Deep within the southern quadrants of the Grand Line, a blazing sun beat down relentlessly upon a vast, unbroken expanse of azure sea, its rays reflecting off the crests of the surging waves.
Moving across the shifting horizon in an impossible, rhythmic pattern was a colossal, imposing figure. He tressed the water effortlessly, stepping along small fragments of driftwood with a displacement that defied standard physics.
The traveler wore a black-and-white hooded coat detailed with soft, stylized ear loops. His eyes were completely obscured behind a pair of round, colorless lenses that masked any flicker of human emotion, and his large hands cradled a thick, leather-bound Bible with absolute, religious reverence.
Had any Marine scout vessel or bounty hunter crossed this specific coordinate, they would have fled in absolute terror upon recognizing the bulk of Bartholomew Kuma—the man recently branded a ruthless tyrant by the World Government after orchestrating the collapse of the Sorbet Kingdom's old baseline rule.
Yet, at this moment, the legend carried none of the raw ferocity attributed to his title by the press. On the contrary, his weathered features were locked in an expression of profound, crushing weariness, his broad shoulders shadowed by an undisguised despair.
"Bonney..."
Kuma lowered his head, his massive palm tracing the edge of a slightly yellowed photograph nestled securely within the pages of his Bible. The image captured the radiant, uninhibited smile of a seven-year-old girl with long pink hair.
The terminal affliction known as Sapphire Scale was a cruel genetic legacy—a baseline mutation Saint Jaygarcia Saturn had cold-bloodedly introduced into Ginny's cellular structure as a laboratory trial, which had ultimately replicated within Bonney's own blood.
Whenever the child's skin came into contact with any form of natural light, hard, blue-gem structures would manifest across the tissue. As the scale layer expanded, it didn't merely inflict agonizing physical trauma; it systematically calcified the muscle fibers and caused rapid internal organ failure.
A specialized physician who had diagnosed the mutation had been flatly realistic: even if she spent her entire childhood buried in absolute darkness, away from the sun, her biology wouldn't survive past her tenth winter.
"Two and a half winters left..."
Kuma carefully closed the Bible over the image, his massive chest rising and falling in a slow, controlled breath.
To insulate Bonney from any environmental degradation, he had secured his daughter within the deepest, darkest sanctuary room of a secluded chapel back in the Sorbet territory, leaving her under the care of a trusted elder. He himself, relying on the spatial velocity of the Paw-Paw Fruit, had taken to the sea alone. Enduring the weight of global infamy and the continuous hunt of the Marines, he had turned himself into a transient, traveling across the corners of the world in a desperate bid to locate a cure.
The Torino Kingdom.
Kuma raised his head, his lenses tracking the immense green mass of the island taking shape on the horizon. Rising from the absolute center of the land was a tree so monolithic it pierced the upper atmosphere like a structural pillar of the world. He had intercepted a scrap of data regarding this coordinate within a black-market tavern along the lower shipping lines.
The lore stated that within the core of this primitive sanctuary, shielded by ancient native tribes and giant avians, lay the oldest botanical and medical archive on the lower seas. It was a long shot, but a desperate father had no choice but to see if the local medicine men possessed a compound that could halt the calcification.
Hum.
Kuma's silhouette vanished from the surface of the water in a single frame. A millisecond later, his heavy boots settled smoothly onto the moss-covered reefs lining the coast of the world tree. He stepped into the dense, primal jungle, his senses unrolling.
"Strange..."
A few paces into the brush, his keen Observation Haki registered an immediate anomaly. According to the intelligence briefs, this island was populated by an aggressively isolationist tribe and highly hostile giant raptors; any foreign hull touching the shore was typically met with a coordinated, violent ambush.
Yet, the interior of the forest was perfectly tranquil, stripped of even the standard alarm calls of the birds.
Kuma followed a wide path through the vines—a trail that had clearly been cleared by heavy, human tools—until he reached the wide open-air terrace halfway up the trunk. When he parted the final layer of foliage and stepped onto the wide wooden square, the scene caused even the veteran revolutionary to freeze.
In the center of the clearing, hundreds of primitive native hunters were performing a celebratory ceremonial dance alongside several massive, docile giant birds. On the eastern flank of the terrace, a blue-nosed reindeer in a pink hat was directing a detail of mechanical drones, systematically transferring crates of ancient scrolls into the boarding bay of a warship.
Kuma's gaze bypassed the natives entirely, locking onto the vessel moored against the world tree. It was a terrifying dreadnought, completely devoid of standard sails, its clean hull forged from an ultra-dense, pitch-black metal, its ramming prow shaped like a massive crescent scythe.
And standing near the base of the boarding ramp was a tall, imposing figure.
The man was draped in a dark red windbreaker, a long, ornate cutlass hanging silent at his waist, his right hand resting casually along the hilt.
"The Outlier. Portgas D. Ace. 1.57 billion berries."
Kuma stopped his advance, a serious focus tightening his features.
Why would the lawless newcomer who had recently turned the streets of Sabaody upside down and executed three lineages of the World Nobles manifest on a remote, unmapped coordinate within the South Blue? Why was the pirate who had broken through Kizaru's perimeter standing in this forest?
"Bartholomew Kuma," the young captain spoke first before the giant could align his guard. His voice carried across the terrace with absolute clarity. "Former commander within the Revolutionary Army, currently logged as the Tyrant of the Sorbet Kingdom."
Ace remained on the upper step of the ramp, looking down at the giant with a calm, measured smile. "What drives a legend of your caliber to a hidden bird island that doesn't even register on a standard Marine chart?"
Ace knew Kuma's history perfectly, but having never crossed paths with the man in this timeline, he maintained a calculated distance in his phrasing.
Kuma showed no trace of hostility. His round lenses tracked the movement of the drones as they lifted another bundle of ancient vellum into the hold of the Eclipse.
"If my assessment is correct, those files belong to the ancient medical library of this tree," Kuma said, his voice deep, gravelly, and heavy with a long fatigue. "You are stripping the entire archive."
"The pages are wasted collecting dust in the hollows," Ace remarked with a casual shrug. "I'm simply transferring the data to a deck where it can serve a real purpose. I brought my ship doctor here to run the indices. He happens to be one of the sharpest minds on these high seas. Right, Chopper?"
At the mention of the word doctor, a sudden, sharp spark of raw hope flared deep within Kuma's hidden gaze.
"Seeking medicine... is a journey reserved for those who have run out of options," Ace noted, his dark eyes locking onto Kuma's massive frame, tracking the subtle shift in his posture. "You look weathered from the road, Tyrant. Did you scale this trunk looking for a physician yourself?"
Kuma remained silent.
His large frame stood frozen against the green backdrop of the leaves, his massive fingers tightening instinctively over the leather of his Bible. Had he encountered any other captain belonging to the Worst Generation, he would have masked his vulnerability behind a wall of iron. But the intelligence network of the Revolutionary Army had compiled a precise profile on the Eclipse Pirates.
Though the crew operated with absolute disregard for the mandates of the World Government, their records showed zero instances of civilian plunder or collateral slaughter. To a degree, their ideological drift shared a common vector with his own people.
Most importantly, the blue-nosed reindeer and the massive hull packed with ancient botanical knowledge represented a literal lifeline to a drowning man.
A moment later, Kuma let his tension drain from his shoulders.
"I am tracking a cure," Kuma whispered.
With deliberate, careful precision, his massive hand reached into the folds of his Bible, pulling out the yellowed photograph alongside a detailed sheaf of clinical observations and medical records. He extended his arm, holding the documents out toward Ace and the blinking reindeer, his deep voice carrying a slight, human tremor of complete exhaustion.
"If the capability of your physician matches your claim..."
Kuma lifted his head, his exposed features revealing the raw, absolute vulnerability of a father who had reached the end of his path.
"Please. Tell me if there is any hope left for this child."
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates! @patreon.com/Authorzero