Chapter 36

 

Waking up in the arms of someone you love is beautiful. Waking up younger, weaker, and powerless? Not so much. The attack I had used had taken too much out of me, everything I had stored.

 

Drifting from thought to thought, I lost the concept of passing as time and time against I embraced the comforting darkness that enveloped me so warmly. It was simply too comfortable…so relaxing that I didn’t want to know or care about the outside anymore.

 

I could tell that I was against something or someone who held me tightly to their chest. So strong, such a nice pillow as well. Unconsciously, I snuggled in deeper before my thoughts were lost to me once again.

 

The loud explosions and shouting constantly disturbed me and shook me from my state a couple times but they never held me for long. I heard the sounds of gunfire and cannons. The sound of the waves of the New World crashing and churning. The voices of those I thought I heard before…and finally it was quiet.

 

I slept until I could no more when I decided it was time to open my eyes. What I expected to see surely wasn’t more darkness. Was it nighttime? I waited for my eyes to adjust (which is quite quick, even without observation) as I tried to look around for someone.

 

As I squirmed around, I hand tightened on my shoulder as I looked over to see my hero. A lot bigger than I remember him…?

 

Me: Ace~

 

My voice sounded off. A bit higher and squeakier, and like a kid. Taking that off my mind for the moment, I looked back at Ace who had his usual lazy grin and messy hair; however, instead of his usual lazy and half-closed eyes, it looked as if he was holding back tears.

 

Me: …?

 

Ace: You’re here. You’re free

 

I dove into him deeper for a hug as he hugged back, my chin on his shoulder sighing in content at the moment. I wish I could’ve stayed like this a little longer but the curiosity was getting at me.

 

Me: Wait, so could you explain what happened to me?

 

Ace: I thought you would know.

 

I untangled myself from him as I looked at myself carefully. My hands were smaller, slightly softer. The same with my legs and feet.

 

Looking down at the rock below me, I crushed it to make a hole before filling it up with snow.

 

Me: Fire please

 

He responded as the snow melted and filling the little hole with the water’s reflective surface. Thankfully, he got the message as he held the fire close by for light.

 

Looking back at me was a face I remembered 8 years ago. A much younger version of myself when I was still pudgy at the face and before I went off destroying kingdoms on my own.

 

Me: Whhaaa…??

 

Ace: See, I told you. I thought you would know.

 

My thoughts jumped to the time (clock) icon I had seen on the Slot Machine Reward when I was used the full potential of the Luck Luck Fruit. As if in confirmation, the fruit warmed itself within me without me calling upon it.

 

Ahh, I see

 

The last attack I had used was really ridiculous in power. So strong that I doubted for a second if even Mama could pull it off. Turns out it wasn’t free after all.

 

I had gained a new ability by splitting off the Luck Luck fruit.

 

Sacrifice time for Power

 

The more time I give, the more power. In a sense, I might have awakened a crude form of immortality but the payoff...

My limbs were weaker than what they were, the fruits felt further away from my heart...

Was it worth it? Or was this just a charging time and would I return to normal soon?

The pudgy feeling told me that it wasn't the case. Time had reversed itself and I was truly a child again...how annoying. Would I need to hunt down a specific pink haired Supernova in this world to turn myself back to normal?

 

I closed my fist as I tried to sense it within myself. Perhaps it was due to the massive use of it just day(s) prior, it was in plain sight. Touching it, I felt it draining me of my age.

 

Seconds. Hours. Days. Years.

Understand it. Figure out what it is.

The more I give, the stronger I would get for a short period of time. Well…personally I preferred this option over getting older as I use the power. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad a price to pay after all as long as I use it carefully.

 

Now, next topic.

 

Me: So what happened? Wha…where are we?

 

After that was a long long explanation of everything that had happened after the fight. Apparently, the last move I had done had collapsed the entirety of the Mirror Realm and Brûlée (thank my sister’s heart) had managed to slip my brothers and sisters out in time using her personal mirror.

As they were escaping and Ace carrying me, it was seen by the others that the Whitebeard Pirates were ‘kidnapping’ me, thus making for a grand chase across Totta Land.

 

Ace: We’re quite lucky that your mother was preoccupied with crushing the Germa Forces. If she had decided to come after us…there would have been another MarineFord War, but this time between two emperors.

 

Getting out of her territory and into the no-man’s land of the New World, we had apparently just stopped for a quick restock.

 

Ace: There’s only a small village here but enough to stock up on Fresh Water, some food, and we can hunt for meat so it isn’t a bad idea. This is one of the wilder, primal islands out there.

 

I took this chance to look around the dark space we were in. A Cave. A massive massive cave. The glistening rocks rising dozens of meters above us and hundreds around us. Water flowed slowly on the cave floor, creating small streams. I could sense the bats and the smaller creatures all around us. If I listened carefully calling upon observation, I can even slightly hear the bat’s echolocation, proof that our bodies have gone beyond human senses.

 

Me: So why are we here instead of the Moby Dick?

 

Ace: It’s a Summer Island…like an extreme Rainforest Summer Island. It’s too humid for me out there to enjoy and it’s too hot for you out there.

 

Me: So you found a cave.

 

Ace: The biggest cave I’ve seen in all my days as a Pirate. It took me a full hour of trekking until I found this large place.

 

Me: … so we’re going to need to spend another hour to get out?

 

Ace: Well, it’s worth it, isn’t it? Besides, now that we’re out of Pineapple’s sight, we don’t have to do our share of work.

 

Me: What a responsible Division Commander you are.

 

Ace: Says the Sweet Commander who always passes on her troops to someone else during a fight.

 

We continued to bicker back and forth, momentarily forgetting about all the problems in the world. He, thankfully, didn’t question more about our relationship, especially with my current constitution.

 

Ace: You’re still you…and if you’re unhappy with it, then I’m more than willing to wait.

 

And that was the end of the discussion before we moved onto lighter topics.

 

I knew good things could never last but an hour just seems too short for even that. I felt it before I knew it. My subconscious confirmed what I felt during my fight with Law as I felt as if I was sinking although I was still on Ace’s lap.

 

Curious, my observation flared to life.

Red. Black. DEATH.

 

The dark light covered everything in sight. The floor, the ceiling, the air itself between as the world turned darker. Observation, which had always provided an answer, was silent for once.

 

RUN!

 

I turned it off as I clenched my eyes shut to shut out all my senses to flee. To flee like rabbits.

 

…alas, the warnings always come too late.

 

With a crash a ray of light…a continuous rainbow of colors mixing and churning burned through the cave ceiling. The impact of the burning light hitting the cave floor scorched the smooth stone below, turning it into lava. The molten rocks began to flow down towards our location before the light stopped entirely. Leaving only a silhouette of a girl…no a woman with dark red eyes staring right into mine.

 

In the split second, I saw her from the low light provided from the glistening lava, I could tell the figure wasn’t tall, but she wasn’t short either. She stood up, posture perfect; without even seeing her full figure or hearing her words, I could tell she was an arrogant one…but one that has earned her right.

 

The peaceful second passed before my senses were overwhelmed at the majesty of the being. My body and mind telling me to flee, flee, FLEE, but my heart begged me to kneel in her presence. No, I wouldn’t bow to an unknown. I hugged Ace even tighter as not to give my knees the freedom to move.

 

Ace: What…the…fuck…?

 

I could feel Ace shivering slightly behind me but I was doing the same. For the first time, it seemed as if my Calm Mind was compromised as I couldn’t think straight. My mind in a complete panic and jumble as I lost the words I wanted to say and the control of my body.

 

Only my eyes functioned normally as I used what was left of me to look back up to meet the gaze of the being. Before I even finished raising my head, I saw perhaps the most bizarre and logic-breaking scene in my life. The walls, the water, and even the wind bent to her direction as if they were bowing, paying her their respects.

 

*step* *step*

 

Two steps forward was all she did and yet I saw the world follow her…the wind clutching at her form and the molten rocks refusing her leave her, as if they belonged to her as did everything else.

 

Further up, I couldn’t see anything yet but higher and higher…until I met her eyes. Red eyes so dark that one might mistake for black if not in this dark dark cave. Dark eyes that somehow managed to glow. Eyes that showed power, dominance, authority…omnipotence.

 

Ace: *shudder* *shudder* Syrup, you’ve got to run, okay? Teleport out of here in the direction behind me. Go find Pops and we’ll get you *shudder* out of here.

 

He could barely finish his sentence as fear gripped his heart. I understood why he was saying this…but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave him again like I had in MarineFord, as I had so many years ago on the Moby Dick. Not when we were finally together for good.

 

Me: No Ace, if you wan—

 

I wanted to relay my message to Ace but I was cut short by the other figure in the area.

 

?: How touching. Though I must let you know that escape is impossible. Besides…

 

A force so powerful slammed both of us onto the cold floor as if I was pressed down by Fujitora’s gravity but much much more powerful.

 

This is by her presence alone??!

 

This was beyond Mama…beyond Fujitora…anyone I’ve met. But how was this possible? Who even was she to be able to do something like this??!

 

?: Trying to escape would not be in your best interest. After all, it is disrespectful to run from someone who has come to see you.

 

Pressed down on the ground, I struggled to look up. Perhaps it was the sheer panic I felt but my observation flared on its own, looking for a way out

 

With my observation, I’ve always thought I saw enough. Whenever I fought against a stronger opponent, it was my eyes that showed me ways to analyze, survive, and even overcome.

 

?: I'm already busy as it is, I don't need another mortal messing with fate or dimensions above it. With the progress that you're making, you might actually slip through the chains of mortality... in the exchange for your world of course. Who allowed you to do that...oh? Now that's interesting.

 

Now…I saw nothing. The world went pitch black as the future held nothing in front of the being in front of me. Everything that was going to happen was by her will alone. No fate. No destiny. No other factors but her will alone.

 

A shudder racked through me as I began to comprehend the situation I was in. A completely hopeless, outmatched, and impossible scenario. One in which I’ve never thought I would have ever been in, ever since my fight with Whitebeard.

 

I would never truly awaken the ‘Voice of All Things’ like the Three Eyes Tribe as I do not have the said third eye. Despite this, their blood flows through me, enabling my other two eyes to see beyond what is possible, but something must have triggered it as in the empty darkness of the void, I saw shapes.

 

Shapes so vast and far I could barely make them out. Light came back into my vision as I began to see the cave in the dim light and the figure standing tall again, still waiting; however, this time my newly awakened observation overlapped with reality as I could still make out the hazy outlines of the shapes…no chains. Long massive chains beyond this cave wrapping together the world. Chains so large and powerful holding together everything. The earth, the water, the air, light, dark, and life. The amount of information that flooded my brain forced me to shut my eyes shut for a second before I opened them up once more; I needed to know.

 

?: That old geezer always making things harder for the work he gave me. I'll need to talk to him about hypocrisy after this.

 

All the chains that tied this world and beyond focused and tied themselves to one single being. Her. The chains came together forming a sort of a black and golden lock. The said lock existing only in a form of hyperspace but I understood its meaning…something was holding us back from ever reaching greater heights and she was it.

 

?: You saw it, didn’t you?

 

*hic* A hiccup came out unintentionally as she spoke, sparking to fear in me once more.

 

?: It’s not often I see mortals who see the truth. Fate is a fickle thing, not to say Ironic.

 

What was she saying?

 

?: The power I dropped so long ago in the hands of the ‘reincarnated’, the fruit my little twin Kara has been complaining about for so long.

 

Her words brought up a memory so old, a memory nearly a lifetime away. My words before being born into this world. From the mysterious entity that brought me into this place.

 

??: I would complain about your statement but I’ll give you a good reason. Now listen to me; it’s not that I don’t want to make a being as powerful as I am, but it’s rather that I quite literally cannot. Omnipotence is something predetermined and there will only ever be seven…unless you’re the twins. Besides, you’re very different from them anyway. Those twins...yeah, they’re still doing well.

 

Me: You…you’re…

 

?: I’m afraid that little sis will throw a tantrum if she finds you here. Looks like I’ll have to hide you in a different world for the time being. 

 

Wha…what…???!!

 

?: Should you meet that old geezer, tell him to stop reincarnating souls into the side branch. It just adds more to my workload when I can be relaxing with Kara

 

As she stepped out of the darkness and above the molten rocks, I could finally see her in all her glory. Her deep-dark red hair matched her eyes as they glowed before tricking my eyes that they were black once more. A perfect figure and face, so pale it almost looked as if she was albino…as if she was created rather than born. Donning a perfectly ironed and spotless black on black suit and pants that highly resembled the one from my old world.

 

?: Don’t be too disheartened. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it after a while. Besides, it's for the safety of not only yourself but the world you reside in. You've caused quite the mess here...I'll have to call in the sweepers to clean it all up.

 

Then the ground opened up below me. What I had expected to see was a cracked ground but instead a swirling void raged below me, threatening to swallow everything inside.

 

No! Not when I just won my freedom!

 

I began to scream and somehow found the strength to flail widely as something caught my wrist.

 

Ace

 

Alas, his strength wasn’t enough as in a single second we were caught up in the torrent of the force before enveloped in darkness once more. The last thing I saw before falling into the unknown was the amused face of a Supreme Being.

 

The End

 

A.N: Hope you enjoyed Diana's cameo for those of you who get the reference :P. Finally! This story is complete! DONE! No more! But the journey and adventures of Charlotte Syrup and Ace shall continue in a different setting! This means NEW WORLD and NEW ADVENTURE!

 

I KNOW MANY OF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS ENDING. I NEEDED IT FOR A SEQUEL SO...

ALTERNATE ENDING NEXT CHAPTER FOR THOSE WHO WANT THE STORY TO END. CHOOSE WHICHEVER ONE YOU WANT AS CANON