Dreams and Destiny (A One Piece Quest AU)

You eat. GOD is this island given taste and flavor. A suitable food for a god. Divine energy swirls and cascades through your hallowed vessel. The power suffuses every edifice, every vault of your mind, body, and soul. Sinful Weakness is driven way by the storm enhancing every facet of your form. Staying conscious before the torrents of taste, floating above the flood of flavor, takes every ounce of your willpower.

You are the master of your own fate.

You must be strong enough to slay any enemy. That is nearly within your grasp, but more... more... you must be tough enough to withstand everything which comes your way! The Throne is not Empty! A portent of what is to come! With unmatched mastery over your vessel and an echoing, roaring laugh, you force this GOD's energy to flow into your flesh and bones, into sacred blood and holy pathways. You have witnessed true strength. You make yourself proof against it. You will not be slain!

Once the tremendous meal has worked a miracle on all assembled, you fall into a deep and dark slumber. Energy roils still through you, but you do not dream. All is quiet as a god's vessel is reshaped and restored. At long last, you rest.

When you wake to a needling sensation, there is something soft and brittle in your hand. There's blood on your hands.

Blink.

Your eyes open, and your instincts, honed to perfection over a holy life spent scourging Sin from flesh, kick in. You Observe the situation. Awareness and understanding flow all about you. A big and brawny Large Human's corpse is held in your hand. Buffalo. His tongue from between big white teeth. The Doflamingo Pirates symbol is clearly visible. You've clearly crushed his windpipe and spine and all the rest with your iron grasp. Good. Another fact, you're dressed in a fine creation. Needles press into every inch of your flesh, though they do not disturb the fit of your new suit. Is this what Commoners call acupuncture? Kokoko! The Battle Tailor is in the same room. He's run his Needle through a leather-clad pirate's head. Gladius.

Two down.

The room is tiny. One of the small and quaint vestibules aboard the Thousand Sunny. You reach out with your senses. The ship's rocking back and forth. The sound of battle is out there. You could question Alvin. There are many, many, questions you have for the Battle Tailor, but you have a sense that immediate action is needed. This is not your forte, but a muddled picture is better than no picture at all.

Focus determines your reality.

The World awaits.

Above, you sense the all-too-familiar presences of the Straw Hat Pirates. They've gotten stronger! Straw Hat Luffy burns with the embers of divine light. You contemplate the impossibilty for a full ten seconds. A commoner, no, a pirate presuming to contain that which should only belong to the Divine! He's not even a Bastard Dragon! You force your sense elsewhere. The Three-fold Asura, Roronoa Zoro, bristles with demonic and hellish fury. Black Leg Sanji, your future Attack Cuisine Chef--accept no substitutes!--emanates an impressive Lineage Factor which has been wholly transformed. A ferocious storm rumbles through the Heavens.

Olive and Murphy with his minions are there, too.

Of the rest of your detestable pirate companions, there is no sign. No, Buggy the Clown or Crocodile or Edward Weevil. No Mihawk. You grit your teeth at the thought of pirates such as Crocodile back out in the world once more. Your fist clenches. It longs for Mercy.

Focus. The Straw Hats are fighting against considerable foes. A half dozen points of Threat as strong as some of the Vice Admirals and more dangerous pirates you've encountered in the Common World. Hundreds more presences. None you recognize.

Time to move. Not that you're worried about the Straw Hats. Of course not. Just need to stretch your legs. And a good fight is a great opportunity for exercise!

You open your eyes, and toss the filthy pirate corpse to the blood covered planks. You stomp his head under your booted foot. Must make sure. Pirates are a tenacious brand of vermin. Your muscles flex and the thousands of needles protruding from your skin are thrown off. Your eyes cut to the Battle Tailor. "Let's go."

He cleans off the point of his harpoon-like needle. "Aye, Great Dragon." His eyes are nearly feverish. He cares not one whit for what's going on above decks. As he drinks in your appearance, he rapidly continues, "Do tell me if your inseam chafes even the smallest bit. I'm trying something new, and-"

You hold up a hand. A slight movement shows no deficiencies in your garb. You understand the weight of the Battle Tailor's Dream. You say, "I remember well our bargain. Time to fight."

He hefts his Harpoon over his shoulder, and he gives you a measuring glance. A pleased smile alights on his Commoner's features. "You've bloomed splendidly, my muse!"

Then it really is time to go.

You could use the door and the stairs. But, this is a pirate vessel. Small recompense for the maddening company you've suffered during this voyage. So, with a wide grin, you jump. Seven steps. The wood creaks under your weight, and you shatter two decks worth of wood in a hale of splinters as you catapult upwards. A driving rain falls upon your divine and dashingly attired form. The Coat of Justice flows behind you. An expenditure of Will as you land on the Thousand Sunny's main deck, and the turbulent clouds overhead part. The moons are high overhead. A sea of stars dot the vast darkness of the Heavens. Alvin lands lithely next to you. The sky is clear now, and you survey your Realm.

Everything is chaos. Every eye turns to you.

A great behemoth of a ship, one that even dwarfs the Exalted Dawn, floats to the port side in suddenly becalmed waters. It's an ugly thing tied to the Thousand Sunny by boarding lines. Something of the Marine Battleship is there, but also, a mockery of the Dawn. Instead of flowing aquiline forms, it's a rough and jagged gnarl of vicious turns. Instead of love and worship and camaraderie breathing life into it, there is only hate and terror and despair. The ship's figurehead is a snarling dragon. A furtive glance shows pirates of the worst sort crawling over its battlements. The thing has battlements. Flying high over head is a black jolly roger. A Dragon eating its own tail.

Wrath and ruin sweep through your heart. You do not act. Not, yet.

"Kenny, don't hurt the Sunny!" Luffy says, as he burns with the embers of divinity. You ignore the pirate. Faces to names. Names to faces. Beside Luffy, stands his navigator. Put some clothes on woman! The hirsute Hag Rod the Quarter Giant slaying a horde of minions with a hefty axe. Judau the Jester in grisly and garishly grotesque garments. Each jingle of his bells causes a multi-colored explosion. Spike Devareaux shoots a salvo of deadly spikes at the Straw Hats. Launcel of Kameloth in black armor wielding a sword and spear both with masterful skill. Four infamous pirates. Each with a bounty over 500 million berris. Before they were caught, before they were made prisoner slaves.

You see their collars even still. Even the Straw Hat navigator wears one.

Your gaze shifts to a pair of CP-O agents. Man and woman. Masked as is their way, they are otherwise dressed as stereotypical pirates. Both strong. More than a match for nearly anyone you've met in the Common World. The pair crouch defensively in front of a dazed Celestial Dragon. A shattered helmet. Breathing the same air as the Commoners! A pistol held loosely in one hand. A dirty exclusion suit, the attire of the Rightful Rulers of the World. A dragon eating its own tail is proudly emblazoned upon his breast. Those beady eyes, set in a flabby and maladjusted face, meet your own, and you know your kin.

Saint Krishna Paomli.

Memories unfurl. Things gleaned in passing, in the mad haze which is your youth in the Holy Land. You know far more about your devious kin than you want to. Can't close your eyes. Won't. Never again.

A child laughing at a funeral for his peers. Tears sting in a broken boy's eyes.

A teen full of lust for flesh, especially if it was unwanted. Train. Never succumb to Weakness.

A god torturing slaves for banal amusement. Mercy is a cleaner thing. Treat your slaves with kindness and mercy.

The world stands still, as your kin finds his feet. All else is still. The various battles are paused, as if awaiting permission to carry on. You don't trust yourself to breathe. He looks at you for a long moment. Paomli is held in high regard by your fellow kin. They praise him for being the very model of godliness, for taking a strong had with his prisoner-slaves, and for showing a deep cunning in internal power struggles. There's even a bet that he'd one day replace one of the Elder Stars. You manage to keep your features carefully blank. And then, he manages a grin, "Kennard! I thought you were dead! We all did, even Great Dragon Burke!" He pauses, and wipes blood from a ruined nose. He sends Straw Hat a disdainful look, and Monkey D. Luffy simply gives him the bird. "Anyways, once Kizaru gets here to sort this lot out, you'll have to show me a tour of your toys. The Inflated Dawn? It's nearby. Ferrying the Marine Admiral to us." He motions to the monstrosity he calls a ship, at all of his slaves turned pirates. He grins widely and proudly. "I can see the appeal of hunting in the Common World!"

You literally vibrate in place. Your Observation thrums through you. It flows out, and you see and sense Common humans cast into chains. Men, women, and children all wearing those explosive collars. Must be hundreds of your innocent subjects cast into bondage.

What do?
[] Slay the Enemies of Justice.
[] Capture Paomli. A harsh punishment awaits.
[] Challenge Paomli to a Duel.
[] Write-in