Chapter 43 - The Life Cycle of a Millennial Dragon! A New Companion to Invade the Grand Line!

ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!!

QUAKE! QUAKE!

His roar, which seemed to be emitted from the soul itself, echoed around as the tremors threatened to start a tsunami. Along with what was shaking, the sailors on the ships struggled to stand, and the ears of the weaker ones bled a little.

Ryu, the source of this thunderous roar, slowly lowered his tone until he stood dignified again on the Black Artemis. But still, the sound of his roar still echoed around the seas, leaving a distant reminiscent.

And eventually silence came. A silence where everyone looked in shock at each other.

Nami and Nojiko, still a bit dizzy from the roar, looked at Ryu and immediately knew what this commotion was about. Apis, who could understand the whispers, also heard the animation and joy of the old dragon at that moment.

Even Nelson Royale and his entire fleet were still struggling to recover from the phenomenal roar. Their legs were shaking and their bodies were reluctant to move in the presence of this dragon's majesty.

Noah and Ryu, standing side by side, looked at the distant sky. Both knowing what was going to happen, they anticipated the moment.

"Here they come..." Noah spoke softly to himself, a smile spreading across his face.

As soon as he fell silent, in the distant sky, countless black dots began to appear one after the other. It was as if Ryu's roar had attracted a large swarm of insects.

But as these black dots got closer, their figure became clearer and more obvious until everyone could see what it was. Even Nelson Royale, who nearly fainted from fright after the roar, felt all the fat in his body shake as he looked with his mouth open at the image in the sky.

“Dragons-”

ROAR! ROAAR! ROAR! ROAR!

SWOOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

A large number of Millennial Dragons swarmed the place, making the sight simply incredible. Their roars echoed in unison as their wing-beat blew the sea water below.

Whether it was their exuberant colorful plumage, their menacing red eyes, or their enormous wings that seemed to embrace the sky, everything was a reason for the scene to be forever recorded in everyone's heart there.

And it is a pity that there was not much time to appreciate much of this beauty before the tremors in the sea returned again.

"Hold on!" Noah immediately disappeared from where he was and ran to pick up Nami, Nojiko and Apis. He soon had all three in his arms before putting them on top of Ryu, "Stay in the air, I'll take care of the ship."

"All right." Nami and Nojiko understood the situation and did not question much. They knew it would be dangerous to stay on the ship while a literal island was emerging from the sea. And they had enough confidence in him to know that everything would be fine.

Ryu also took a look at Noah before nodding his head and his wings opened. With a few beats to get up, throwing the sea water everywhere, he managed to glide before he started to fly away.

Nelson, despite all the tremors, had an ambitious look on his face as he saw all those dragons. And after looking for a weak dragon to pick on, he saw Ryu trying to fly. His comparatively slow movements and his older appearance made his eyes shine, understanding that he had found his perfect target.

"Men! Fire that dragon near the pirate ship! He's been in cahoots with pirates from the beginning and needs to be punished!" Looking for any justification, Nelson immediately ordered his men to fire the a cannons.

"Wait, sir!" Hardy looked at the dragon for a moment before noticing a detail on its back, "There are two women and a child on top of the dragon. Shooting at them now would mean certain death!"

Bang!

But all he got was a flying fan in his face, which ended up hurting his nose and making it bleed.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER! It doesn't matter if some filthy pirates have to die! Fire immediately!" Nelson shouted angrily, seeing his chance shrinking more and more as the old dragon flapped its wings. He didn't care if his actions would cause civilian casualties, "Use the main cannon to bring down some more dragon in the sky!"

And as Commodore and commander of this fleet, his word was the order.

The soldiers loaded the lower cannons as the structure of the main ship began to change. Soon, a huge cannon was being pointed to the sky, its power several times more explosive than any other in the fleet.

And when they were all lit, with the main cannon emitting a faint glow of flames from its mouth... everything started to explode.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! BOOOOM!

Straight from the Black Artemis, cannonballs were fired by the modified cannons at a surprising speed, much greater than normal. Their shots were flawless in each gunpowder compartment of the four fleet ships they managed to hit. The other two shots, since each side has six cannons, hit directly into the mouth of the main cannon, causing it to explode all at once.

"WHAT?!?" With an incredulous look, Nelson watched four of his ships fall while the marines threw themselves into the sea. And even his main cannon was detonated, causing several pieces of debris to fly in his direction.

On the Black Artemis, Noah showed no mercy as he quickly reloaded each cannon and again aimed at the right places before activating the mechanism and hitting the remaining six fleet ships, causing them to catch fire and burn until they sank.

(A/N: For a better image of how it works, imagine that he puts the cannonballs, which look like modern gun bullets, and fits them into the firing cylinder. The cannons already have an internal powder compartment and the firing mechanism looks like a key that you pull and there's a timer adjuster or it can be activated immediately by pushing it down.)

With their fleet completely destroyed, Nelson and Hardy stared at the pirate ship in the distance with faces full of disbelief and shock. They didn't know what someone would have to have to achieve such rapid and accurate firing ability, but surely this is a weapon that could change a war in an instant.

Little by little, the reason for this pirate's high bounty was finally dawning on their consciousness. Unlike the Grand Line, any bounty in the Blues does not necessarily speak of your power and destructive capacity, but more about your dangerousness or previous malevolent actions. And they were thinking that Noah belonged to the last category, thanks to the information on his Bounty.

But they didn't have much time to think. In the short span from when they tried to shoot at the dragons to the bullet rain, only a minute had passed. And this minute was more than enough for the island that was deep in the ocean to re-emerge.

Wave!

As the tremor got closer, some vibrations in specific places in the water started to get more and more intense, until large peaks started to appear everywhere.

With the emergence of these peaks, the sea water became even more turbulent. Nami, who was in the sky above Ryu, could see that the bottom of the ocean was approaching at a very high speed!

And then.

BANG!

A huge spike emerged below the Marine's main ship. No one could see how, but the ship simply split into two parts when it was broken and destroyed by the powerful force. The marines tried to jump from the ship while there was water below, but Nelson was not that lucky... or capable.

Noah watched from afar as his figure rose along the peak until he rolled down. Blood began to come out of his body as he hit the wreckage of his own ship and finally he fell to the floor below, on the split wood. From the way he stood there, one part of his spine fought with the other and they decided to go their separate ways…

"Karma..." Turning his gaze away from the spot, he began to move the ship to an area with a large hole and stopped there. According to logic, this would be one of the few places with water when all the land emerged.

With this last adjustment, they waited for the Lost Island to fully emerge until it finally came. Warship Island was now just a huge mountain inside this island of white rocks and strange dragon statues.

And with the noise of various roars, the dragons slowly landed on the island and wandered around it, as if they had never been here before. And they really hadn't. The Millennial Dragons are not so called just because they can live a millennium, but also because their homeland only reemerges every thousand years.

Among the various things they can do when they return are socializing, mating, and reminiscing. And for those advanced in age, making this their eternal resting place.

"Noah!"

Nami's shout came from below when he saw that the girls and Ryu had landed not far from him, on solid ground. After they got off from above him, they looked at the place with a glow of curiosity in their eyes.

"What a unique rock formation... and those strange peaks..." Nojiko looked strangely at the ground she was stepping on, as well as some elevations in the land that had a dragon shape. She had never seen anything like this, all these oddities of the sea, and believed even more about how crazy the world was.

And shortly after, Noah managed to reach them, grabbing them by the waist at once.

"Are you okay? Enjoyed the flight?" He also wanted to make an airline joke, but unfortunately, this world is not so advanced.

"It was a lot of fun. Watching you manage to take down ten Marine ships from a bird's eye view really opens a new perspective." Nami laughed a little at him, really having been impressed with the feat he achieved. Granted, the new cannons are powerful, but it's still worthy of note.

"I try not to be so impressive." Smiling at them, he looked for Apis until he saw her sitting next to Ryu and stroking his snout. And from what he was hearing, it was obvious what would happen now, "Can you take Apis to the ship?"

"What are you going to do?" Nodding her head, Nojiko asked with curiosity.

"I'm going to say goodbye to Ryu. We are leaving now that we've helped Apis to leave him here."

"Okay."

As soon as the two agreed, they went to Apis. And with little conversation, the girl got up with a smile on her face, going with them willingly.

"Noah, Ryuji just needs to rest a bit and we will celebrate eating later. And don't take too long in the farewell, he said he needed to close his eyes just a moment!" Excited that she had done what she promised to the dragon, Apis spoke as she passed by him. With her innocent smile, she barely knew about what she was talking.

“I'll be brief.”

Messing with her hair, he went to the old dragon, who had really already closed his eyes. But as soon as he got close, they opened again.

“Hey, old man. So you told her you were going to rest for a moment?” After swallowing a purple orb, he began to hear Ryu's Voice.

“You remind me of my grandpa... you two are very stubborn…”

.

“Of course she'll be okay. She is a strong girl, she'll eventually understand."

..

“It was also a pleasure to meet you, old man. I hope that in your next life you come with us to explore the seas.”

…

Lightly tapping on Ryu's snout, Noah stared into his big yellow eyes. As if the old dragon was sleepy, with his eyes refusing to close yet still losing the battle, he gradually fell asleep.

The hand that was on his snout gradually felt the wind stop circulating there as his breathing became weaker. Until it also stopped.

The Old Dragon Ryu finally fulfilled his will and bid farewell in his homeland, completing the life cycle of the Millennial Dragons.

And from there he made his resting place. Forever.

“Shit…” Noah lowered his head for a moment, not wanting to look at Ryu, “I think it's going to start raining…”

Squatting, he tried to hold his emotions as much as he could. Perhaps he had created a very strong connection with the old dragon, experiencing the Voice of All Things through him for the first time, or also because this experience reminded him of his past.Whatever it was, he would inevitably be saddened by his death.

But he remembered that not everything was despair.

Crack! Crack!

With light sounds of cracks, an object that seemed similar to an egg, but at the same time covered by the white-colored rocks that were everywhere, began to crack and move a little.

And a while later, a small feathered head appeared there, its large yellow eyes staring at the world for the first time.

"Screech! Screech!" With its hunger cry, the newborn Millennial Dragon attracted the attention of the other Millennial Dragons around, who flocked towards it to take care. Every member of their species was precious to all, and there was not something like exact parents to take care of.

To obey a kind of reincarnation cycle, the old Millennial Dragons made the Lost Island their final resting place not because it was intrinsic in their genetics and will. Their death, as well as their rest, would result in the birth of another member of their species, who was waiting to be hatched. Something deeply beautiful.

And while all the Millennial Dragons took care of the little newborn, this one did something that shocked some of them. After hatching from his egg, he crawled on the ground before balancing on his little legs and swaying. Then, he “ran” awkwardly to the human who was there!

“Screech! Screeech!” His cry, now normal and joyful, echoed through the place when he stopped in front of Noah and sat on the ground, with cute little eyes: (◕‿◕)

And still shocked by all this, Noah deeply pushed away any feeling of sadness he was going to feel by putting a smile on his face.

“Hello, little guy.” He picked up the small and heavy dragon by the arms before stroking his feathers, “So you liked me as soon as you saw me? Am I irresistible even to dragons?”

"Screech! Krurr!" Not understanding anything, the little dragon just enjoyed the affection for a while. But soon, "Groowl!"

Hungry! (◑‿◐)

"Are you hungry too? It makes sense, it really seems like it's been a thousand years since we last ate something." Avoiding laughing at the innocent hungry face he was making, Noah continued with him in his arms heading towards the ship.

Until some huge figures appeared in front of them.

Five Millennial Dragons blocked his way while the big red eyes menacingly looked at him. From the way they were, it was more than obvious they would not let him take the baby dragon.

Stopping in his tracks, Noah looked at the five adult dragons without any fear. And when some time passed and they still did not get out of the way, his forehead furrowed a bit.

"Get out of the way." His eyes became menacing for a moment, his pupil becoming tiny and his greyish green eyes seemed to emit a faint killing intent, "Or else I wouldn't mind reducing your species."

The tension in the air became palpable, the dragons not backing down on this killing intent. But that didn't last long, as another elder dragon roared at them from afar.

Roar!

The dragons, just like Noah, looked in the direction of the elder dragon before nodding their heads.

"Thank you. I will take good care of him."

The elder dragon was slightly shocked by the human's response, but also did not roar anymore. His eyes stared at the five adult dragons until they cleared the path for the human to pass.

And so, Noah went to the Black Artemis to feed the little dragon.

More specifically, the new travel companion they will have.

Ryu (II), The Millennial Dragon.