It wasn't until Ori rushed to her side that everyone snapped out of their shocks and realised that Queen Otohime seemed out of sorts.
Just as they were about to get up to aid her, she raised her hands stopping them and said.
"I'm fine, I just need to rest. You guys relax. Ori, do you mind walking me back to your ship, so I can rest for a while."
"My Queen…"
Shayle was just about to oppose a human being alone with her but was stopped by Jinbei who understood that she must want to speak privately with Orion.
"Shayle! Queen Otohime has spoken, all you have to do is obey!"
Shayle stared at Jinbei in protest, but when he saw how serious he was he understood there must be something else going on.
Ori who also wished to speak to Otohime naturally accepted her request.
There were only 2 bedrooms on the ship, one was Shaya's whilst the other was shared by the boys. He led her to Shaya's room which due to being the only girl was the most spacious.
Once on the bed Otohime looked at Ori with a warm smile and said.
"You really are a spitting image of big sister Mira!"
When he heard that Ori's heart shook violently and his voice quaked as he asked.
"You… You knew my mother?!"
Otohime nodded with a smile as she said.
"Your mother was the reason I began to dream of a time where fishmen could live on land alongside humans. Before she met your father and was still a Celestial Dragon, she and 5 other Celestial Dragons came to fishman Island. The other 4 were arrogant and conceited believing that the whole world belonged to them, but your mother was the opposite, she saw everyone as her equal and truly wished for world peace.
When they arrived, the 4 Celestial Dragons ordered their body guards from CP0 to subjugate the whole of Fishman Island. Because of my frail body I was too slow to run away and ended up the first to be captured, but before I was put on the ship to be arrested Mira appeared before them.
I'll never forget that day for the rest of my life. She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen and the way she appeared, floating down from the skies, she was like an angel descending from heaven.
She ordered CP0 to stop and forbade them from going near any of us. The other Celestial Dragons were naturally angered by her interference and attacked her out of anger. Despite being attacked she never once fought back and despite being beaten so severely she never moaned once. Seeing that their attacks weren't having the desired effect they changed their approach, one of them aimed a gun at me and just as they were about to pull the trigger she used her conqueror's haki to bring them to their knees. She then stood up and walked before the man who tried to shoot me and slapped him over 20 meters away. She glanced at each of them coldly and told them that they were free to do what they wanted with her but the next time they make a move on any of us on Fishman Island it won't end with a slap.
She then turned to me and smiled as if nothing had happened. From then on we became like sisters, she'd visit me once a year and tell me stories of the outside world and inspired me to pioneer the transition for fishmen to move to land.
Later on she met your father and introduced me to him, this was just after he had set sail and started making a name for himself.
Their romance was fraught one obstacle after another, but they never allowed anyone or anything from standing in their way. It seemed almost as if the whole world was against them, but as long as they had each other, they always found a way."
Ori was in tears by the end of Otohime's story. Otohime smiled gently at the child in front of her as she wiped the tears from his face.
"I don't know about your father, but as I have your mother's vivre card I can assure you she's still alive. That's also part of the reason for me visiting Mary Geoise now, I intend on seeing if I can find anything out regarding their wellbeing. I doubt I'll be able to learn much though.
If you want to find out the truth about what happened to your parents then you're going have to face opponents whose strength you can't even begin to imagine but with the blood of those 2 coursing through your body, I have faith that you'll manage to do it."
Ori wiped the tears from his eyes and his resolve strengthened as he nodded.
"I won't fail!"
Otohime rubbed his head as if he were a child.
"I know."
Ori then remembered what he originally wanted to ask.
"By the way Aunt Otohime, what did you mean by having a sealed bloodline?!"
Hearing him call her 'Aunt' put a bright smile on her face but she didn't for get to reply. Otohime asked.
"How much do you know about becoming a transcendent?"
"A transcendent is someone who's completely mastered their devil fruit, as a result the devil fruit once more enters the world in the form of a fruit and the original owner retains full control of their powers."
Otohime nodded as she continued.
"That's right but there's more to it. After you become a transcendent, your bloodline is altered. From that point on you can pass down the abilities of your devil fruit to your offspring. The only downfall is that the stronger your devil fruit the weaker your fertility."
Ori was shocked hearing that, as that was never explained in his father's records.
He then thought about all the different tribes and races in the world and asked.
"So then races like the long arm tribe and long leg tribe?"
"Right! Tribes like that have an ancestor who became Transcendents with those specific fruits and passed down their genetics to their off springs."
"What about fishmen and mermaids? Do they also originate from devil fruit Transcendents?"
Otohime shook her head with a smile as she answered.
"No, we along with humans and animals were the original races of this world. But be it the giants, the long leg and arm tribes and even the mink's, their races all stemmed from Transcendents."
Ori scrunched his eyebrows as he asked.
"So why aren't there any tribes full of Paramecia's or Logia's?"
"When a Zoan becomes a transcendent it's not just as simple as a change to their bloodline, they effectively change races, so their children are born in to that race.
When A Paramecia and a Logia becomes a transcendent they're still human, I guess you could say they are just a human with a unique bloodline. Although their child can inherit their bloodline it's a watered down version. For example if you became a transcendent then had a child, that child may be able to use your wind powers, but they wouldn't be able to become intangible like you and then their child would be very limited with the amount of wind they could use and eventually your descendants wouldn't have access to your wind abilities as it was watered down with every generation."
Ori nodded understanding what she meant but he couldn't help but wonder about his own bloodline.
"So what is my bloodline, why is it sealed and who did I inherit it from?!"
"First of all you need to keep in mind that when you eat a devil fruit, your fundamental body structure is altered as your body wouldn't be able to handle the strain of using the ability otherwise. So strong devil fruit abilities will seal the bloodlines of the descendants making it only accessible when their bodies are strong enough to bear the burden of using that ability.
As for what bloodline it is and which parent you inherited it from, seeing as they didn't tell you before leaving they probably intended for you to figure it out for yourself in the future. So you're on your own there.
Now let your dear Aunt get some rest as we've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow!"
As Ori left the room his head was still spinning about everything he had learnt from his Aunt Otohime.
[Dragon said that my father should still be alive and now Aunty Otohime says my mother's alive. Now I just need to figure out how Uncle Walter and Aunty Gaia are doing. As long as they're all alive, all hope's not lost!]