Chapter 3: An Unexpected Encounter, And The Origin Of The Shitty Fruit
(A/N: Sorry for the late chapter I had some family visiting and didn't have much free time. Also, with the time it takes for me to write this I'm afraid that putting out 4000 word chapters every day just isn't sustainable with my schedule as I work a full time job and I'm just not a very fast typer... So I'm thinking of cutting the length in half with one 2000 word chapter released every day. What do you guys think? Or should I keep the chapter length and just release only two or three chapters a week?)
"AHHHHHHHHHHH...ahhh.. huh?" Not expecting to still be alive I open my eyes, as my death scream comes to a confused stop, and wonder at how I am still falling after so long. After what felt like ages to me, which was probably only around 30 seconds of free fall, my brain slowly starts to function once more. I recall the rock I threw down here and how I never heard it hit the bottom. Managing to slightly calm my panicked heart I maneuver my body so that I'm looking down towards where I'm falling.
After many long seconds of falling through complete darkness, with the feeling of air resistance buffeting my body the only clue that I am moving at all, there appears something down in the distance. A soft glow is seen far below me, getting larger and brighter by the second. Seeing this I strain my eyes through the tears created by the air pressure of my fall, trying to find out what is down there and if there is anything that can save me from my apparent fate of falling to my death.
With the light getting brighter and brighter I can see what looks to be the trunk of the same tree that I fell from. Once again shocked from the apparent scale of the massive tree, I can see that down a little further below its trunk starts to split into numerous roots that continue even further down. What truly shocks me though is that these roots that are hugging the walls of the shaft are glowing! It seems they are the source of light in this dark abyss.
Looking at these glowing roots for some reason what passes through my mind is.. 'Huh I guess now I'm not only falling to my death but it seems that I ate a toxic fruit from a radioactive tree... fate sure is a cruel mistress..' I am quickly distracted from such thoughts though when the hole I've been falling down for the past two or so minutes suddenly opens up into a massive cavern.
The glowing roots the radioactive tree cling to the walls for the most part with only a few here and there continuing straight down. Scanning my eyes over my new environment, I am amazed to see that half of the bottom floor of the cavern is taken up by what looks to be the golden ruins of some ancient settlement. As amazing as that sight is, what concerns me at the moment is that I'm now in the open air with nothing to stop my fall in sight.
Directly beneath me, I can see the glimmering of water taking up the other half of the cavern's floor. While that might seem better than the solid ground I know that at terminal velocity hitting the water is just as devastating to the human body, let alone my seven year old emaciated one. Survival instincts kicking in I start waving my arms and legs around to try and position myself with my feet pointing downward in a futile attempt to mitigate the impact.
Just as panic at my nearing doom starts to set in something whispers at the back of my mind, telling me not to fear the water quickly approaching. A sensation starts to come over me, something like feeling a forgotten memory staring to resurface or a word at the tip of my tongue. A distantly familiar and comforting feeling radiates from the water telling me not to fear and that it will never hurt me, strangely reminding me of my mother's embrace when I was a kid.
As calming and comforting this feeling is the logic and experience built up over the years of my past life overshadowed it and seeing I'm about to impact the water I cross my arms and point my toes. The moment I hit, plunging deep into the frigid water, I can feel nearly all the bones in my body shatter. Taking a moment for the pain to hit, it immediately overwhelms my mind and forced me into unconsciousness from its intensity.
Unseen to all in this world at the bottom of this cavern lost to time Michael, hidden from sight by the dark waters, sinks down into the depths as strange changes start happening to his body. On the sides of his neck right behind his ears, slits start forming in his skin.
On his hands and feet, his nails grow into pointed claws and thin membranes stretch to connect the digits together. The skin of his arms and legs take on the appearance of light blueish green colored scales with a beautiful luster that was sure to sparkle brightly in the sunlight. Sinking deeper, his battered form starts to glow in a soft blue hue.
While these changes were taking place, up above the waters on the shore of the forgotten ruins a large form walks up to the edge of the water. A man with a tall and stout body, so big that he would be considered a giant in Michaels's old world, stands looking at the water with a confused face.
"Huhh what was that noise? A fish? ...but it sounded too loud for just a that.. Hmmm I don't see anything out there... Bwahaha perhaps all this isolation is getting to me and I've finally started hearing things.. *cough*cough*cough* Ughhch.. damn this failing body.. " Shaking his head this man makes his way back to what he was doing before.
Days go by and the glow around Michael has grown into a bright light. If you were to look within his body during these days you would be shocked to find all his bones that were shattered to dust and all the tissues of his body that were previously torn to shreds, slowly mending themselves as they soak in the energy of the light encapsulating his body. What would have been permanently crippling if not outright fatal in his old world is now, through this mysterious process, being healed within days.
With his body fully recovering from its close brush with death, the light around him starts to fade out to nothing. A short time later Michael, who thought himself a dead man, opens his eyes. His consciousness returning, his mind coming to terms with the fact that he still lives, Michael looks around with a confused face that soon turns to shock.
Water, water all around him and so dark that he can't even see the nose on his face. Shocked and slightly panicking with the thought of drowning flooding his mind until he realized that he was breathing just fine... underwater.
Breathing in full lungfuls of water without any sense of pain or discomfort whatsoever. Staying still without moving and just taking in such a novel sensation Michael wonders how this is even possible. Thinking it could be attributed to an ability of his new body, he sets off to swim up to the surface.
Swimming up, with the water continuing to lighten the further up he swims, he spots the shimmering of the surface. Suddenly realizing that the surface it as approaching fast, very fast, so fast that before he has time to think about what's going on he is out of the water and launching into the air with great momentum.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Ummphh" Yelling as he flies through the air, he comes down unceremoniously flat upon his back with a loud slapping sound and the air knocked out of his lungs. Lying there, floating on the water Michael takes a moment to reflect on what just happened and his life choices that led him to this moment.
Thinking what he did to deserve all this and if he could have done anything differently. After his moment of reflection, he comes to a perfectly reasonable and logical conclusion. 'IT'S ALL THAT DAMN BIRDS FAULT!!!' With his feathered foe coming to mind an annoyed and bitter look comes over his face and he once again vows his revenge.
Setting these thoughts aside with a huff Michael starts swimming to the shore. He brings his arm down and kicks his legs but instead of gently moving forward as he is used to when swimming he is instead launched forward. Like a torpedo shot through the water, he is propelled with great speed and crashes headlong onto the shore. Though 'shore' might not be the best word as he finds that the ground comes to an abrupt end a few inches above the water level in a line spanning the width of the cavern and with the side going straight down into the depths of the water.
Gritting his teeth in pain, though noting that it quickly fades, he hauls himself onto dry land. Standing up he examines his body, as by rights he should be dead or at least severely broken from his long fall, and is stunned by what he sees.
Looking at his hands and seeing blue scales instead of skin and webbing between his fingers he says to himself with horror struck eyes, "What the hell?!? NOOOOO!!! IM A MUTANT!!! That damn toxic fruit from that damn radioactive glowing tree mutated me into a damn FISH!! AHHHHH.. Now how am I going to make a girl fall in love with me when I look like some scaled, fishy, X-Men reject... DAMN FUCKING SEAGULL THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!"
Depressed at the discovery of his apparent mutation and absorbed in his own thoughts he doesn't notice someone coming up behind him until a huge hand comes down on his shoulder. Jumping at the sudden contact Michael spins around and what greats his eyes are knees. Looking up he follows these knees to see that they are connected to the largest man he has ever seen.
Towering over him, leaving quite the intimidating impression, is what has to be some kind of giant as no human could possibly be this tall. Estimating him to be at least 15 feet tall with wide shoulders and hands that look like they could encircle my entire waist and then some.
Seeing the man eyeing him with an indecipherable look on his massive face makes him panic. Knowing that he has no chance if it comes down to a fight with this behemoth Michael does the only thing he can think of... Stall and look for an opportunity to escape.
"AHHHH MISTER GIANT DONT EAT ME!!!! PLEASE! I'm just a scrawny kid.. see just skin and bones.. no protein in me!! LOOK! look at my arms! see? see?!? I ate a toxic fruit from this glowing radioactive tree and turned me into a mutant.. I'm probably poison... NO, I'm DEFINITELY poison! So eating me will just upset your stomach and probably give you the runs for a week. so I'm just going to go now... oh and your welcome for saving you from food poisoning... no need to thank me.. BYE!"
'Smooth.. real smooth.' He thinks with a grimace. Slowly backing away from the big guy, he notes that the giant's expression hasn't changed. Thinking that the giant doesn't understand what he's saying Michael's face falls further. Getting further away as he continues to slowly step back, he is about to turn a make a break for it when...
"BHAHAHAHAHA Eat you?? Kid your pretty funny HAHAHA *cough*cough*cough* ughh damn brat your gonna kill me from laughing too hard HA!"
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(POV Change)
Waking up from sleep is always when it hurt the worst. Grimacing from the pain radiating from every inch of my body I take deep breaths till it starts to lessen. Slowly sitting up I wonder for the millionth time 'What am I doing.. stuck here just waiting to die.. I should just get on with it already..' Shaking these dark thoughts from my head has been getting harder and harder in the last couple of years.
I've been stuck in this godforsaken hole for long now that I wonder if there is anyone out there that still remembers me. With the pain getting worse and my body starting to deteriorate I know I don't have much longer to live perhaps only a couple more years and yet I can't bring myself to end the pain.
It's not that I'm afraid to die, I'm certainly no coward, it's just... I want to live. I guess I haven't given up hope of getting out and seeing my friends and family again. I hope they're still alive. Someone has to have found a cure by now right? If only my Ship didn't break getting in here I could save everyone with the things I found in this place.
Getting up I grab my makeshift fishing pole and head towards the water to catch my breakfast. Walking out of the stone building with beautiful carvings covering every inch of it that has been my home while I've been imprisoned here, I hear something that stops me in my tracks.
*splash* "AHHHHHHHHHHH" *spash* The sound of water and a scream is heard from the distance. Dropping my pole and running as fast as I could manage, I get close enough to see the form of what I assume to be a child shooting through the water at a pretty fast speed only to crash into to side of the shore. Letting out a chuckle at the odd sight I make my way closer.
Seeing him get up out of the water I am stunned at the look of the now apparent young boy. He is shirtless with ripped shorts that look like they're about ready to give up the fight and fall off. He seems to be pretty skinny, as he's looking like he doesn't get fed enough. What I see next brings a surprised look to my face, as on his arms and legs there are blue scales and his neck has what looks like gills.
'A Fishman? Hmmm no, I don't think so as its only his arms and legs that look different... then, a zoan? But it cant be.. he was just swimming in seawater, If he was a devil fruit user that would be impossible... Well... Unless.. its that fruit?... Hmm what an interesting brat.'
Getting closer, the boy has his back to me and doesn't seem to notice my presence. Now within a few yards, I can hear him mumbling to himself but all I can catch is some nonsense about a radioactive tree, being a mutated fish, someone called x man and something about this being 'that damned seagull's fault', which hearing that last part makes my eyebrow twitch in annoyance.
I reach out to pat him on the shoulder and get the boy's attention but upon feeling my pat he jumps like I scared him, which given the situation I probably did. Just as I am about to apologize for the scare I see the boy's eyes go wide as he looks up at me. He slowly backed up a step as he opens his mouth to say the funniest thing I have heard In a long time.
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(MC's POV)
'Did the giant just speak English??' Shocked that I am somehow able to understand what this guy is saying, as this brings up a whole slew of questions that I know I'll probably never get answers to. I can't exactly ask how he knows English as for all I know this could be the common language here and no one has ever heard the word English before.
Stunned into stillness it takes a moment to process what the giant just said. Breathing out a sigh of relief that I'm apparently not a menu item, I ask the obvious questions. "Umm.. Sorry about that but who are you?? and how did you get down here?.. also do you know where here is by chance?"
The giant takes a moment to ponder my questions before giving his answers "Well brat, Seagu.."
"WHAT?!?!?! WHERE IS THAT BASTARD BIRD?! I'LL WRING ITS FILTHY NECK FOR WHAT IT DID TO.. ..OUCH! What was that for?!" Broken out of my tirade and rubbing my head where I can feel an obvious knot forming, I give the giant that just smacked me a wronged look.
"Brat don't give me that look, just who are you calling a bastard bird huh?? Think I'll take such insults lying down?!" The giant replied while giving me an annoyed look.
"What are you talking about? Your not a seagull sympathizer are you?" I said looking dubiously up at the giant.
"Sympathizer?? Boy, do you want another smack? My NAME is Seagull." Said apparently, Mr. Seagull
Hearing this Michael shows a blank look then straightens up and gives a formal bow, "I apologize on behalf of your parents for their horrible naming sense."
Hearing what the brat said and seeing the look of total sincerity on his face along with his bow, Seagull is stunned by this kid's gall. "You stinking brat!! Take this and learn some manners!"
"AUGHHHHH OWWWWW OWWW OWWWWW Gahh Why do you hit so hard?!?!" Cried Michael rubbing his new knot to match the last.
"BAHAHA Serves you right punk." Replied Seagull *cough*cough* "Ughhh damn"
Feeling that this man is relatively good natured and seeing the look of pain cross Seagull's face along with the coughing, Michael asked with some concern, "Hey are you okay? What's wrong?"
"Huhhh Its nothing to concern yourself with kid I've just been sick for a long time now" Replied Seagull with a melancholy look. Discarding his sad thoughts he askes the boy in front of him, "So boy, tell me who are you and how did you get stuck in this godforsaken place? Also, whats with those scales? ..are you a Fishman? ...or perhaps a zoan user?"
Hearing these questions brings Michael to a halt as he has to seriously consider how he is going to answer. He could tell the truth and admit that he is not from this world and that he woke up in this body but doing so brings with it a slew of problems.
Even if this guy that he just met somehow believes him, should it get out to the public there is a good chance that he will be met with torches, pitchforks, and cries of 'burn the witch'. No, he would much rather avoid such a situation and besides, there is no telling how this guy will react. Better to play it safe and keep the truth hidden. With that decided he tries to come up with a cover story on the fly.
'Hmm better keep it simple.. and what better simple and time proven alibi is there but amnesia... now should I give him my name?? no that would bring questions as to why I remember my name and nothing else.. keep it simple... full amnesia it is.'
"Sorry I can't really give you my name as I don't really remember what it is.. you see I woke up about two weeks ago in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't remember how I got there or anything else including who I am, after walking for a few days with no food or water and being harassed by this demonic seagull I came across a mountain and not knowing what else to do I ended up climbing it to get to the other side, there I found a valley this some freshwater and berries. I ended up staying there until just now.
(A/N: Remember he doesn't know how long he was in the water for) There was a huge tree growing out of a hole in the ground and I saw it had a fruit on it so after all the berries were eaten I managed to climb the tree to get the fruit but I didn't know that the fruit was toxic and the horrible taste distracted me long enough for that evil seagull to fly at me and knock me off my branch making me fall down the hole the tree was growing out of.
On the way down I saw that the tree's roots were glowing so I figured that there was something wrong with it and that was what made the fruit so toxic where it even mutated me into a mutant fish man thing, that's how I got these scales. As for the zoan user thing, I don't really know what that is as I have never heard of it." After saying all that and telling Seagull how he got here and his woes about his supposed mutation, he looked to the big man to see if he believed him.
Hearing all of this Seagull had a look of pity flash through his eyes on hearing that the boy knew nothing of who he was, then that look of pity turned to shock as he had his suspicions confirmed. The fact that he came from up on top of the Red Line also surprised him quite a bit.
He did find it quite humorous though, how the child thought the fruit he ate was toxic and caused him to "mutate". If you think about it he is not exactly wrong but he is also very far from the truth as he has no idea how truly fortunate he really is.
"Hmmm I see, well I do have some good news for you, child. The fruit you ate was not toxic, as you thought but rather I suspect it is what's known as a Devil Fruit." Seagull tried to reassure the boy.
"A Devil Fruit?? what is that and why is it called that? It certainly doesn't sound very encouraging" Replied Michael with a confused face.
"Yes a Devil Fruit, though very rare they are mystical fruits found throughout the world that, when eaten give the person mystical abilities. There are three types of Devil Fruits in the world, first the most common but also the most varied are the Paramecia.
Eating one of these would give the person a power that can either affect their body, manipulate the environment, and/or produce substances. There are many wondrous and strange abilities that paramedic fruits grant and you never know what you'll face when going up against someone who has eaten one." Taking a breath and recalling all he knows of Devil Fruits Seagull continues explaining.
"Next would be the Zoan type that I suspect you ate. Zoan fruits allow the user to transform into another species altogether, usually some kind of animal. This fruit also gives a hybrid form as well, mixing the features of their regular body with that of the species of their fruit. The Zoan fruit is also the only type of Devil Fruit with a subclass, those being the Ancient Zoan that allows the user to transform into ancient, extinct animals, such as dinosaurs and the like.
The other the Mythical Zoan that allows the user to transform into creatures that are the subject of myths and legends. The Mythical Zoans are also the rarest of all Devil Fruits and if I'm right this is the exact type that I believe you have eaten." Explaining to this point Seagull looks to see if the boy is still paying attention and is satisfied with the look of fascination on his face as he soaks up all he is hearing.
Continuing his explanation Seagull moves on to the last type of fruit. "Now, the last type is considered the rarest, besides the Mythical Zoans. They are called the Logia type and is able to give its user the ability to become, create, and control an element or force of nature. These are considered the strongest and most capable of destruction and are very hard to counter without special training. So brat what do you think after hearing all this?"
Still trying to wrap his head around all he heard Michael keeps thinking, 'Superpowers!!!! This world has freaking SUPERPOWERS!!! ..and he thinks I ate one of these magic fruits? well, I gotta say gaining superpowers is a lot better than being a radioactive mutated fish.' Looking up at Seagull he says, "So you think I ate a Devil Fruit and gained an ability and that's what's causing these scales? So then can I control it? How do we know for sure?"
"Well just clear your mind of external thoughts, focus on the scales and will them to recede. In the same way, if you focus within yourself, feel your power within your core then try feeling what it should be called and it should come to you by instinct." Replied Seagull with a thoughtful expression.
Listening to what he was told Michael sits down cross-legged, closed his eyes and focused his willpower on making the changes to his body recede and go back to his original look. After concentrating for awhile he opened his eyes to look at his hands and with a happy smile saw that they were back to normal.
"HAHAHA look at that pleased look you have, if you weren't able to do something so basic I would have thought you were slow in the head.. BWHAHAHAHA Now see if you can learn the name of your fruit, I'm quite curious myself." Said Seagull with a snicker.
Eyebrow twitching with annoyance and giving out a huff Michael closes his eyes once more and focuses his mind on looking for his center of power. After many long moments, he starts to feel something in his chest right where his heart is.
Soothing yet raging and a feeling of tyrannic arrogance as if standing at the top of the world and looking down on all of creation, that is the feeling he got from it. Soaking in these sensations words start to come to mind that he repeats out loud. They are:
Hebi Hebi no Mi: Model... Leviathan....
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
streek135
streek135 3rd Chapter coming at ya :) Sorry again for the late chapter and let me know what your thoughts are for the chapter-length/release-rate issue.
Also, I created a Deviantart page and uploaded some pictures as a visual aid type of thing to go along in connection with the story if you want to check it out just search streek135 and it should come up just be aware there are some minor spoilers if you do.
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