You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395
“So what do you want to do?” Ivankov clattered his knife and fork together, the sound ringing in the air. “You robbed the Heavenly Tribute only to return it, and now you’re disheartened?”
Dragon sighed softly and looked out at the blue ocean with a somber expression on his face. “Yes… I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“If one person can’t do it alone, why not gather some like-minded people?” Liam spoke, his mouth full of food, his words muffled. “Don’t worry about something as lofty as the Heavenly Tribute just yet. Start by helping one person at a time, gathering comrades along the way. One day, you’ll be able to take the Heavenly Tribute without needing it – or rather, one day you’ll be able to tell the people that they don’t need to pay it anymore.”
“Hey! Don’t go stirring up trouble!” Ivankov’s massive head came closer, almost crushing Liam.
Dragon looked at Liam, though it was unclear if Liam’s words had moved him. Suddenly he asked, “Have you ever seen a Celestial Dragon with your own eyes?”
Ivankov remained silent. Liam shrugged, swallowed a huge bite of food, and loudly declared, “No! Robin, beside him, also shook her head quietly.
Dragon reached into his cloak and pulled out some books. He placed them carefully on the table and pushed them towards Liam and the others.
Liam pushed them back. “Excuse me, Cloak Big Brother, do I look like someone who reads books?”
Dragon: “…”
Robin, standing on her chair, leaned over and pulled the books back to her. Liam looked at the cover of the top book and saw a picture of a figure with a glowing halo behind his head, with pure white wings sprouting from his back, and a red dot on his forehead. Their hairstyle looked like a strange mix of god and Buddha— a full-on punk fusion.
The title on the cover read: *The Bible*.
“Oh, it’s one of those books!” Ivankov leaned in, quickly losing interest. His huge head was pushed away by Liam, annoyed by the obstruction. “Is this book common?”
Ivankov grinned broadly with an ambiguous expression, “It’s a beginner’s book on reading and writing!”
“Huh… got it.”
Liam also chuckled mysteriously.
Wiping his mouth, he picked up *The Bible* with his greasy hands and opened it curiously.
Robin, on the other hand, picked up the rest of the books. They were ordinary and common textbooks. Even Robin, who had become a self-taught historian at the age of eight, had learned to read from similar textbooks in her early literacy days.
“The descendants of the Creator, the offspring of the gods…” Dragon leaned back in his chair. “That’s not just the Celestial Dragons’ self-proclaimed title… Their ancestors are in these early literate *Bibles*. Their glorious history, their ‘divine’ status – it’s all written in every textbook, deeply ingrained in the minds of the people, passed down through generations…”
Liam flipped through the so-called *Bible* and was surprised to find myths of a world-ending flood.
A great flood that wiped out the world, with a God who saved mankind…
The God who created all things also left descendants…
These descendants shepherded humanity in the name of the god, guiding their souls and enjoying the offerings of the world…
All beings suffered, and supporting the god’s offspring was their inherent duty – a way of repaying divine grace…
Liam turned to Robin and asked, “Did you learn to read from something like this?”
“Mm…” Robin nodded.
“Wow, it’s a miracle your brain didn’t fry from reading that!” Liam remarked, only to be met with an eye roll from Robin.
Liam couldn’t help but think of the Captain of the Straw Hats, Luffy – did he read that kind of book too? Oh wait, Luffy doesn’t read. Well, never mind.
Dragon’s expression was hidden under the shadow of his hood as he spoke softly, “I once visited Mariejois… I saw the most despicable side of the Celestial Dragons, and I also witnessed ordinary people who accepted their evilness as completely natural. Do you know? When ordinary citizens stand in front of the Celestial Dragons and face the descendants of the gods, the offspring of the Creator, no matter how much fear they feel, the idea of resisting never even crosses their minds…”
“How could anyone defy the gods?” Dragon’s voice grew more somber. “That belief, rooted deep in their hearts, is incredibly difficult to erase.”
Liam leafed through the *Bible* and tossed it aside in confusion. “But you’re different?”
Dragon replied, “Yes, I am different.”
Liam looked around. Ivankov quickly yelled, “Don’t ask me!”
Robin shook her head and said, “I have no idea…”
“I don’t know either.” Liam shrugged and looked at Dragon. “But there must be others like you, right?”
After all, your old man, Garp, is always cursing the Celestial Dragons, calling them stupid pigs…
“And what if there are a hundred like me?” Dragon sighed.
Why so pessimistic? Liam was curious, “Why do you think it’s impossible for ordinary people to resist the Celestial Dragons?”
Dragon was silent for a moment before asking, “Can you grab your own hair and pull yourself up? If you’ve ever seen how ordinary people behave in the face of the Celestial Dragons, you’d know that their inability to resist is almost instinctive.
Seriously? Talking about it like it’s some mystical power…
Dragon’s analogy about lifting yourself up by the hair… So he thinks that obedience to the divine authority of the Celestial Dragons is an instinctive response in ordinary people?
Liam couldn’t help but remember the Vinsmoke family…
In the manga, Reiju once told Sanji that even though she didn’t agree with her father Judge’s ways, she couldn’t disobey him because her lineage factor had been altered.
Could it be that the Celestial Dragons are like Judge to Reiju and her siblings in relation to ordinary people?
Garp and Dragon, as “Awakened” individuals, are like Sanji outliers with their own wills?
Wait, is that the secret of the “D.” clan?
No, Zoro once thought about slashing a Celestial Dragon in the street, and he’s no “D.”…
Liam thought idly, not too worried, and muttered to himself, “Lifting yourself by the hair? Why not just eat a bird-type devil fruit? Or maybe a flying Logia Devil Fruit… Or maybe there’s a Devil Fruit that can make people want to resist deep in their hearts!”
If he remembered correctly…
In the future, the Revolutionary Army’s Eastern Army Commander, Belo Betty, had such a fruit—the Encourage-Encourage Fruit.
Her flag-waving, cigarette-smoking self could inspire the masses, make them feel empowered, unleash their willpower and strength… Kind of like the way Tilda hypnotized Liam back in the day…
Wait, wait, wait – could it be that the principle behind the Encourage-Encourage Fruit is similar to hypnosis? In essence, isn’t it just like Life Return, manipulating someone’s body, their lineage factor, through mental or energetic interference, stimulating the right wavelengths?
Liam realized that *Life Return* was really a catch-all concept; you could fit just about anything into it…
Upon hearing Liam’s words, Dragon’s solemn eyes suddenly lifted.
“What?” Liam asked, confused.
“A devil fruit that can make people want to resist…” Dragon muttered to himself.
Such a simple answer – why hadn’t he thought of it before?
—
Dragon left.
Liam didn’t even notice when he left… and he felt a bit sorry for that!
Just when he thought they were starting to bond a bit and he might finally get some clues about Haki, Dragon disappeared.
Did he go off to search for the Encourage-Encourage Fruit?
Liam didn’t know.
However, since the Revolutionary Army’s Western Army Commander Morley was in the West Blue, it stood to reason that the Eastern Army Commander Belo Betty, the user of the Encourage-Encourage Fruit, might also be somewhere in the East Blue…
……
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395
Support me on Patreon for extra chapters