One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

"Brother, it's time to get up and eat! If we don't hurry up, we'll be too late! ...Brother? Get up!!"

As a tender child's voice sounded in his ears, with a deliberately long tail tone, the boy who was still asleep subconsciously covered his ears. The next second, he felt himself being pushed hard twice, and his head hit the bed with a "bang".

"It hurts! I know..."

The boy, who was suddenly hit hard, rubbed the big bump on his head and climbed up from the soft sheets reluctantly. He raised his sleepy eyes and looked at the culprit who forced him to wake up. The girl was lying on the edge of the bed and glaring at him angrily. She pursed her lips and muttered unhappily, "Besides, there's no need to wake me up in this way, right? If I don't get enough sleep, I won't be energetic no matter what I do..."

The girl looked about seven or eight years old, with a red face as cute as an apple, light purple mushroom-shaped hair, and a pair of short horns on top of her head, which added a bit of playfulness to her lovable appearance. She puffed up her cheeks like a pufferfish, and retorted with a completely suppressed momentum: "Brother, I have heard this excuse of yours hundreds of times! Sometimes you fall asleep while walking after sleeping for twelve hours!"

“Ah… Really?”

The boy, whose lie was exposed, scratched the back of his head awkwardly and put on a playful smile, "Anyway, thank you for waking me up, Rachel. I'll take you fishing at the beach some other day."

"Wow, really?!"

The girl named Rachel clenched her fists in anticipation. For a curious child, nothing could be more exciting than fishing, so her previous dissatisfaction was quickly thrown out of the window. "Thank you, Brother Uno! You must keep your word!"

Amidst laughter, Rachel opened her arms and pounced forward, forgetting to control her strength for a moment. When Uno saw that the short but sharp horns were about to poke his chest, he hurriedly waved his hands and shouted to stop it, but he was still a step too slow.

A moment later, a heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the room, followed by a "sorry" full of guilt and worry.

"Uno, looking at you... Did you get scolded by your sister for wanting to stay in bed again? It shouldn't be a big deal, right?"

The large rectangular dining table was filled with delicious food. A middle-aged man with a gaunt but slightly exaggerated appearance sat at the main seat. He suppressed the smile that was creeping up his eyes and asked curiously at the boy sitting on his right, who was wrapped in bandages like a mummy. Like the boy and girl, he also had a pair of horns on his head, and compared to them, they were longer and more like an iron tower.

"It's okay, Dad. We've always played like this."

Uno stretched out his fork and stuffed a piece of fried chicken into his mouth, forcing a smile on his listless face, "Besides, this little injury is nothing for a strong person like me... It hurts!" While speaking, he accidentally pulled the wound again, and he grimaced in pain.

"Hehe, brother, please stop showing off. As everyone knows, you are the smallest one in our family!"

Rachel, who was sitting opposite him, looked at his brother's embarrassed appearance with a smile, her big eyes narrowed into two straight lines, "So you must work hard to exercise and become as strong as dad!"

"Please don't be so blunt all the time!" Uno couldn't help but reveal a helpless expression, but looking at his sister's innocent smile he really couldn't get angry.

"Okay, Rachel, Uno is still young now. In a few years, he will be taller than his mother."

A young woman dressed as a housewife came out of the kitchen and sat down in the empty seat next to Rachel. Her voice was as gentle as her appearance. "So you should eat more and drink more, and grow taller quickly~"

"That's it."

The middle-aged man next to him stroked his stubbled chin with interest, with a smile on his lips, "You have been so cute since you were a child, you will definitely grow up to be a beautiful girl in the future..." Halfway through his words, he accidentally glanced at his son's contemptuous eyes and immediately covered his mouth and stopped talking.

With her mouth full of bread and her cheeks puffed up like a little hamster, Rachel looked at her mother and then at Uno. As if she had made some kind of decision, she patted her chest and shouted confidently: "When Rachel is full, you must protect your father, mother and brother. I will not let you go bad and end up in the stomachs of bad guys!"

Because she was chewing food, her words were a little unclear, but the people present could hear it clearly. The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, then he was so moved that tears flowed down his face: "You are worthy of being my precious daughter. You have such admirable awareness at such a young age! As a father, I am proud of you!"

Before he finished speaking, he couldn't help but hugged Rachel tightly in his arms. It was hard to imagine that this man who looked so majestic without even getting angry could have such a childish side.

Uno, who was already used to his father's behavior, sighed softly, his face inadvertently filled with happiness. After a palm-sized chicken nugget fell into his stomach, he suddenly remembered something and cast his eyes to his mother, who had no protrusions on her forehead, and asked in confusion: "Speaking of bad guys... I heard that you came from overseas, mom. Is it because there are bad guys over there that you came to this island for refuge?"

The question suddenly asked by the boy made his mother startled slightly. The hand holding the fork also stopped in mid-air. After a while, she showed a gentle smile, like a spring breeze: "It's not like that, Uno. The reason why mom stayed here is just because I fell in love with your dad at first sight. There are many bad people in the outside world, but there are also many kind-hearted people. It is with the help of those people that I can have the mom I am today."

The middle-aged man who noticed the conversation between the mother and son suddenly let go of his daughter who was a little breathless, and proudly raised his thumbs up. His words were full of boasting: "Don't think that your mother is just an ordinary housewife now. Before you two were born, she was a world-famous adventurer! Being able to marry her is the most boastful thing in my life as a father!"

"Really? It turns out mom was so awesome before!"

Rachel showed an expression of sudden enlightenment and cast a longing look at her mother, "Rachel also wants to go abroad for adventure when she grows up and become someone like mom!"

"Having said that, the ocean is vast, but it is also full of dangers."

The mother reached out and gently stroked Rachel's soft hair. Looking at her confused expression, her eyes revealed undisguised love and concern. "It's not too late to have this idea until you have enough strength to protect yourself. One day you will understand."

"The outside world... the vast ocean... the isolated village..."

Uno, who had been repeating these words in a low voice, suddenly raised his head and blurted out all the doubts in his heart without hesitation, "If the outside world is not so scary, why did our ancestors choose to live in seclusion on this remote island and even strictly forbid their descendants from going out to sea? Are they afraid that the residents of the island will be interested in overseas, or are they worried that a secret they have been trying so hard to hide will be known to the outside world?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the parents, who were talking and laughing, stopped discussing as if they had been electrocuted. They all turned their gazes to their son, with shock and surprise on their faces. They could not have imagined that this child, who looked only ten years old, would say such a thing.

The originally relatively harmonious breakfast atmosphere froze in an instant. Even Rachel, who was always mischievous, secretly glanced at her parents' faces and became a little nervous. Thinking that her brother might have offended their parents by saying something wrong, she couldn't help but worry for him.

The whole room suddenly fell into silence, and the only sounds were breathing and heartbeats, which gradually became clearer.

After a long while, the mother seemed to have come up with an idea. Her eyes were full of determination. She looked up at her son who was sitting quietly in his seat, seemingly waiting for an answer. She opened her thin lips and was about to say something, but her father waved his hand to her, indicating that she didn't need to say anything. Then he set his eyes on his son, changing his usual cynical style and replacing it with a solemnity that had never appeared on his face. He slowly said, "It seems that you have reached an age where nothing can be hidden from you, Uno. In this case, I have to tell you the truth. The reason why I decided to convene a meeting of the entire tribe today is for this matter..."

On the vast sea, the waves are surging, and the waves are beating against the coast like roaring beasts, making a deafening roar, just like rows of war drums passionately playing the prelude to the coming storm. Every impact of the huge waves is accompanied by rolling white waves, like a snow-covered curtain covering the sky and the earth, disappearing the moment it hits the shore, and cannot be captured.

At this time, a ship that had been wrecked beyond its shape by the storm was lying quietly on the shore. The entire hull was golden in color, sparkling with golden light in the sun. The originally magnificent hull had long since become riddled with holes, and even the deck was covered with cracks, as if it would fall apart completely with the slightest touch.

There were many naked upper-body men with strange makeup on their skin surrounding the area. Each of them had a serious and alert look on their face, even with a little disgust. They were approaching the wreckage of the ship little by little. The horns standing on their heads were like sharp knives, which made people feel chilling even in the daytime.

The sudden dull sound made everyone alert reflexively, and the spears in their hands were all aimed at the hole where the abnormal sound came from, where the cabin connected to the bottom of the ship. Everyone's eyes were filled with fierce and fierce light, and if there was anything wrong inside, they would mercilessly poke that place into a hornet's nest.

After an unknown amount of time, a strong smell of blood came out from the hole, causing the people present to cover their noses subconsciously. Then, a man covered in blood slowly crawled out from inside, accompanied by a hoarse and dry voice.

"Please... it doesn't matter who it is... if anyone can help me... I will definitely pay him a large amount of gold..."

At the same time, Pangu City, standing on the holy land of Marijoa, symbolizes the top power in the world.

"Are you sure the news is true? Even if it's just a little ghost, it's not a good thing for someone of his status to go to the underworld at will..."

"Yes! I have already found out that he is currently in a non-member country in the first half of the Grand Route, and he doesn't have any followers with him!"

An agent dressed in black half-knelt on the ground, his expression almost terrified to the extreme. Although he was reporting the situation to the white curly-haired old man who was asking him questions, his eyes were fixed on the ground, and he never dared to look up at him. "CP0 has sent experts to investigate. When they arrived at the scene, they found... found..."

For some reason, his voice began to become hesitant, and there was a great fear in his tone, as if he had received some terrible news that could not be described in words.

In front of him, the only one of the Five Elders, who were known as the "highest powers in the world," who stood with his hands behind his back, was an old man with a long mustache. He frowned slightly, as if he understood what he was going to say next. He said in a calm tone, "Okay, we roughly know what's going on. You can leave first. We'll notify you as soon as there's any situation."

"Yes! I promise to do my best to complete the task!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the whole person slipped out of the room like a gust of wind. No one wanted to deal with the person they feared the most for even one more second.

Fortunately, no one among the Five Elders paid attention to his attitude, but instead started a discussion around the previous topic.

"There are still three months left before the hunting competition. Can't that kid hold back any longer? It's really a headache..." The old man with the mustache sighed, looking quite helpless.

"The non-member states that he targeted probably no longer exist."

The man with short blond hair put his hands in his pockets and frowned, muttering a few words, "Can't you have some sense? I was hoping to use the people there as this year's 'rabbit escaper'..."

"When other Celestial Dragons kill people, they always have a reason..."

Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, a bald old man in a white robe kept tapping the handle of the knife in his hand with his knuckles. His face became heavier with each tap. "But only that kid regards killing as an ultimate enjoyment. He even takes the devil fruit just to seek a more perfect killing environment, where only blood and screams can satisfy him. But in this regard, I don't disagree..."

The bearded bald man sitting in the middle with his fingers clasped together snorted coldly, "Not only that, the slaves kept in captivity there often have the highest death rate, and it is increasing every year. Various letters of complaint are also pouring in... What on earth are those good-for-nothings in the Knights of God doing?! Shouldn't they be the ones to handle this kind of thing?"

He seemed to get angrier as he spoke, and finally he punched the round table in front of him, causing it to break into several pieces.

The other five elders seemed to be accustomed to his temper. Their expressions did not change. They just waited quietly for him to vent his emotions before continuing the discussion. The curly-haired old man who had not spoken a word was leaning on his cane, looking up at the ceiling, and said with some emotion: "Anyway, in terms of bloodline, he really has brought out the characteristics of the descendants of the Creator to the fullest. Among those who live in the realm of the gods, no one is more like a celestial dragon than him."

"Indeed, as a ruling class, it would be very difficult for us to retain the boring emotions of human beings."

The old man with a long beard nodded and agreed with his idea. Thinking about how Don Quixote Hominggu suddenly told him a few days ago that he didn't want to own any slaves, he really couldn't understand how such an alien could appear among the Celestial Dragons.

"Anyway, send CP to secretly monitor the boy's actions. Once he finds the right prey, put him under strict supervision to prevent him from doing anything wrong."

The bearded old man looked down at the debris scattered on the ground, and seemed to be touched by his worries. He murmured, "However, if he really gets there first, there is nothing we can do. He is the next heir to the Miles family, who regards war as the supreme honor and whose military exploits in the past ten years are second only to the Feigarand family."