Chương 8: The Past & Thunder Dragon
Zeus was sleeping with a big perverted smile on his face and drool escaping his lips as he dreamed about chasing fairies in a beautiful spring. His dreams were crushed however when he was startled awake by an extremely loud 'Bwooooohh' sound, he fell off his cloud and slammed into the ground on Twin Capes.
Everyone looked to the sound and were startled, Zeus was angry and glared at Laboon saying "Fuck, Laboon you bastard! I was dreaming of a beautiful fairy!" he flashed in front of Laboon and grabbed his head before shaking him senseless. The crew and Crocus were speechless as they watched Zeus shake Laboon to oblivion, when he was finally done he clapped his hands and said "That'll teach 'im." Laboon had tears in his eyes and quickly backed away from the maniac.
Zoro looked at Zeus and said "Why are you here." Zeus gave him a look and said seriously "You thought you could all escape me?" his momentum spread out and gave others a feeling of dread. They tensed up and got into fighting positions, Nami said nervously "You're here to capture us?!"
Zeus yawned and waved his hand "Nah, I'm still on vacation." he scratched his neck and walked towards the Merry. The crew almost fell down 'Why were you so serious before then?!' they thought with a grievance, only Luffy was disappointed as he said "Aww! I wanted to fight him!" Nami punched him on the head and yelled at him "What do you mean, you wanted to fight him?!" she went on for ages about it and Luffy completely ignored her the whole time.
A while later the crew left with two strangers
Zeus turned to look at Crocus as the Merry was leaving and smirked to himself. He was sure Crocus could see through him and his mask but he didn't say anything, whatever, better for him. He quickly forgot about Crocus and enjoyed the breeze until he tilted his head from a fist flying at him and chuckled before flashing away while Luffy chased after him.
While he was evading Luffy he 'accidentally' dropped a booklet at Sanji's feet. Sanji picked it up and opened it up, he muttered to himself "Geppo and Soru?" he squinted and put the booklet in his suit jacket before leaving the deck, Zeus watched with his observation haki and smirked. He had a grand plan that he had to execute secretly, he wondered how much stronger they would be when he was finished.
He flashed away and stood on the crow's nest cackling evilly as he licked his lips, suddenly the whole crew and a few people in the grandline shivered intensely. Zeus, being the narcissist he was, considered himself the Strawhat guardian angel as well as the most handsome person in the world, instantly the people who shivered felt a wave of disdain.
A while later
Zeus disappeared into the clouds and the crew got off the Merry and partied on Whiskey Peak, he watched from his cloud before jumping off and landing on the Merry's crow's nest. He grinned savagely as he stared in a certain direction and chuckled to himself "Let's give her a good scare yeah?"
He watched as the crew fought the bounty hunters, then the numbered agents, then.. themselves, until finally returning to the ship with Vivi, the blue haired princess of Alabasta. Zeus watched with interest from the crow's nest before flashing on the upper rail and laying on his side, propping his head up with his hand, as he watched Nico Robin's flashy entrance.
She appeared on the railing like magic, Zeus was honestly stunned 'This much be anime magic!' he nodded secretly in his heart as he watched the situation unfold. He even spread his observation haki around the ship but couldn't see the moment Robin used her powers, he was even more dumbfounded 'This chick is fucking OP!' she didn't even cross her arms this time!
Eventually Nami had enough and snapped "How long are you going to sit there!?" Zeus chuckled and Robin snapped her head back cautiously, Zeus looked at her with interest and said "Boo." unfortunately he didn't get the response he was hoping for, instead he felt arms growing off him. He shook his head and sighed "Isn't it proper manners to introduce yourself first?"
He flashed in front of her and took her cowboy hat before putting it on his head and flashing back to the railing next to Luffy. He sat down and made the same posture that Robin had before, Robin looked at him angrily and said "Who are you?"
Zeus said mysteriously "If I tell you, I'd have to kill you." actually this was partially true, he couldn't let his identity leak out to the marines or the world government, obviously he wouldn't kill main characters or side characters, he clearly knew who could, and couldn't, be trusted. He just said it to be mysterious, Robin was almost at the top of his trust list.
Robin thought Zeus was mocking her and grit her teeth angrily, Zeus laughed and clearly forgot what the hat meant to her, even though she never wore it after she got taken by CP9. She almost cried, Luffy frowned and said "Kurama, give her the hat back." Zeus looked at Luffy and tilted his head, Luffy looked back at him without fear and a solemn air surrounded the ship. The crew got ready for a fight but it was unnecessary, Zeus broke eye-contact somewhat nervously and flashed back in front of Robin.
He put the hat on her head and whispered in her ear "Nico Robin.. Maybe were more alike than you think.." he came back and hesitated before sighing and flashing away, out of sight. Robin was silent, before throwing Luffy an eternal pose to Alabasta and leaving with narrowed eyes, as she left, she turned her head to the cloud above the Merry and muttered to herself "Who are you really..."
The crew was also surprised but forgot about it and continued on their journey to the next island, ignoring the eternal pose that was crushed by Luffy. Zeus frowned to himself and followed over them on his cloud, the reason he listened to Luffy wasn't because he was afraid of him. In a certain sense he wasn't afraid of them but more so what his identity would bring to the crew, endless pursuit of the marines and world government.
Of course, he could escape by himself but considering the contact that he's had thus far with them it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the government and the marines would capture Luffy and his crew to threaten him. It's happened before and will happen again, after all, wasn't that the whole plan with Ace? He sneered and kept his disgust in his heart, it wasn't the time to reveal himself and he knew for sure the time would come but he just didn't know when.
He sighed and looked up at the moon, his mentality quietly changed since he came to this world. He went from lonely outsider to semi-acceptance to the now whole hearted integration. He had a little mental scar from his childhood that he still felt guilty over, he still remembered that day extremely clearly.
12 years ago
A 5 year old Zeus was sitting against a tree, hugging his knees and crying silently, it turns out that being reincarnated with your memories isn't a good thing, instead its cold and dark. Zeus walked through life everyday with memories of his past life, he knew the people and their backstory as well as their futures. It gave him the feeling of being stuck in a VR simulation with a bunch of robots and NPC's, he didn't like it, it was lonely and unfeeling.
After the initial joy of being in his favorite anime came the realization. How was he supposed to talk to these NPC's? His thinking and personality became quite jaded and cold after this 'They don't matter anyway' 'I can do whatever I want' ... 'They aren't REAL' this mindset quickly shrouded his former self and he became more and more venomous as the days passed. It was quite concerning for the surrounding people, who didn't have a single clue what was going on, to see a 5 year had the complete disregard for life and chilling loneliness in his eyes.
Especially worried was Luffy. He didn't know what was going on with Zeus but he knew that there was something wrong with him, being the person that he is, he didn't just stand by and watch, he actively talked to Zeus even when he wasn't welcome.
Luffy ran out from the bushes and saw Zeus, he brightened up and said excitedly "Zeus! I found you! Hurry, Dadan made Beef Skewers, your favorites!" Zeus looked at Luffy, with apathetic eyes and said "Get lost." Luffy smiled and ran over with his hand out to help Zeus off the ground as he said with a smile "We're brothers, I won't leave, even if you tell me to. Shishishishi"
Zeus grit his teeth and stood up, he slapped Luffy's hand away and snapped "We're not brothers! I hate you!" Luffy lost his balance and fell to the ground, he looked up at Zeus with tears in his eyes. In this world he only had Gramps and Zeus as his blood family, but why did Zeus hate him so much? Did he do something wrong? Luffy was about to cry when he noticed two eyes behind Zeus, he was alarmed and said "Zeus! Watch out!" as he jumped up and pushed Zeus out of the way.
Zeus was angry and looked back to see a big snake biting Luffy's arm, he shook on the inside and was in a daze for a while before getting up and grabbing a stick. He beat the snake away and looked at Luffy, who was pale, as purple marks started to spread from the bite wounds.
Zeus started panicking and felt immense guilt wash over him. He picked Luffy up and ran towards Dadan's house in a panic.
He got to the house and smashed the door open before screaming "Dadan! Come help!" Dadan appeared in the doorway extremely quickly and saw Luffy's pale face. She was shocked and said quickly "What happened?!"
Zeus started to cry as he said between sobs "It's my fault! He came to get me for dinner but I.. I.." he completely broke down and regretted his actions so much he felt like dying himself, he finally had a chance to have a family and he ruined it with his own hands, and for what? His own selfish complex? What a joke.
Zeus fell to his knees and cried loudly as he held Luffy's body, Dadan picked Luffy up and looked at the wound, she saw the poison and took him to the medical room in the house while Zeus was crying on the floor in a daze.
After a while
Zeus entered the medical room lifelessly and looked at Luffy, who had a smile on his face. It crushed him. Thinking about how he treated Luffy before and how Luffy still saved himself and was glad he did, broke Zeus, he couldn't bear it. He looked over at the beef skewers on the table and then at Dadan.
Dadan looked at Zeus and sighed "Eat something, you don't look very good either. Luffy helped me make those Beef Skewers to cheer you up.." Zeus was shocked and felt something snap before coughing up blood and collapsing to the floor. Dadan was alarmed and rushed over to Zeus, she was extremely sad at this moment. It seemed like Zeus and Luffy didn't have a very happy last conversation, then something that shocked her happened.
Zeus shiny black hair turned as white as snow and his eyes turned blood red, Dadan was anxious and put him in the bed next to Luffy before calling over a doctor to look at the kids.
In Zeus' mind
Zeus was going over all his actions since he crossed over to this world. 5 years of memories. He was disgusted by himself, how could he treat people like this? He always thought that he was the only human here and alone but it was actually him who was the beast. He fall to his knees as he watched the last memory of Luffy saving him and tried, crystal tears dropping from his, now red, eyes.
He hated himself, he just wanted to disappear. After all, who would forgive him after the way he treated them, plus he was just an outsider. He didn't belong here. He curled up on the ground and cried as his memories of his past life and current life circled around him, almost taunting him.
Zeus muttered lifelessly "I'm not needed in this world after all.." suddenly the memories disappeared and his dark and bleak mind space brightened up and became completely white as he heard a voice "You're wrong."
Zeus looked up and saw a woman smiling warmly towards him, he cried and put his head back down in despair. He didn't have the guts to even look at this woman, who birthed him. He was such a cruel bastard to everyone, maybe she would kill him for revenge.
Lily sighed and knelt in front of Zeus, who was trembling, and lightly stroked his head. Zeus shook intensely at her touch and tried to get away but she grabbed him and held him tightly saying "You don't want to see your mother anymore?"
Zeus cried and said "You're not my mother. I'm an outsider, I wasn't meant to exist! I-" Lily cut him off and pressed her finger against his lips as she said "I say kiddo, even if you still remember your past life, I still gave birth to you. That hurt like hell!"
Zeus looked at her, shocked and scared, but she smiled at him. He hesitated to say "You know about my past life, so why do you accept me? I.." he couldn't finish as tears fell from his eyes once again.
Lily smiled and stroked his head softly with love as she said "It doesn't matter who you were, where you came from, or what you did." she looked at Zeus in the eyes and said softly "You're still my son. The son I gave birth to, and I love you all the same." Zeus shook at her words and held her clothes tightly as he cried, Lily smiled and rubbed the back of his head softly, calming him down.
She held his cheeks and said with a smile "Remember what I said." Zeus said quickly "Are you leaving?!" Lily smiled sadly and Zeus shook his head with tears as he said "Please stay! I.. I miss you!" he teared up once again and pleaded "Mom please stay with me!"
Lily teared up as well and hugged Zeus tightly saying "Silly boy, Mommy is always watching you. I don't want to leave but I have no choice." she stroked his cheek and said with a smile "I know you know what will happen but please protect your brother. I know your father won't interfere with your lives.." she said the last half of that sentence angrily and Zeus smiled slightly.
She looked at Zeus and said seriously "Listen to me carefully Zeus. Try not to interfere with too much, one change can change everything. You must be extremely careful, promise me!" Zeus nodded and promised, Lily smiled and nodded "That's my good boy!" she kissed Zeus' forehead and smiled while waving good bye "Bye Zeus.. Mommy... Mommy loves you!"
Zeus watched Lily disappear from his view with tears in his eyes, he wiped them off his face and calmed down.
Suddenly
Zeus woke up and looked around he was in a bed next to Luffy. He got off the bed and walked over to Luffy slowly, he was nervous now. Was Luffy okay? Would he hate me because of what I did before? Zeus stood by Luffy's bed and saw the bandages on his arm and cried silently, it was still his fault at the end of the day, although he accepted his family and new life, he wasn't pardoned of his crimes.
Zeus was extremely sad and couldn't help but ask "Why?" he fell to the ground and was about to cry again when he heard Luffy's voice "Because you're my brother." Zeus looked up in a daze to see Luffy looking at him with a smile, Zeus didn't answer and Luffy continued "Even if you hate me, I will never hate you. Besides Gramps, you're the only family I have. I'd rather die before watching my family die in front of me. If I lost you, I.. I don't know what I'd do."
Zeus lunged at Luffy and hugged him tightly as he said between sobs "I don't hate you! I'm a bad brother! I'm sorry!" Luffy smiled happily with tears in his eyes as he hugged Zeus back and cried with him.
Dadan was watching from the door frame and smiled before walking away and wiping her eyes.
Back to the present
Zeus was brought out of his memories when he heard a loud roar, he looked down and saw that the crew had reached Little garden. He sighed softly to himself and smiled slightly before following Luffy, Vivi, and Carue into the jungle.
(Author's Note)
A nice flashback for you guys! I was happy with this ch-
"Oi! Shitty author what are you doing!?"
Me:... Ending the chapter.
Zeus: fuck you! After almost a month of not writing you write a half assed chapter and call it a day?!
Me: Yo! You know how hard it is to write these things?! Plus If I continue it going to be-
Zeus: I don't fucking care! Keep writing or I'll just run away!
Me: Eh? You can do that?
Zeus: ... Just shut up and keep writing!
Me: *Sigh*
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Zeus followed Luffy, Vivi, and Carue into the jungle and saw extremely tall dinosaurs. Zeus watched as Luffy played around with the dinosaurs before getting swallowed whole by one of them. He chuckled slightly and saw Dorry chop the neck of the dinosaur off and save Luffy.
He invited Luffy to eat with him and , much to Vivi's terror, Luffy agreed happily. Zeus watched them go and flew around to play with the dinosaurs, he came form a world without them so of course he was going to play around with them. Maybe he could ride a T-Rex!
Zeus flew around the island and explored it by himself. It WAS the grandline, maybe it had some special devil fruits! Although he probably couldn't eat a second one. Who knows, maybe something could happen. He flew around the island and finally found what he was looking for, with an excited heart he jumped off his cloud and landed on a T-rex head!
The T-Rex was angry and tried to shake Zeus off, but Zeus frowned and punched him in the head "Oi! Stupid lizard, it's your honor to carry this handsome man!" the T-Rex was really scared now and just wanted to go back to living peacefully, that was the most pain he had ever endured in his life!
The T-Rex whimpered and Zeus sat on his head and patted it saying "Onwards!" the T-Rex had no choice but to comply and ran around the forest, causing tremors as he ran. Zeus laughed happily from the T-Rex's head and said "You're new name is Barry!"
Barry was crying on the inside 'This ancestor! Please just leave me alone!' too bad Zeus couldn't hear him, but even if he did, he would probably just smack Barry into obedience, and so One man and One T-Rex explored the island together occasionally hearing eruptions from the volcanoes on the island.
After exploring for a long time
Zeus and Barry came across a cave, but it was a bit different and definitely couldn't fit any dinosaurs. Zeus had the heart of adventure and said "Barry stay here quietly." before jumping off and walking into the cave.
Barry was having an internal struggle, should he stay or should he go. If he stayed there would be trouble but if he goes there'll be double! With that thought in mind, he stayed in his spot and didn't move.
Zeus walked through the cave and came across a skeleton with a bag next to it and a book in it's hands. He was curious and assessed the current situation "This only happens in cultivation novels! Its supposed to be a peerless expert and I will get his inheritance if I accept him as my master!" with stars in his eyes he bowed to the skeleton and said "Disciple greets master!"
Unfortunately for him, nothing happened. Zeus sighed and shook his head "Can't believe everything in those novels I suppose." he picked up the book and looked through it, the more he read the more shocked he became. He dropped the book and grabbed the bag quickly, he opened it and sure enough, there were 2 devil fruits inside.
Zeus almost fell down, he picked up the book and re-read it aloud "My name is Dr. Viktor Crowmulous. I used to be a partner to the Great Dr. Vegapunk! But alas I was plotted against by the government I was working for, fortunately my friend Vegapunk helped me escape! It's a shame that I had landed on Little garden after a severe sea storm. This book and the bag are my life's work and after sufficient experiments with the help of my giant friends, it was finally successful!"
Zeus sucked a cold breath of air and kept reading "In the bag is an unidentified Devil fruit along with a devil fruit I had created myself! That little brat Caesar only thought Zoans could be artificially made but he was wrong! It was a deliberate lie because it was too dangerous for this world to have the information I possessed! I destroyed all my research with the help of Vegapunk and the only thing that remains is this book and the bag. If someone every finds this, I hope you will complete my experiment and prove my life's work! Take it as an Old scientist's final wish!"
Zeus had a fiery heart as he looked at the last passage "The self made devil fruit is named 'Merge Merge fruit! I specifically made it to merge existing devil fruits together in the same body!" Zeus was stunned and kept reading "For the experiment to function correctly, the subject must eat the 'Merge Merge Fruit at the same time as another devil fruit. It only works if you have already eaten a devil fruit! I wish you luck! -Dr. Viktor Crowmulous"
Zeus looked through the rest and decisively burned the book to ashes. The Dr was right, this information was too insane! He dug a hole in the ground and buried the Dr's bones before covering him up and saying solemnly "Dr. rest assured I will not disgrace your work!" he burned 'Here Lies Viktor Crowlumous' into the wall and walked out of the cave.
Zeus came near Barry and said "Stand guard." Barry nodded and moved away, while keeping the rest of the dinosaurs away, for their safety, not Zeus'. Barry was a compassionate dinosaur, who cared for his brethren, the truth was that he was only like this because of his humiliation from Zeus.
Zeus took a deep breath and swallowed the Merge Merge Fruit along with the unidentified devil fruit at the same time. He waited her a minute but nothing happened, he frowned and muttered "It couldn't have been fake right?" suddenly his body started to spasm and he felt sharp pains all over, he felt that if he passed out he would definitely die.
He roared "Successful experiment my fucking ass! Arghhh!" a gut wrenching cry spread throughout the island, startling the dinosaurs and the crew, who were going back to the ship after defeating Mr.3 and getting the eternal pose to Alabasta. Luffy frowned and said "What was that?" Zoro looked in a certain direction and said "Sounds like the marine bastard to me."
The crew were alarmed and Nami said anxiously "What if he's in trouble!?" Luffy was serious and said "Let's go!" before running through the jungle towards the roars, Zoro and Sanji followed him and Nami, Usopp, and Vivi rode Carue after them.
When the crew arrived on scene they were stunned silly.
Zeus was laying on the ground peacefully, but he wasn't human, he had turned into a dragon! He had Chinese dragon horns, that flickered with red lightning occasionally. A big dragon head, no wings and a long tail with arms and legs, he looked like a legendary dragon from Chinese mythology! The only difference was that he was covered in white scales, he was quite beautiful actually.
Zeus yawned and opened his eyes, he saw the crew and said "Hey! What's up?" they were speechless and Luffy had stars in his eyes as he said "D-D-Dragon!" Zeus was confused and looked around saying "Where?!" Nami walked up and slapped his dragon head saying "You! You idiot!" Zeus looked at her and looked at himself, his eyes widened "Holy shit!" he jumped up in the air and hovered, he was even more shocked before he started laughing loudly "That scientist was right! Hahahahahah"
He flew into the air like it was second nature and did a couple loops before coming back to the ground and saying "What do you think? Handsome right?" the crew fell to the ground comically and Luffy nodded with stars in his eyes.
Nami snapped "What happened to you?!" Zeus explained to the crew what he found and Nami slapped him again "You just eat whatever?! What if you died?!" Zeus was speechless and said "He said it was safe!" Nami almost blew her top and started to beat the shit out of his head "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE SAID IT WAS SAFE?! YOU TRUSTED A QUACK DOCTOR THAT WAS ALREADY DEAD HIMSELF?! YOU IDIOT, BASTARD, RETARD!"
Zeus was aggrieved, what did he do to deserve this. He remembered he was in his dragon form right now and said "You guys all done with this island?" they nodded and explained what happened, Zeus nodded and said "Shouldn't you be leaving?" they snapped back to reality and realized they were in a jungle and started to leave.
Luffy turned around and said "Kurama! Let's go!" Zeus waved and said "Go, I'll catch up with you!" Luffy nodded and walked away but the rest of the crew narrowed their eyes. Zeus watched them go and confirmed that they had left with his Haki before reverting back to his human form. He saw the mask on the ground and smiled wryly, he didn't expect it was a dragon fruit. Looks like the theory about Kaido being a dragon in the first place was confirmed, Zeus wondered what fruit he took then, a humanoid demon fruit? Very strange indeed.
He picked up the mask and put it back on his face before following after the crew with his cloud. He landed on the crow's nest and chuckled as he waved his hand towards the crew. Luffy smiled but the rest narrowed their eyes, regardless of what they felt, the ship started to sail away from Little garden, the giants showed up and blasted a hole through Usopp's giant goldfish, allowing the Merry to go through and pass the giant Goldfish.
The Merry slowly sailed through the seas towards Alabasta but Zeus was focused on Nami right now, he watched her silently and waited until they went to sleep. He went into her room while she was sleeping and silently lifted her shirt. Zeus sighed and put it back before leaving 'sure enough' there was the kestia bite, he left the room with a heavy heart, unaware that a pair of eyes watched him go.
(Author's Note)
Finally, that bastard should be quite happy now! What an asshole eh? Anyway Kind of a spur of the moment thing LMK if you like it or not! Also trying to pad chapters as much as possible, LMK if you don't like it.
You can check out my OTHER books while you wait:
One Piece: Another Chance (Completed)
Saiyan in Marvel (Completed)
My Hero Academia: Quirkless
One Piece: Price of Freedom
One Piece: Shadow King
Another Dragonball Adventure
DISCORD LINK: https://discord.gg/QXBKSjR (IT NEVER EXPIRES)
Leave a comment/review if you liked it!
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