Chapter 28: A Giant Firework
( 3rd POV )
After departing from the Germa castle, their destination was the shoreline, where Uta and Robin awaited their arrival. Azel, descending leisurely from the sky, nonchalantly discarded Judge and his three musketeers to the ground like garbage.
"Welcome back, oni-chan, onee-chan."
"Nice job right there, fufufu."
Uta and Robin extended their greetings, while the others smiled at Uta, they are perplexed by Robin's cryptic words.
Meanwhile, Vanze, who had observed her peeping into the throne room, merely rolled his eyes at her utterances.
"Who is this pink-haired onee-san with you guys?" Uta inquired, scrutinizing Reiju adorned in her raid suit.
"Hahaha, we're back, Uta-chan. Let me introduce the pink-haired girl with us. She's Vinsmoke Reiju, our new family member. Long story short, she was being controlled by her twisted family, and we ended up helping her regain her freedom, thwarting her father's evil plan," Vanze explained to Uta, aware that Robin was already familiar with the situation.
Reiju stepped forward, introduced by Vanze. "Hello, you can call me Reiju. I'm sorry for all the trouble my family has caused. But by the way, Vanze, what did you mean by me becoming your new family member?" She asked, blushing and puzzled.
"Ara~ ara~"
"Tsk."
"Hehe."
The three women around Vanze suddenly stared at him, their eyes demanding a logical answer. Vanze, with a cold sweat forming on his back, started thinking of a way to respond without triggering a shura field.
"I mean, you are now free and don't have anything or anywhere to go, right? Why not join our guild then? We can travel around the world, and maybe we can also help you search for your blonde brother's whereabouts. So, how does that sound? Are you in?" Vanze said, smiling and inviting Reiju.
"Go to the sea with you guys? Like pirates?" Reiju asked.
"No, I said we were an adventures guild back then to you. Don't compare us to the lowly profession like them."
Vanze tries to explain their guild's purpose to Reiju when Yamato also begins questioning him. "Eh? But we also loot every pirate we've been defeating so far. Isn't it the same thing?"
The others, hearing her ridiculous question, just slapped their foreheads and wondered what was inside her mind. Vanze also sighed at Yamato's question.
"Sigh, well, my point is why not stay with us for now until you find something you want to do, Reiju?" He asked once again, looking at the pink-haired girl.
Reiju looked around their group and studied their faces, seemingly convinced after seeing their strength and bonds so far. "Um, if you guys are fine with me joining, then I'll be rude if I'm to refuse. So, please take care of me from now on." She smiled and bent her body a little, expressing her choice to join their guild.
"Fufufu, a new member joining us as soon as we reach the North Blue."
"Tsk, whatever."
"Hahaha, welcome aboard, Reiju."
"Welcome, Reiju onee-san."
While the others expressed their welcome to Reiju, Vanze interrupted them one last time to ask something of Reiju. "Reiju, now there is one last thing we need to do. Are you sure you want to destroy the kingdom in front of us? It's your hometown after all."
Reiju and the others stopped talking and stared at the pink-haired girl. She seemed to contemplate something for a moment before a flash of determination was seen in her eyes.
"Yes, please help me destroy it. Even though it is indeed my hometown, there is nothing good left behind. My mom has already passed away, while my other brother is also running away. If it continues to exist, I'm afraid many more islands will suffer the same thing as today," she said, expressing her reasons to the others.
Vanze acknowledged her request, nodded, and asked Azel to create a grand fireworks display for today's event. "Azel, can you help me set up a grand fireworks?" He said to Azel while giving him a knowing smile.
Azel also smiled back to respond. "Will do, Vanze-san," he said.
He started to flap his giant black wings and flew toward the giant glacier in front of them. The others also started to retreat from the shore. When Azel sensed it was a nice spot to begin his attack, the fire on his back started to burn brightly while he put his right hand in the air. A giant orange flame suddenly appeared, and it kept expanding in size. The fireball also started rotating, gaining speed, akin to a giant Rasengan at this point. The ice in the surrounding area also started to melt because of the heat.
"Ignite: Entei..." He whispered slowly, pointing his right hand down to the ground, bringing the giant flame Rasengan to destroy the Germa kingdom.
Upon impact with the ice glacier and the castle, it caused massive shockwaves and a storm of heat. Even the trees near the shore got uprooted because of the wind. The entire Germa kingdom got engulfed in the firestorm and could not be seen again.
The northwest of the island looked like it was birthing a second sun, shining so bright even to the rest of the survivors in the town. Vanze and the others watched the withdrawal of one of the great kingdoms from history and also the conclusion of the entire twisted event from today. Later, far in the future, this would mark the first-ever appearance of The Infinite Trailblazers and their first-ever action on a large scale in the history of the worlds.
.....
After watching the giant fireworks on the shore, the group decided to head back to the town first as the day was already getting dark.
When they finally reached the town, a dozen of survivors could be seen trying to salvage and repair their town as best as they could. They noticed that Vanze's group was also back, bringing Reiju, who was the one that attacked their island.
Reiju, after regaining her freedom, also apologized to her victims about her wrongdoings. Vanze and the others also backed her up and told that she was being controlled by her father back then. In the end, Vanze gave them a little wealth from Germa's vault for compensation.
Reiju, still feeling bad about her actions, also started helping them try to make a temporary base for them to sleep for the night. The others also started helping the survivors, and even Vanze ended up using one of his time abilities to repair a few of the damaged buildings around.
He touched the buildings with his arms when suddenly a green light energy came out, and the debris of the destroyed building flew back to its original places. Ornaments re-formed in midair, torn roads repaired themselves as they landed back upon their line; rips, cracks, and holes healed everywhere, and the walls wiped themselves clean.
The buildings looked like they had never suffered an attack in the first place. Vanze always used this technique every time they destroyed their training ground back then. He got inspired from HP spells called Reparo and another similar skill. He named it Rewind, a very simple name for a very convenient skill.
Time passed quickly, and it was already night when they realized, and finally, they also decided to spend their night in this town before setting out to the sea again tomorrow noon.
.....
( Reiju POV )
Early in the morning, I wake up from my sleep, and I must admit, last night was the best night I ever slept since the day I lost my mom. Yesterday was a roller coaster event for me—from attacking this village, meeting a weird white-haired guy, to watching him beat my bastard father to a pulp and destroy his kingdom. In the end, he saved me from my cruel fate.
Now, here I am, finding myself in the middle of the town that I destroyed personally with my own hands, trying to help my victims rebuild their home. Vanze and the others even help them with the best they could.
Vanze can even restore the dilapidated buildings to a state of new again. His power is mysterious and ridiculous at the same time; no wonder he doesn't even see my father as an enemy. He is so powerful, no, all of them are. Each of his friends can destroy my father easily.
The man named Azel literally just burned the whole Germa kingdom with one attack yesterday. The white-haired girl named Yamato also almost killed me if Vanze did not stop our clash that time, and apparently, she is also the one who froze the entire Germa kingdom. The alluring woman called Hancock always has a dangerous aura around her, and she looks at me like I've stolen something from her.
The other two named Robin and Uta, I still don't know much, but I can sense Robin is a gentle woman and someone you don't want to mess with, while Uta is really a cute little girl.
All in all, they still welcomed me warmly last night, and they even held a banquet for me while also inviting the remaining survivors. What a bunch of lively people, but I don't like it, fufu.
Oh, I also almost forgot to mention my father's situation. After burning the Germa kingdom to the ground, we finally threw him and my three other brothers onto a small ship and let them float in the sea while still unconscious. Who knows if they can survive now? Vanze only left them a few rations for a couple of days after all.
I look around the town and see that a few people are already awake from their sleep and resuming their activity. I smell something nice not far from here; my foot keeps following the smell until I find Vanze already awake and cooking a giant meat of sea kings for the villagers.
"Hey Reiju, good morning. Did you sleep well?" he asked while seeing me coming toward him.
"Good morning Vanze, and yes, I slept well last night. I came here after I smelled the food, and it looks delicious," I said. I never imagined that a powerful tough guy from yesterday can actually cook a delicious meal now. It somehow reminds me of Sanji.
"Hahaha, of course it must be delicious. Today is our last day here, so I plan to give them a warm meal before we depart at noon later," he said while still chopping the meat in his hands.
"So we are leaving, huh?" While it's nice staying and helping the survivors, I can see that we still need to leave. Even though I am helping them and it eases their emotions toward me, I can still sense a bit of hostility from them.
"Yes, we need to go to another island. I hope we can still catch up with the event in that island," he also explains our reason to leave early.
"Hmm, what kinds of event and what islands are we heading to next?" I said feeling curious. He seems too eager when talking about it; for someone as strong as him to get excited by something, it is a rare sight.
"Hehe, it's a secret," he replied to my question while showing his smirking smile.
"Moh, you are no fun. Well, let me help you then." Hmph, I let this slide for now. I started preparing bowls for the soup in the giant pot.
"Hahaha, you will know later, and thanks for the help Reiju," he said while continuing to cook.
We continue to cook until it finally finished, and people are already awake and started to eat their meal. Me and Vanze also started to eat after we delivered the meals to the guys in the nearby house.
After we finished eating, we help the villagers one last time before preparing to set out in the noon. Vanze even takes out the yesterday loot from the vault and a few supplies of foods for them that will help for the next few weeks.
We say goodbye to the villagers before heading out towards the shore that is opposite of where yesterday's event went through.
After we walked through the woods and reached the shore, I look around but still not found their ship.
"Where is the ship? I didn't see any here," I asked them. They just smile at my question, and I feel like they just like to tease a newcomer at this point.
"Don't worry Reiju nee-san, Oni-chan stored the ship with his power after all. Let show her our great ship Oni-chan," Uta explained the situation to me while tugging Vanze's arms. As expected, she is such a nice girl.
"Okay, okay. Lo and behold our one and only ship capable of sailing all the seas in this world," Vanze spread his arms toward the sea when suddenly a giant goldish black ship appears out of thin air.
I know he can do that, but every time I see it, it always surprises me. Is he eating something like a paramecia devil fruit?
"Let's get aboard and started to sail to our next destination," he said telling us to go to the ship.
Now that I look at the ship, it is a giant ship with weird fins at each side of it being folded nicely. Why is there a fin that looks like a wing here, weird. Uta and Yamato helped me to look around the ship and they told me the ship can indeed fly, I feel unbelievable.
Now we are out on the deck again, and it seems the ship is ready to sail. Vanze approaches me and asks a question. "How? It's a nice ship right?"
"Well, indeed it is. If I didn't know it's yours, then I would think that this ship is from someone of royalty just looking at how luxurious it is." No wonder Yamato said they always encounter a lot of pirates, with a ship like this, it makes sense.
"Haha, thanks for the compliment. It will also be your new home for now and as long as you want," Vanze said to me. The ship slowly departed from the shore and heading toward the horizon with winds as its guide.
My new home huh...
"Thank you..." I whispered slowly as a response to his words.
Well, at least for now, I will stick with these guys first. I don't know what I want to do now, but maybe sailing together with them will help me find the answer I'm looking for. I also hope to see Sanji again one day, fufufu.
.....
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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