Chapter 128: Times Of Peace II

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Chapter 127: Times Of Peace II

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"It's special in more ways than one," Viola said, fondness apparent in her tone, eyeing a painting.

"It's one of my proudest works," Yovan nodded, specifically eyeing the Veil Of Darkness.

The two were in the Ship's Art Gallery, the place where everything art is put up. Before Dressrosa, the place was pretty much vacant, all of his paintings spread out throughout the world.

Now, however, there were many. He was slowly but surely getting back all of his paintings.

"What is it called?" Viola asked, specifically eyeing the sunflower painting.

"Sunflowers Of Death," Yovan responded, knowing that it perhaps means a lot to her. In the painting was her sister's grave after all.

"I don't like it," Viola murmured with a frown, "But it rather suits it."

"That's the point," Yovan traced his fingers along with the Veil of Darkness, then Feathers of Desperation, Taste of New World, and even the Painting In Between.

He got them all back, the Painting In Between reached his grasp after the death of the Underworld Emperor that had it.

"Only Antarisa and the Fall Massacre left," Yovan murmured.

"Are they so important to you? Or are you just using them to spark trouble with others?" Viola couldn't help but ask.

"They are my memories, and I treasure my memories more than anything... My memories are who I am." Yovan calmly responded with a smile as he walked out.

"The hated? Why?" Kaku asked with bewilderment.

"Pffft Luahaha, perhaps because animals hate you?" Laffitte pointed what with a laugh.

"What? Antarisa doesn't hate me! She only... She doesn't talk to me only because she's always asleep..." Kaku responded back.

"Exactly! You bore her to death! Luhahahaha!"

"I don't! Hey! Come back here!!"

Yup, he was met with the scene of the Strangers messing about as usual. He joined someone else on the Crow's head.

Kaku jumped after Laffitte, making ruins of the ship under Kalifa's watchful eyes, "The Vixen?"

"It rather suits you, no?" Yovan said with a grin.

What they were talking about were the titles given to them in their bounties, Kaku The Hated, and Kalifa the Vixen.

"Mm, I guess it does, but why did the Marines assign me such a title exactly? They seem to know a lot about our crew." Kalifa murmured, and Yovan heard her.

"Who else is it but the chicken?" He explained with a chuckle. Morgans might've gone to hiding, but he still has direct communication with the Marines and the World Government.

"Oh," Kalifa nodded before turning her attention to the object far in the distance, "We're really going to settle down?" It sounded crazy to her.

"Yeah, let's have some rest," Yovan nodded with a smile. Yovan was gonna be leaving the dangers and the many adventures awaiting him behind for quite a while.

In the far distance was an Island, but to reach Island would require more than a ship. Surrounding the Island was a cyclone, a violent hungry cyclone, the falling rain would never be enough to satiate its thirst.

It isolated the Island from the rest of the world, just not the flying crows of the night. They were the ones to find the Island.

Yovan flared his vast dark wings, releasing bursts of feathers that took the shape of wings around the ship, colossal wings. Well, the ship flew in the sky as the wings flapped with immense force.

"Rest? Dohahahahaha," Bege couldn't help but laugh out loud, "That means torture in Yovan words."

"..."

"Huh?"

"Antarisa! Get your ass out here! You've slept long enough." Antarisa did hear Yovan's yell, making her leap out of her comfy bed, and run out like lightning.

She was faced with the scene of Seizon No Hono falling from the sky onto the Island, falling slowly right into the center, and resting comfortably there.

"It doesn't look that special," Kalifa noted as she jumped on the very edge of the ship.

"Then let's make it special," Yovan replied with a wide grin. And that, they certainly did as two months passed in the blink of an eye.

[Countdown: 3762] Only a little bit more than five months left before the end of the Countdown.

Many things happened over the past two months, an example being the heavy activity of the Pantheon as they declared a new system to hunt down Marines and Pirates alive for bounties.

The new system is very different from the Wish system as the latter signifies the Pantheon Gods personally taking action. It's still in action, but rarely do the Gods accept wishes.

The Pantheon hunt system, on the other hand, simply creates a worldwide connection between Marines and Pirates, a communication system through the Crows of the Night.

The Pantheon will have no profit or incentive in the system, then again, that's what those in power say.

But truly, very few could see a way to make a profit in the way the system works because all Marines and Pirates start with a bounty of Zero.

The bounty could then be increased depending on how much people want a certain person dead, and the only way they can show that is by giving the Pantheon money.

The entity of those funds will be kept safely until the bounty is completed, in which case, the one who completed will be given all of the funds without a Beli missing.

The Entire Hunt system was built on how trustworthy the Pantheon is, and it's very much trustworthy, especially due to the Energy Steroid pills they spread throughout the world.

They were advertised to make anyone stronger at a cost, and they indeed function exactly as said. Despite their cost, Beli and internally, the pills still took the world by storm.

It got to the point that the Production of the pills couldn't keep up with the demand at all, but if the Pantheon is missing something, it isn't money, so they were soon able to barely keep up.

Another wild news that did spread throughout the world is the confirmation of the identity of one of the Gods, Gaia.

The Pantheon had to move to truly take over the Underworld, so Crocodile had to show himself because he was already suspected to be part of the Pantheon.

He was after all saved by Apollo, so Crocodile was responsible for taking over the Underworld, basically ruling which required a show of his powers.

He showed his sand-manipulating powers, thus his identity was easily figured out.

The Pantheon's influence reached a new height, but so are the risks, thus why Yovan chose to rest on the isolated Island, coming up with the most impossible and nonsensical way to eliminate those risks.

And he didn't leave even when something very much relevant to him took place... Tinny D. Sinj has been arrested and taken to the Impel Down. The alleged King of Gods, Zeus was caught, yet Yovan didn't act.

In fact, Yovan was surprised it took so long. Tinny D. Sinj was way too lucky, perhaps not anymore.

"Suiihhahahhahaha! Stop! Suihahaha, that hurts!" At the very center of the shithole that's Impel Down, Tinny D. Sinj was being tortured.

"Why the fuck are you laughing!? Talk!" Yelled a relatively slim and tall woman with long unkempt orange hair and bangs that covers her eyes. Her attire resembled that of a dominatrix.

And well, she certainly seemed to enjoy it, "He's still not talking, Little Sadi?" Someone joined them in the cell, one with an overwhelming smell of blood and death.

The person who spoke was none other than Hannyabal, the new Chief Warden of the Impel Down, promoted after Magellan's previous failure in regard to Yovan and Shiryu's escape.

"He talks a lot, but he says nothing of value... And he's broken. He's also very weak, and he is a non-Devil Fruit user. I found it hard to believe that he'd from the Pantheon." Little Sadi said as she licked her lips, bringing down a whip upon him again and again, leaving his body all screwed up.

He was tortured so badly that he started laughing out of pain instead of crying, "But I do want to talk!! Siuhahaha!"

"You see, the pantheon is just a bunch of self-alleged gods, just like me! And basically, we act like gods but we aren't actually gods. People believe we're gods though, so who knows, we might become gods."

And just when little Sadi wanted to whip him, she heard something he never said before, "Now he, on the other hand, might just be a real god. He does things that shouldn't be possible... This must be a test, a test from god! Yes! That must be it! Do you know that he once said to me that I can one day be his right-hand man? Now he may not have said it directly, but I heard it somehow."

Hannyabal's expression couldn't help but twitch while Sadi just licked her lips, continuing with the torture.

What no one noticed was the watching eyes far away. They weren't noticed because the person was invisible, literally. It was none other than Shiryu, Yovan's previous cellmate.

For some reason, he was still in the Impel Down, and he was watching Zeus with a sword in his hand, a sword he sheathed only when he heard Zeus' words... The test was passed?