Chapter 42 - The Innocence of Apis! Dragon's Roar!

Watching the Marine ship from afar, Noah simply shrugged as he sat back down on the main deck. Beside him was the big old dragon Ryu, taking a nap to rest his worn-out bones.

Not long after, Nami arrived with a plate of food for him, just as Nojiko and Apis came after her with their own plates. Today they would have lunch on the ship's floor, enjoying the calm sea breeze.

“Noah, are you sure about what you’re saying?” Nami asked as soon as she sat down on the floor and handed him the plate, “The rock formations here really are higher, but that doesn’t mean it has a huge island underneath.”

With their ship halted a few kilometers from Warship Island, it was clear that he had already told them the truth about the island. In fact, even he was a little confused about how the villagers had not discovered it after so long living and fishing here.

"Well, the Lost Island sank a thousand years ago. It is normal that the environment has adapted to such a situation and it seems like it's just a common ocean floor." Noah shrugged and continued, "And maybe because going into the sea is a bit dangerous, not any diver would go further enough to notice the strangeness of the surroundings."

Nami thought a bit before agreeing. She studied a lot about navigation and natural effects of the sea, but knowledge of 'supernatural' geography like the Grand Line type was very limited in the East Blue. That is, she would understand normal natural geological phenomena, but anything that happens in the Grand Line, or similar, is still out of her field of study for now.

Apis, in particular, was the most shocked. She couldn't believe that she had gone through so much trouble to find this Lost Island, being captured by the Marines, spending days at sea hungry, and even today, which was extremely crazy... all this to find out that it was right under her nose! No! Even worse, she was already on the island!

After they had lunch, there was nothing else to do but wait for the arrival of two things. One would be the attack of the marines commanded by Nelson Royale, while the other would be the arrival of the Lost Island itself. Now it would be a race about who gets to them faster.

While Noah was thinking about this, he suddenly heard Apis's voice softly speaking to Ryu.

"Ryujin, soon we will bring you home, and then everything will be okay..." Apis was stroking his snout while looking into his big yellow eyes, "I know you're tired, but we have to admit that you had fun today!"

"You flew, Ryujin! You were in the air doing all those maneuvers and woosh, going back and forth! You even managed to defeat a whole marine ship!"

"Yes, I know it was Noah who did that, but you took him there, Ryujin! I've never seen you so well since I found you in that cave. Maybe we can even have a lot of fun together eating Grandpa Bokuden's meat dumplings when you return from the nest!"

At that moment, Ryu felt Noah's gaze from afar and turned his eyes to him. More than all the feelings of euphoria and joy from a few moments ago, now a deep feeling of guilt and helplessness was taking over.

“So it's settled, Ryujin! When you improve your mood in the nest, we'll all come back and throw a big party!”

Noah was watching that scene, with Apis wearing a big smile on her face while the old dragon tried to hide the truth, and he felt something inside him trying to surface. But with just one thought, he pushed that thing back down into the depth of his memories.

Until two hands touched him on the back and Nojiko's soft voice came.

"Is everything okay? You're thinking too much, it doesn't seem to be a good sign..." Remembering how he was always with a smile on his face or very 'active', she felt a bit bad that he was like this. Expressionless.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Noah smiled at her, pulling her closer to him. And giving her a light kiss on the lips, he continued, "I'm just thinking about the future."

"Hmm..." And despite knowing that he was lying, Nojiko just slightly nodded her head. After all, if he didn't want to tell for now, eventually he would. Or she and Nami would somehow find out.

°°°

Unlike the trajectory of the anime, where the Straw Hats went to the ancient island of the villagers, from the story that Bokuden told, Noah didn't need to waste all that time going there. There was nothing worth it in that place, just an abandoned city.

'Today was a particularly strange day...' Sitting normally near everyone, Noah was lost in thought, 'We should already be passing through the Red Line by now, finally going to one of the initial islands. But just in this short period of time, we encountered a dragon, I found out I have the Voice of All Things and we took down a few more Navy ships while I was literally using Ryu as my mount...'

He had to admit that even though it was a day that was not in his plans, it still gave him a taste of what the Grand Line was like. Things would get even crazier the closer he got to One Piece, and that's what he wanted.

Live as he wanted to live.

And while he was thinking about it, Nami suddenly caught his attention.

"Noah, we have some problems…" With a brief sigh, she looked at the navy ships approaching in the distance with a bit of anger and hopelessness. She honestly was already a bit tired of fighting these guys. Training and staying with Noah are much better options than this!

And in the distance, approaching Warship Island, was a large marine ship, the Mobile Base of the 8th Branch.

This is a large ship with abundant gilding and a unique hull shape. It is wider than the typical Marine ship, and its rudder features an unusual structure, similar to a house. The ship comprises three frontal structures, the middle one being the tallest with a distinctive, seven-pointed red roof. This middle structure is where Nelson typically resides. Additional structures are located at the ship's rear. The sails display the number "8".

And of course, sitting in an armchair, with a view of the entire sea in front of him, was Nelson and his enormous belly (so big that it was almost a separate entity...). Looking arrogantly at the pirate ship not far from him, he almost scoffed at what he saw.

“This is just a pirate who stole a marine ship. His reward is only high because of the acts of cruelty he has committed.” As soon as he saw the ship, Nelson immediately identified it as a refurbished ship. And he was even more certain that this was a pirate group that did not deserve his attention.

And after a few moments, the Lieutenant Captain responsible for the previous attack appeared and bowed to Nelson.

"Sir, I apologize for failing in my mission." Although his face, which was not visible now because he had bowed, showed that he was not at all guilty, he continued to feign his voice, "These pirates are very strong, and the dragon also proves to be a challenge."

"Useless..." Almost wanting to spit on his useless captain, Nelson demanded, "Be minimally competent and tell me the reason for your defeat."

And while he was recounting what he could deduce from the pirates' powers, the same were carefully observing the two through binoculars.

"Holy... how does someone get so fat like that?" Nami asked as she chewed a snack.

"This are years of dedication, for sure." Nojiko also felt like laughing, also not believing that all those sailors followed the will of someone who couldn't even get his ass off the chair.

"Would you still be with me if I became like that?" Noah asked as he lifted his shirt and failed to find anything beyond muscle and perfect skin. Unfortunately, he could no longer make that kind of joke.

"Pfft, as if." Nami rolled her eyes at him, but soon after threatened, "And if you try, we stop shaving the way you like."

Feeling the threat of the destruction of his fetishes, Noah decisively decided to stay silent. He is a man of culture, not a boy who likes everything perfectly smooth! Orange and sky blue stripes are the way to happiness!

"What is shaving?"

Apis simply appeared out of nowhere among them, looking with curious eyes at Nami, who said something she had never heard before.

"What-" Caught in the act by a child, Nami was a bit nervous for a moment. And when she was going to call for help, she realized that Nojiko and Noah were nowhere to be seen! 'You two are going to pay for this!'

After a light joke, Noah and the girls didn't make any move when they saw all the navy ships surrounding them. It doesn't matter that the fleet was huge and that all of them had cannons pointed at them. Even Nami, who is usually the most fearful, was just casually looking at them.

And then came what Noah had been waiting for. Two huge speakers were erected on Nelson's ship and his annoying voice began to sound all over the place where they were.

"Filthy pirates, I don't think you know what you're getting into. Noah D. Avery, you are just a common murderer who deserves the Marine's punishment for all the deaths you have caused.” His voice coughed a little on the speaker as he adjusted his voice, “So I will be magnanimous with you. Hand us the dragon and we will let you go. Otherwise, be prepared to be destroyed by our cannons!”

“…”

The silence took over the region where they were, no response coming from Black Artemis. It was as if someone had created a sound barrier so that neither party could hear each other.

Roar!

At that moment, Ryu raised his lying head and roared softly at the fat man in the distance. This movement made Nelson see the creature better and a maniacal smile spread across his ugly face.

"You have already given your answer then." Nelson dropped the Den Den Moshi in his hand and menacingly looked at Hardy, the Lieutenant Captain.

"Fire until there's nothing left. We can collect the Dragonite in the water."

"Yes, Sir!" Hardy saluted and went to carry out the command. But he immediately stopped when he felt the whole region tremble.

Ryu, who had just risen and roared, did not do so out of anger or anything like that. No, it was far from that.

He felt it. He felt the special feeling. A tremor that ran through his body and soul at that moment.

The trembling of the earth and seas shaking. And raising his head to the sky, he announced his message to the world.

That the Lost Island was emerging.

ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!!