章 197: The Fight for the Treasure 1

Jayr POV - Blue Star, Grand Line, Nanatsu Islands(Itsu) - 20 GAP

Everyone is stunned by Ko's sudden confession, so much so that an agitated Hei grabs Ko from the cuff of his clothes and yells, "What do you mean with that, Ko!? Explain!!"

Ko once again sighs loudly then he says, "It started all many years ago, I was a young rookie bandit that just started to learn the ropes, but during one of our operations, as my group was escaping after a successful heist, when we separated to make it more difficult for them to chase after us... I caused a very big accident that seriously injured a very young boy, which instantly caused me to panic..."

At this point of the story, Ko stops for a moment to look his fellow bandits in the eyes and sternly says, "You all know what is our code, the one that is taught to everyone who joins the Laotour Bandits and that will be enforced by every single member, we will rob all the merchants, pirates and even marines that pass by these islands without any hesitation stopping at nothing, we will even kill those that stand in our way, but we will never harm those innocent or incapable of defending themselves like defenseless women or children. Those who will break this simple rule will simply be hunted down and killed by all the other members of this group."

Hearing that, all the bandits surrounding us nod with grave expressions on their faces, seeing that, Ko nods and continues his story, "That kid's situation was very, very bad, to the point that he could have died at any given moment... In total panic, in order to save that young kid's life, I impulsively decided to feed him the treasure I just gained from that heist, something I knew had very special powers and that hopefully, could save his life, I fed him one of those legendary Devil Fruits."

At this point, a wry smile forms on Ko's face as he says, "Well, luckily, the Devil Fruit worked like a charm, as soon as I fed it to the boy his body suddenly transformed into multiple sheets of paper, and when he reassembled, all his injuries were cured like they never happened before. Seeing that the unconscious boy was now fine, I quickly left him there and continued to escape never turning my back..."

Then he moves his gaze toward the various islands that make up the Nanatsu Islands and says, "But I never expected that I would see him again many years later right on this island as he razed the Gozan Ruins to the ground to grab the Eye of Quicxic with his pirate crew... He rambled something about a great treasure hidden on the Nanatsu Islands, one which could grant him immense power, so much power that he could finally fulfill his ambition to become the King of the World and bring an era where everyone could live in peace no matter if they are strong or weak, Human or Fish-men..."

As Ko says that, I hear Koby beside me muttering in a low tone, "He doesn't seem to have a bad goal... but something feels wrong about the way he does his things..." while I think, 'Great power and ambition... check... Possible Logia Devil Fruit... check... His Devil Fruit power is very likely something about becoming, manipulating, and generating paper, which can also be connected to the Wood Concept... check... The more I hear about this guy named Simon "The Divine" the more likely it seems that he truly is the Champion of Wood who reincarnated in this universe... And from his current actions, he seems more like a selfish piece of shit than a good guy, probably Nami's situation is more some kind of absurd, lucky butterfly effect than a conscious action of the Champion to make the world better.'

Meanwhile, Ko looks at Koby and says, "Indeed, it is a fine ambition in itself, but unfortunately it is clear that he doesn't care one bit about other people. He claimed that he would make everyone happy if he ruled the world, but he doesn't care about the people struggling and dying due to his crew's actions."

Ko then declares, "And now, all 5 islands are under the assault of the pirates that Simon lured here. I have to do something about this! I have to stop them before they cause any more damage!!"

At this point, I step forward and honestly say, "You won't be able to stop him. You are way too weak to be able to even delay him a little."

Hearing that, Ko yells enraged, "What did you say!?" but I calmly continue to explain, "The Logia Devil Fruit that he ate gives him way too much advantage over normal people. From what you told us he can likely create, control, and transform into pieces of paper at will, and since the paper as material by itself is very light it is also likely that he can even fly. Against such an enemy, you have very little chance to do anything. Sure if you are smart you may still be able to harm him in some way if you use some kind of fire to attack him as paper is naturally weak to fire, but the chances that you are able to do so are very slim, after all, he isn't alone."

Listening to my analysis, Ko and the others fall into silence unable to come up with any counter-argument, then I smile and say, "Lucky for you all, we are willing to help you guys deal with this difficult situation... Only we need more information about the Nanatsu Islands in general and the location of the ruins..."

Hearing that, Ko doesn't hesitate and quickly tells me everything he knows about the situation on the remaining 5 islands and the locations of those ruins.

After that, I quickly head back to the Athena's God Bidoof's bridge to tell everyone what is going on here, then I tell them that I'm going out to quickly fix this mess.

But just as I'm about to step out and let go of some of my restraints to quickly deal with the current situation using my powers, Saori stops me and says, "Wait a moment, Jayr. I think this is a good occasion to let Koby experience this kind of situation in a more controlled way, after all, once he fully becomes a marine, he will encounter many situations like this."

At the same time, she uses her Spiral Cosmo to tell me through telepathy, [It is better that you don't expose too much of your true powers so recklessly at this moment. I think it is better to give as little information as possible, especially if this guy named Simon is truly a Champion like you, and don't forget that there is also that unknown variable that is Nikita's friend, even if I trust her judgment, we still know next to nothing about him. So for now keep your abilities and powers at a reasonable level for this world. We can still help these people even if you don't go all out, after all, you aren't alone.]

Quickly after that, I noticed Eri, Tio, and Seika also look at me with a smile on their faces and slightly nod, showing their support and understanding.

Seeing that, I stop and think about what she just said, then I nod and say, "Okay, but Koby can't yet deal with this kind of situation alone, and usually the Marines never fight on their own. So I think that the best solution is that we divide our forces to take care of the situations on all the remaining 5 islands at the same time..."

Then I look at everyone here on the bridge and say, "Only I don't know who among us wants to go besides me and Koby..." but quickly, Nikita steps forward and says, "I'll go... and to be more precise I'll take care of the situation on the small south-west island. It is where the reaction of the Compass of the Eternal Paths is the strongest."

Hearing that, I started to think, 'Well, I can't say anything against that... Nikita isn't as defenseless as she looks, her Tribird physique gives her a very strong body, with good speed, endurance, and power, and let's not talk about the fact that she is virtually immortal to anything but the red oak tree that is only available in her universe. Moreover, she is at her full power as she can also use her abilities as a Witch because magic isn't restricted in the One Piece Universe, something that I still can't get used to... The most I can do for her is just let her go and quietly follow her a little until she meets Zandeer and just confirm if he is a good person by looking at his soul before rushing to help the people on my assigned island.'

Reaching that conclusion, I simply nod at Nikita, who then smiles widely, quickly after that, Eri steps forward and with a bright smile she says, "I also want to help. It has been quite some time since I last had some action and the cuties in my realm are thirsty for some action. Moreover, this is a good opportunity to increase my collection of puppets and test how the improved Undead fare against the people of this world."

I simply smile back at Eri and nod, but Koby quickly asks with clear concern in his tone, "Uhm, Jayr-san, is it fine for Eri-san to do something like this?"

I pat Koby on his shoulder and reply, "Koby, I already told you that no one in my family is as weak as you think, Kharna already showed you that before. You just have to know that Eri can easily bring a kingdom to its knees alone, she is the very definition of one-woman-army, and what is worse for her opponent is that the more numerous her enemies are, the more powerful she will eventually become."

Hearing my answer, Koby gulps loudly as he looks at Eri who is smiling lightly at him, then I look around and mutter, "Only one left..."

But right at this moment, Seika surprises everyone by stepping forward and says, "I'll help out too." then she adds, "I think Saori and Tio should remain on the Athena's God Bidoof to take care of the kids, while we can't ask Igaram-san and Vivi-san to risk their lives when they are our guests."

I look at Seika with clear concern in my tone as I ask, "Are you sure? What you will see out there won't be nice..." but Seika kindly smiles and says, "Don't underestimate me, Jayr. I learned how to be a doctor from you and even if I wasn't on the first line I still was with you guys during all your battles and those after that. Moreover, I was also trained by your sister and my little brother until... I, too, became a Saint!"

At this point, Seika's Spiral Cosmo surges and a metal Pandora Box with the head of a horse engraved on it appears beside her.

It looks very similar to the Pegasus Pandora Box only on this one there isn't the engraving of the wings behind the horse head, this is the Equuleus Pandora Box.

Soon after it makes its appearance, the Equuleus Pandora Box opens by itself, and shows the Equuleus Cloth in its Constellation Form which once again looks very similar to the Pegasus Cloth, the only differences are the silvery white color and the absence of the wings.

Then the Cloth disassembles and starts to equip itself on Seika's body with the usual sequence of starting from the legs, followed by the waist, the arms, the chest, the shoulders, and finally the head.

At the same time, Koby who is looking at this scene beside me, can't help but exclaim, "How cool..." followed by an impressed Vivi who comments in wonder, "Amazing..."

The Cloth is visually based on the Pegasus Cloth something quite normal as they are ironically considered a sister constellation.

The chest protector and in the tiara are more highlighted, the shoulder pads and apparently the chest that is attached to the neck protector which in turn is "connected" to the shoulder pads.

On the back of the breastplate is a kind of protection that can not be visualized very well, below the neck protection is two designs identical to each other, the arms seem to have a simple design protecting the upper arm and provide protection that slightly exceeds the elbows of the Seika.

Its waist is similar to that of the Pegasus Cloth with four protectors protruding two of them located on the sides and in the center is located the third protection which has four details separated by a gem located at the bottom of the protection the fourth protection is located in the back of the Santa has two designs at the bottom of the same similar to those found in the protection located in the front.

Visually the feet can also be considered simple, they are located at the bottom of the knee pads but are attached to them, while on the ankles presents a separation where a kind of fin similar to those of the Pegasus Cloth is located in the back of the same, after this division, the armor continue protecting completely the rest of the feet.

(Image Here - Equuleus Seika)

Now that she finally donned her Cloth, Seika's Spiral Cosmo surges even more making the wind inside the bridge blow with such forces that Python is momentarily blown away, but Seika quickly notices the commotion she is causing and quickly reins in her Spiral Cosmo.

At the same time, both Kharna and Galen are happily clapping their hand yelling, "Mama Saika ish sho cool!", "Go and get them, Mama!"

After deciding the 5 who would move to the rescue of the Nanatsu Islands, we quickly started to assign each one of us to an island of this archipelago, assigning the nearest Yo Island to Koby, Mi Island to Eri, Fu Island to Seika, Hi Island to Nikita, and I'll take care of Mu Island which is also where the main base of the Simon Pirates is located.

After that, we don't waste any more time, and quickly head toward the deck of the Athena's God Bidoof as our ship, under Bidi's flawless control, starts moving toward the nearest island in counterclockwise order, the island assigned to Koby, Yo Island.

After a couple of minutes, Yo Island is already in sight, that is because, one, it is very close to Itsu Island our previous location, and two, Athena's God Bidoof's speed allows us to complete this 30-minute long journey in just a couple of minutes.

Seeing that we are close enough, I look at Koby, pat him on the shoulder while at the same time turning his weighted clothes into normal ones, and say, "Go! And don't hold back! This time there are lives on the line."

In response, Koby, who instantly notices the change, looks back at me with a serious expression on his face and nods while saying, "Yes, sir!" then he doesn't hesitate anymore and jumps overboard into the waters and swims toward the shores of the nearby Yo Island while the Athena's God Bidoof heads toward the next island, Hi Island, the one assigned to Nikita, and more importantly, the location of the other Champion Zandeer.

Suddenly, Eri steps forward, kisses me on the cheek, and says, "This will take too long for my liking, my puppies are too eager for some good old carnage after such a long time... So I will head ahead... Love you."

Then without wasting any time, Eri summons a Skeletal Wyvern from her shadow which is connected to her Undead Realm, and jumping on top of it, she flies away while saying, "It's time to finally test my dears after the last round of upgrades I gave them."

Looking at her flying away, I can't help but mutter, "I kinda understand her impatience, after all, her island is the furthest away from our current location... but should I be worried that she is more eager to ravage her enemies with her countless undead than save the people suffering on that island?"

But then I shrug my shoulders and comment, "Oh, well. The end result will be the same, in the end, those poor good people will be saved and the evil ones will be dealt with... At most they will need a memory wipe afterward, after all, Eri's Undeads are exactly easy on the eyes and are pretty brutal when it comes to exterminating Eri's enemies... I just hope she doesn't release Noriko, under her care, that ghost became a true monster and a real living nightmare for everyone unlucky enough to receive her attention..."

Indeed, the current Noriko is truly a powerful entity, she is physically strong enough to easily crush boulders, and she is very, very hard to kill, not only because she can constantly regenerate from any damage, but also because even if she is "killed" she can still reincarnate at a later time as long as a small piece of her soul is safe, and the fact, that Eri always keeps a piece of Noriko in her Undead Realm means that it is even harder to truly kill her, then there is her Curse Manipulation, with which she can create all kinds of nasty curses, her ability to grow stronger by fusing with other ghosts, she can kill weaker people with only her stare just like the Basilisk, can cause those that see her to paralyze in fear, and even affect their mental status, in fact, I have a theory that unless they are very strong-willed, most of the people of this world will be unable to use their Haki forever as long as they see Noriko once.

And this isn't all, she has many other abilities, like, Shapeshifting, Darkness Manipulation, Dream Manipulation, Hair Manipulation, Surface Scaling, Illusion Creation, Mind Manipulation, Technology Manipulation, Healing, Necromancy, Possession, some minor Reality Warping, Curse Removal, Precognition, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Teleportation, can travel through reflective surfaces, and many other minor but very useful abilities, basically if one don't have very specific skill in dealing with ghostes and curses, then dealing with Noriko will be a true nightmare for anyone.

As I think about that, the Athena's God Bidoof continues to sail toward the next island on route as Yo Island gets smaller and smaller behind us.

Koby POV - Blue Star, Grand Line, Nanatsu Islands(Yo) - 20 GAP

I swim in these cold waters as more and more rain falls from the sky the closer I get to the island, swimming at my maximum speed in order to reach the shores of Yo Island as fast as possible, at the same time, I quickly go over everything that Ko-san told us about it, 'Yo Island, the north-west island of the Nanatsu Islands. It is one of the larger islands in the archipelago and like on all the other islands, the people living here practice mostly fishing and agriculture, like all the islands there is only one big village, then the rest of the island is made of a very thick forest full of wild animals, and of course, it is in the middle of this forest that the Yondo Ruins can be found, the place where the Eye of Ahalbu can be found. Moreover, usually, the climate on this island is a tropical one, like all the others of this archipelago, but that suddenly changed when the Simon Pirates started their activities, and now Yo Island is subjected to continuous rainfalls.'

Of course, thinking about the treasure that everyone is searching for, also reminds me of the protector of the treasure that Ko-san told us about, 'The Stone Statues also known as Treasure Guardians, some kind of mechanical statue. These treasure guardians normally lay dormant inside the treasure rooms of the various Nanatsu Islands ruins. They seem to be tasked or programmed to guard the treasure, as they activate and become hostile as soon as anyone enters the treasure room. From what Ko-san told us these guardians seem quite strong and dangerous, as until the arrival of Simon and his pirate crew, no one was able to defeat them and take the treasure they are protecting for themselves.'

But I soon stop thinking about that as I finally reach the shores of this island, so I rush out of the waters and without stopping I head toward the village as I hear a ruckus coming from over there, moreover, I notice some black smoke rising from it, and I know that it isn't a good sign.

Once I arrived at the village, I encountered a sight that sent a shiver down my spine and made my blood run cold.

I see mutilated corpses lying everywhere, men, women, children, buildings burning, some scared people huddled together in chains, human-skinned beasts as they pillage the houses, assault the women, and kill the defenseless with cruel smiles on their faces.

What is worse is that these men all wear a Marine uniform, and the man right in the middle of this hellish spectacle, as the official attire of a Captain, I truly can't stand the sight of him as he gives orders to these beasts and laughs watching the suffering he and his men are causing to these people.

He is a muscular, middle-aged man with a light brown beard, a downward-pointed nose, and wrinkles under his eyes, he wears a sleeveless white shirt that has golden shoulder pads, green pants, green shoes, and a green bandanna around his neck, what I cannot accept is that he also wears a Marine cap, except the stripes that run down the middle are green instead of the standard blue.

He continues to watch as his people pillage the village and laughs, as he yells, "Hahahaha! See! I told you guys that deserting and turning to piracy would have been the best choice of your life! You can have everything! Gold, women, freedom to do whatever you want! You just need to reach it with your hands and take it! Moreover, these fools will always lower their guard and trust you as long as we wear these uniforms, making everything even easier!"

Seeing this scene and hearing him say that, I can't help but feel a righteous fury rise within me while I think, 'How could these monsters have been Marines, before!? Not even Alvida was as cruel and despicable as them! Sure, she was ruthless against her enemies and those who defied her, but in those months that I spent with her, she never allowed her crew to perform such heinous acts, even while robbing merchants' ships she only ever ordered to deal with those who resist and leave all the other unharmed... Comparing Alvida to these former Marines, makes the former appear like a good person, and she was a notorious pirate with a bounty!'

While thinking that, a couple of his men arrive dragging a wounded old man, and one of them yells, "Captain LeMay! We found the Village Chief, Sir!"

Hearing that, the smile on the fake Marine grows bigger as he exclaims, "Good!! Now he will lead us to the Ruin hidden on this island so that we can make that mysterious treasure we have heard of ours!" then he orders, "Guys! Stop playing around! Quickly dispose of all the men and chain up all the girls and kids, we will enjoy them later, and if some survive, we will sell them as slaves!"

At this point, I can't stand still anymore, and even if they have the number advantage, I have to make my move and stop them, but just as I'm about to rush out, I see a gorgeous tall woman with a long wavy black hair walk into the village center with a huge spike iron mace in her hand, she is slim, well-endowed, with dark-green eyes.

She has a cowboy hat on her head, a pearl necklace around her neck, and wears a bikini top, and tight Capri-length pants, with a purple coat draped over her shoulders, and some wooden sandals on her feet, something about her seems familiar, but I can't exactly tell what.

As soon as the woman makes her appearance everyone stops and starts to stare at her enchanted by her beauty, then the woman suddenly yells, "All of you scum stop right at this instant! If you don't I will make you feel the weight of my Iron Mace! I won't allow you to harm these people any longer!"

Hearing her voice something instantily clicks in my mind, so much that I can't help but look at the beautiful young woman with my eyes wide open in disbelief and mutter, "T-that voice... I-It can't be..." while internally yelling, 'ALVIDA!!!'