellow elders were sitting in.
_Knock_
_Knock_
"It's me."
Saint Saturn knocked on the door and opened it right after.
Closing the door behind him, Saturn made his way to his exclusive seat; his fellow Elders were already in their given positions.
"What happened?"
Saint Mars asked after Saturn took his seat.
"Mark Rose is undergoing a transformation; there is a possibility that he has King's Haki."
Because this was a talk between Elders, Saturn didn't have to explain what he meant by transformation or why he knew Mark had King's Haki.
The Elders were mentally connected and had worked with each other for such a long time, that they didn't need any explanations to understand each other.
"A transformation? How strong is he?"
Saint Peter questioned from the side; Saturn thought about it for a while before saying.
"Physical fitness is around Garp's level; if he learns Haki, he should be able to match him in his prime."
The Elders became silent and thought about this for a few minutes.
"A strong body, will of the king, and a desire for strength."
"He might be hard to control."
Said Saint Ethan while holding his sword tighter, but Saint Topman Valcurie had a different opinion.
"He is born and raised here; he will understand his position."
Ethan thought about this a while before nodding in agreement with Valcurie.
"Indeed, he has a positive attitude towards us and his status as a God's Knight."
"He should understand his position."
The Elders become silent once more; they mostly agreed with Valcurie and wanted to keep Mark on their side.
But Mark's situation was special, they couldn't make a direct decision without consulting their one and only overlord.
"Before we decide his position, we should tell the great Im about his situation."
Saint Mars said the thing that was on everyone's mind.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
Every Elder agreed to this opinion one by one; they had unanimously decided to ask Im's opinion on the matter before making their decision.
After all, Im's decision was their command; it was up to Im to decide Mark's fate.
Chapter 13: Im
In a gorgeous great hall, a hooded figure could be seen walking gracefully.
The figure's body was fully covered; even the patent celestial dragon hair was covered by a thin, long throne.
The only thing that was visible about the figure were two ring-like red eyes, staring at a piece of paper held by its gloved hand.
This paper had a bunch of key information written on it and one large photo attached at the top.
This photo was of a celestial dragon named Mark.
Mark Rose.
"A naturally mutated king...?"
The figure muttered softly, sadly; no one was there to hear it; the voice aimlessly echoed in the endless hallways.
_Step_
_Step_
_Step_
The hooded figure calmly watched the data about Mark while walking; before long, the figure had reached a throne room.
This throne room contained a grand throne, a throne that was also known as the empty throne to the rest of the world.
"I'm sama."
Saint Saturn bowed faithfully to the figure.
This figure was also known as Im.
Im didn't pay attention to the Elder and gracefully sat on the supposed empty throne.
Im's actions felt completely natural, but this showed something important: the so-called empty throne was never really empty; it was always Im's.
After taking a seat atop the throne, those red eyes kept staring at the only Elder who was called here.
"Begin…"
Getting the signal that Saint Saturn started talking, he knew his lord didn't like to speak much.
Long life does that to a person; things get very boring, and Lord Im has been alive before he was even born.
"I'm sama, Mark Rose is undergoing a transformation; his body is naturally reaching its maximum potential without any training on his part."
"We have checked everything about him; he is the biological son of Luna and Charles Rose."
"He is a purebred celestial dragon; there is no doubt about it."
Taking out a paper from his suit, the Elder referenced some information from it.
"He hasn't contacted any suspicious people recently; this is most likely a natural change."
"Which means his loyalty still lies with the celestial dragon's."
Flipping the pages, Saturn found the part that described what was happening to Mark, or what they thought was happening to Mark.
Saturn and the rest of the Elders didn't know that Mark was not undergoing any natural change, but he was purposely using life return to make himself change.
This made them think in an entirely wrong direction; they were thinking that he was undergoing the type of change someone like Big Mom had experienced.
The world government had some research about Big Mom's transformation; her data was sent to them by Mother Caramel all those years ago.
So they were comparing Mark's change to her, in hopes of understanding what was happening to him.
"Mark is changing right now, but his strength isn't on the level of Charlotte Linlin."
"Everyone's potential is different so this isn't a surprise. But one thing is same for both Mark and Charlotte Linlin."
"Both have the potential to awaken every brand of Haki, including Conqueror's."
"And Mark should have already awakened both Observation and Conqueror's Haki."
Saturn paused and stopped talking; he was waiting for a gesture to continue.
"Go on…"
After Im gave him the nod of approval, the Elder then said the most important point.
"Unless we make sure he has correct views on us, whatever determination Mark has in his mind..."
Looking straight at Im, he spoke seriously.
"That determination will become his dream, as you know, Im sama; this might not be good for us."
"If not guided correctly, Mark Rose will have a dream of his own and start working towards it."
"There is a chance that his dream could be against our cause."
Situations like these were why the world government allowed Mother Caramel to adopt Big Mom all those years ago and why they wanted to get young Kaido in the Marines.
Unless guided from the beginning, people with king's haki and great potential develop a dream of their own; it is impossible to make them loyal to the world government after that.
"Although I personally believe Mark is not a threat."
"We have checked his daily life; his nature is that of a noble celestial dragon."
"He has a stable mind and hasn't degenerated like the others either."
Im softly picked up another sheet; this page contained the thoughts of servants who worked in Rose Manor.
"...?"
From the narrowed red eyes, one could see that Im's interest was piqued after reading this.
The Elder understood this, so he elaborated.
"As you can see, Im sama; al his servants respect and fear him."
Clearing his throat, Saint Saturn concluded Mark's analysis report.
"He is neither a degenerate like his friend Charlos nor a fool like Homing."
"He maintains noble grace while understanding his position in the grand scheme of things."
Saturn believed that if you were a noble, you should act like a noble; getting power in your head is a critical mistake.
Every elder knows how to avoid such a mistake; that was one of the reasons why Mark was thought to be important, even before his transformation.
This kind of attitude was something they needed to maintain the long rule of celestial dragons.
"I see."
But Im didn't reply beyond a general acknowledgment.
Im simply kept reading through the details on Mark, what he did, how he acted, how he lived, everything.
After a long life, quick decisions weren't a thing Im was interested in.
"What is this…?"
But when the page containing what Mark did twelve years ago came into view, Im stopped and looked at it closely.
"Did he let them go during the fisher tiger incident…?"
"Amazon Lily…"
Im muttered while narrowing those ring-like red eyes.
Saturn curiously saw which part of the information Im was reading, and found that it was about the incident twelve years ago, when fisher tiger had invaded their holy land.
"Im sama, what Mark did that day was found to be a mistake—"
Saint Saturn abruptly stopped speaking when Im raised a hand.
He was just warned not to speak by his lord! Saturn shivered and bowed lower.
But that page seems to have been the key that let Im reach a decision.
_Tap_
Keeping the page down, Im let it rest upon the empty throne; picking up a stamp of approval, Im pasted it on Mark's photo.
Im allowed Mark to continue serving as a God's Knight.
This made Saturn wonder what Im saw in Mark's actions that day that they didn't see.
'Did Mark purposely let the Boa sisters go that day, it wasn't a mistake?'
'Or is there something in his actions that we cannot see?'
'Is it his connection to Boa Hancock, or is it because of Amazon Lily in particular...?'
Saturn wondered, but Im didn't bother to explain what everyone missed in that incident, so he didn't ask.
He will only do what he was told to do.
After Im gave Mark the stamp of approval, Saint Saturn ignored all the doubts in his mind, bowed, and left the castle.
This castle was something he both longed to come to and was afraid of at the same time.
It was the castle in the middle of the whole world.
Castle Pangaea.
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