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Chapter 7: Little Gear Solid
The Red Line is a ridiculously massive continent, a towering wall of crimson rock that brutally divides the oceans and circles the entire world.
And resting at the very summit of that incredibly long, cloud-piercing continent, there is a city bathed in sunlight where the unbelievably important people known as Celestial Dragons reside—people so legally and culturally revered that even proud nobles and powerful royalty are forced to bow down and scrape their heads against the dirt in their presence.
Its name is the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
I generally don't read stiff, boring things like the daily newspaper, but even I know a decent amount of basic trivia about the Celestial Dragons and Mary Geoise.
...Well, I say that, but I actually only heard about them from Scarlet and Viola in the past during one of our castle sleepovers...
They had been there before because they were legitimate royalty. Mary Geoise was the pristine place where the kings of the world gathered once every four years for a massive political conference... oops, I got off track.
In short, Mary Geoise is supposedly the most elegant, luxurious place in the world, where the absolute most important people in the world, the Celestial Dragons, live in a paradise above the clouds. Something like that.
...Why was I suddenly giving myself a geography lesson about Mary Geoise, you ask? Because right now, I was actually standing in that very Mary Geoise!!
"Ooh... I might have accidentally come to a seriously dangerous place..." I muttered, peeking out from behind a pristine marble pillar.
The cargo ship I had sneaked onto back in Dressrosa... Unbelievably, it had been a tribute ship bound directly for Mary Geoise.
Once the cargo ship reached the base of the Red Line, the heavy wooden crates of tribute cargo were loaded onto a massive, bubble-powered lift called a Bondola and transported from the ocean all the way up to the summit...
My attempt to hide inside a crate of exotic fruits to avoid being found by the stressed crew completely backfired, and I ended up being transported right through the front gates of Mary Geoise along with the luggage.
"...Well, I'm already here, so there's nothing I can do about it now. It's incredibly rare for a commoner to get a chance to come to a place like this, so I might as well consider myself extremely lucky."
Let's look on the bright side.
Some kind of massive, strict cargo inspection by heavily armored guards started halfway through the courtyard, so I secretly sliced open my crate and slipped out into the shadows before I was found.
That's why I was currently walking alone through a place that looked like... a lush, sprawling forest courtyard within Mary Geoise, but...
"I wonder... It is an incredibly beautiful place, just like the rumors said, but..." I crouched down, touching the grass beneath my feet.
It felt... somewhat fake. Especially the massive trees growing there.
The Tontatta Tribe was deeply connected to nature and knowledgeable about plants, so my instincts could tell immediately that every single plant existing there was artificial. The soil lacked the rich smell of earth, there were zero insects buzzing around, and the leaves were far too perfectly shaped. They didn't grow naturally on this land; they were transplanted and maintained like museum exhibits.
...Well, whatever, it didn't really matter to me. It seemed they were carefully maintained by someone, anyway...
"Actually, who cares about fake plants right now! Think about my primary goal for setting off on this dangerous journey! Remember! A Devil Fruit! Right! I have to look for the Huge Huge Fruit!" I slapped my cheeks lightly to focus.
When you're looking for something rare, the most effective method is to go around asking people. In this place, the only people with supreme authority and wealth would be the Celestial Dragons. I'll just go around asking them.
According to Viola, all Celestial Dragons are arrogant, selfish, and awful people, but I'm sure that just depends on the individual, right? There are good and bad apples in every bunch.
How about a genius strategy where I find a nice, reasonable Celestial Dragon, manage to become friends with them through my natural Tontatta charm, and create the greatest, most powerful connection in the world?
If they're the absolute most important people in the world, they should be able to easily get their hands on classified information regarding all sorts of Devil Fruits. Then, they could find the Huge Huge Fruit and just give it to me as a token of our friendship. How's that for a perfect, flawless plan!?
"Hehehehe! The day I return to Dressrosa as a giant might be surprisingly close," I giggled, rubbing my tiny hands together.
Alright then, let's commence the operation immediately.
That massive, towering white castle I see over there... has a somewhat oppressive, scary atmosphere, so for now, I'll head toward the place that looks like a lavish residential town in front of it.
I'll move stealthily so no guards find me. It's already my specialty. Moving like a shadow, I smoothly slipped through the ornate, wrought-iron gates of the residential district.
"Now then, I wonder if there are any friendly-looking Celestial Dragons I could become pals with.....huh?"
Hearing the sound of slow, heavy, dragging footsteps, I curiously turned my gaze in that direction, and there... an incredibly battered... a truly broken, battered, and bruised human being was on his hands and knees, slowly crawling across the pristine white pavement, crying silently.
And sitting heavily on top of that battered human's back, acting as if it were the most natural, ordinary thing in the world, was a man in a white suit with a bubble helmet over his head. Inside the bubble, he had a ridiculous hairstyle shaped exactly like a dick.
Wh-What is... that...?
If I were to express my feelings at that exact moment in a single word, it would be "dumbfounded." There was no other word for it. My brain simply stopped processing.
What is that? Why is that person so heavily bleeding and battered... and why is that other person sitting so calmly on top of them like a piece of furniture?
N-No way... is that dick-head a Celestial Dragon...? And the person being used as a fleshy cushion underneath... could they be...?
"Hey, 'Slave' No. 3! You're too slow-eh! Walk faster! You're ruining my stroll!" the Celestial Dragon sneered, kicking his heels into the man's ribs.
"I-I'm s-sorry..." the slave wheezed, blood dripping from his mouth onto the spotless stones.
"Don't speak to me with such a filthy, grating voice-eh!! It completely ruins my mood! Take this! Take this!"
"Gah!!! Ngh!! Nggghhh!!!"
The dick-head riding on top... the Celestial Dragon, casually pulled a silver knife from his coat and began repeatedly, viciously stabbing the back of the battered human underneath him.
He did it without a single ounce of hesitation or reluctance whatsoever. Like he was tenderizing meat.
The slave was crying profusely while desperately biting his own lip to stifle his screams. ...Of course he was... he was being brutally stabbed in the back. It must hurt, it must be agonizingly painful. But if he shuddered too much from the pain, he would be stabbed again for making the ride uncomfortable.
"...!!" my breath hitched in my throat.
Even if he was a slave, doing something like that was crossing every conceivable moral line. I frantically looked around the wide, sunny plaza to see if anyone—guards, citizens, anyone—would stop him...
"Wha...!?"
Looking around, my blood ran completely ice cold. There were Celestial Dragons with dick-hair everywhere in the town. And all of them, regardless of their size, gender, or age, were riding on top of somebody who was battered, collared, and covered in untreated wounds.
"Mufuun. This new young slave is very comfortable to sit on-eh."
"This old slave here is getting too bony and uncomfortable to sit on-amasu. I don't need it anymore-amasu."
"Being uncomfortable to sit on is incredibly insolent-eh. Die."
"Brother, I don't like the face of this Fish-Man slave here either, it's ugly, so I'll kill it too-amasu."
"Umu. We just bought a lot of fresh new slaves the other day from Sabaody, so we'll just keep killing the old ones-eh. It's fun to clear out the inventory."
"...!!?!?!?!?"
At that moment, my mind was violently rejecting the input. I couldn't comprehend if the nightmarish scene casually unfolding right before my eyes in the bright sunlight was truly reality.
BANG.
A person died... They were killed...
A slave who had collapsed from exhaustion was casually shot through the head with a golden flintlock pistol by a yawning Celestial Dragon. Brain matter and blood splattered across the white marble. Of course they would die. It was obvious to anyone's eyes. It was treated with less significance than stepping on a bug.
"Ah... ah... aah...!!!"
By the time I realized it, my entire body was trembling violently. I was shaking uncontrollably, my teeth chattering, unable to stop it on my own.
I looked to the right. A Celestial Dragon was casually whipping a female slave. Her skin was torn in several places, and she was bleeding heavily.
I looked to the left. A Celestial Dragon child, no older than me, was laughing happily while playing by stabbing a sharp spear into a crying slave's leg.
I looked forward. The same massacre from earlier. Several slaves were being killed one after another by the Celestial Dragons, simply because they were bored.
"Blargh...!! Bleh...!!" Splatter...
Unable to bear the overwhelming stench of copper and the sheer, unfiltered malice, I collapsed to my knees and threw up the contents of my stomach right there.
What is this? Is this hell? Human lives are being casually, cheerfully crushed like ants beside a pool.
Scary... Terrifying... I thought from the very bottom of my soul.
What was truly terrifying was that the Celestial Dragons creating this absolute massacre showed absolutely no signs of feeling anything at all. No anger, no sadism, no guilt. Just pure, empty apathy.
Those rough pirates I had met on the ship the other day had threatened the crew of our ship, saying, "I'll kill you!" with anger and greed. In other words, they understood the "value of life" enough to use it as a threat.
But these guys in the bubble helmets were fundamentally different... They stabbed them with a knife because they walked too slowly. They beat them with a whip because they were in a mildly bad mood. They stabbed them with a spear because it was a fun game. They killed them because they simply got bored.
They treated living, breathing humans exactly like disposable lighters...
"B-Bleh... bleeeh...!! Hah, hah... uuu..." I gasped for air, wiping tears and bile from my mouth.
This was my first time seeing people being killed like this.
In my past life, I was born in Japan, a peaceful country where casual, public murder didn't happen that often.
And in this life, I was born on Green Bit, or rather, Dressrosa.
The Tontatta Tribe of Green Bit were all pure, fiercely loyal, and good people, and while Dressrosa was a relatively poor nation, it was a peaceful country that hadn't seen a single war in the past 800 years under King Riku's rule.
This is bad. I completely underestimated this new world... I was probably too used to the warmth of peace...
The Celestial Dragons... these guys aren't human... they're monsters wearing human skin.Become friends with them and have them politely find the Huge Huge Fruit?What an unbelievably foolish, naive thing my past self from ten minutes ago was thinking.Right now, I'm just terrified of them. They're scary. They're horrifying. They are absolute psychopaths.
R-Run... I have to run... get away from this hell, right now...!
I want to get away from here immediately. But my legs are completely frozen from sheer terror. This was also a first in my life. I had always relied on my speed, but my muscles refused to obey me. This is bad, my stomach acid is coming up again.
"Bleh..." I gagged quietly.
"Hm? What was that disgusting sound-eh?"
Unfortunately, the faint sound of my gagging reached the ears of a nearby Celestial Dragon.
My wide, tear-filled eyes, as I crouched there in the bushes, directly met the cold, dead gaze of the Celestial Dragon through his bubble helmet...
In that terrifying moment—
"I-It's a dwarf-eh!!" he pointed a jeweled finger at me.
"Eh!? A rare dwarf? Where is it, Brother-amasu?!"
"Right there in the bushes! Right there-eh! It's not wearing an explosive collar-eh! ...Which means it's nobody's property! It's a stray slave-eh!"
"Brother! I want a dwarf slave to keep in a birdcage!"
"I want it too-eh! Catch it-eh! Go! Slaves, fetch it for me!"
The very moment the Celestial Dragon raised his voice and issued the command, the battered slaves, covered in weeping wounds, turned their dead, hollow eyes toward me. They began scrambling toward me to catch me.
They were like mindless zombies.
Some were so battered and broken they moved slowly, dragging crippled limbs, while others closed in on me with unbelievable, desperate speed, terrified of being punished if they failed their masters.
"U-Uwaaaaaaahhhh!!! S-Stay awaaaaayyy!!" I screamed, stumbling backward.
If I get caught, will I end up a broken, bleeding slave like them? Bound in chains until I die for their amusement?
I absolutely don't want that!!!
I ran. I ran and fled with everything I had. I couldn't afford to say my legs were frozen anymore. Survival instinct kicked in, overriding the terror. I ran for my life, pumping my tiny arms more desperately than I ever had in my entire life.
Pant, pant, pant! Gasp! Nngh, ugaah...!!
Scary, scary, scary! No, no, no! Help me, help me, Leo! Mansherry!
I was completely out of breath. My tiny heart felt like it was going to burst through my ribs. But I still ran. I kept running, ducking under marble benches and weaving through the artificial hedges.
If I take too long, they'll call for the heavily armed guards. So I have to run with everything I have to a place where they can't find me. More, more, run, run, run... if I get caught, my life is literally over.
Gasp!! Wheeze!! Hiiii...!!
Managing to shake off the stumbling slaves with a mad dash through a drainage pipe, I finally slipped out of the Mary Geoise residential estate.
But they might still be chasing me. They have guns. For now, I have to keep running. The primal fear of stopping drove me forward, blinding me to my surroundings.
I passed through the artificial grass, and the ground suddenly turned into hard, red rock. But I still ran. I'm still running.
And by the time I finally realized where I was, I had reached the absolute edge of the massive cliff of the Red Line.
Pant, pant... aeh...? I can't... gasp, wheeze... go any further... whoa!?
Right then, exhausted beyond my limits, my tiny feet got tangled on a loose pebble.
Thrown wildly into the air by my own forward momentum, I flew right past the edge of the cliff of the Red Line, into the open sky.
Which means...
"GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
A freefall from a continental cliff.
By the way, the height of the Red Line's cliff is literally higher than the clouds.
I had just flown off from a place like that. Whether it's solid ground or the open sea directly below me, getting slammed into it from this impossible height means instantaneous, messy death without a shadow of a doubt.
"NO! NO! NOOOOO!! I don't want to die! I don't want to die a virgin! If I have to die, I at least want to be buried in soft boobs! NOOOOOO!!" I shrieked, flailing wildly as the wind roared in my ears.
Do your best, me! Think! Fly! Fly! Even if you can't fly, just do something to fly for now! I'm seriously going to die as a pancake at this rate!
"Funnngggggggghhhhh!!"
Uwoooooh!! Tontatta power, full throttle!!
"FLLLLYYYYYY!!!"
I flapped both of my arms frantically like useless wings. I kicked my legs desperately against the empty air. And, channeling all my strength into my lower back, I spun my massive, fluffy tail round and round like a high-speed rotor.
"Nrrrrggghhh...!! Gwaaaaahhh...!!!" I screamed, the G-force tearing at my face.
My useless effort... no, my highly meaningful effort actually bore fruit.
I'm not exactly flying upward through the sky... but the terminal velocity of my fall has clearly, noticeably decreased. The wind resistance is catching! This is... ohh! It's thanks to my tail spinning!
"I'm flying! I'm flying! This is amazing! Tail Copter!" I laughed hysterically, tears streaming up my face.
To give an example from my past life, it's exactly like Tails from Sonic. He flew through the sky by spinning his twin tails too. It's just like that, but with one massive tail and a lot more mortal terror.
"Hah, hah, hah...! But this is incredibly tiring...! My tail muscles feel like they're going to snap and cramp...!"
For now, just hold on until we reach the absolute bottom, my faithful tail!
I slowly, gradually descended through the thick cloud layer, the air pressure changing around me, and finally, I could see the surface. ...No, it's not the ground. What I see endlessly below me right now is...
"It's the seaaaaa!?"
Sploosh!
Blub, blub, blub...!
Touchdown. I plunged deep into the freezing, salty water.
I managed to escape the hellscape of Mary Geoise for now, and my insane bungee jump without a cord was a miraculous success. But now... I'm stranded in the middle of the ocean!
I popped my head out of the water with a massive gasp for air, coughing up seawater, and frantically looked for land. But no matter which way I faced, there was only the vast, endless sea spread out before me to the horizon. The only thing behind me was the sheer, towering, unscalable cliff face of the Red Line I had just fallen from.
"Hah, hah... I just want to get to dry land for now...! My arms are like lead. Where is it...? Which way is land, dammit...!" I cried, treading water.
It's out of absolute desperation now! If I stay here, a Sea King will eat me. I'll just swim in a random direction in a straight line and pray!
"Original Tontatta Combat... Tail Screw!!"
My swimming speed is number one among all the Tontatta!
By rotating my tail underwater like a motorized propeller, I can swim forward at super speed, cutting through the waves.
"Hah, hah... But as expected, combined with the muscle strain from the 'Tail Copter' earlier, I'm getting dangerously tired...! Gobobo..." I swallowed another mouthful of saltwater.
Do your best, me. If I stop spinning my tail now, I'll sink and drown. I survived the Celestial Dragons, I can't die here!
Somehow, I just have to keep swimming through the pain until I find a single speck of land...!
Gasp, pant, wheeze... cough, splutter... bleh, hihi...! My vision is going dark...
...Fighting through exhaustion, dehydration, and the lingering trauma of what I had witnessed, it was about 24 agonizing hours later that my tiny, half-dead body finally managed to wash up onto the shores of actual land.
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