Chapter 124: Corgi and the Cold Vinsmoke
To be honest, Hancock really wanted to punch Vivi.
If Roy had stayed in Alabasta any longer, she might actually have done it.
Luckily, he chose to leave this desert kingdom and take her with him.
At the mouth of the Sandora River where it met the sea, under the scorching sun at the edge of the desert, a young Princess Vivi stood on the shore in a light blue dress.
One hand rested on Karoo's head, the other waved toward the distant ship as she saw off her big brother Roy and that annoying woman by his side.
"Brother Roy, come back to Alabasta again next time!"
Princess Vivi's smile was bright and heartfelt.
Out at sea, Roy stood at the rail. He nodded to her and raised his hand in return.
King Cobra and Igaram stood a few steps behind Vivi, smiling quietly as they watched their princess wave goodbye.
...
North Blue.
The snail ships of Germa 66 slowly separated, each massive sea snail carrying a warship topped with a steel castle as they crawled toward the Red Line.
Inside one such castle, deep in the stone belly of a Germa fortress, a dungeon sat cold and silent.
In one corner, a small child squatted alone. An iron hood covered his head, only messy strands of blond hair poking out beneath the metal.
He sat there and cried.
The brothers who bullied him every day had gone off to watch the snail fleet climb the Red Line.
The pain stayed behind with him.
Sanji tried to swallow his sobs and failed. "I miss Mom so much..."
This cold Vinsmoke family...
He wanted to run away from it all.
...
Several days later.
East Blue, on the coast of the Kingdom of Corgi.
A passenger ship and a large, unfamiliar vessel were moored by the shore.
Farther out at sea, one castle after another, carried on the backs of giant snails, was charging straight toward Corgi's coast.
The wreckage of several warships floated nearby, charred planks and twisted keels bobbing in the waves. The smashed hulls were proof that a fierce battle had taken place not long before the snail fleet arrived.
When the strange snail ships first appeared, the navy of the Corgi Kingdom had rushed out to intercept them.
The invaders had not hesitated.
Germa's snails had opened fire, tearing through the weak coastal defense line, destroying the kingdom's few warships, and then surging onward, straight for Corgi's shores.
On the deck of the large ship, a red haired man stood tall at the rail, coat flapping in the sea breeze.
A beautiful dark haired woman stood beside him.
"Germa 66," Roy said softly, eyes half narrowed as he watched the snail ships in the distance. "Now that is a nostalgic name."
Decades ago, he had met a mangaka who talked excitedly about drawing a series of villains called Germa 66.
At the time, Roy had never seen the work in print.
Many years later, that mangaka, who had once burned with creative passion, passed away.
The comic he left behind had already been circulating the world for decades.
Most copies were found in the North Blue. In other seas, it was a rare and treasured book.
"Hm?" Hancock glanced at the comic Roy was idly flipping through, then at the real snail fleet on the sea. "Do they have any strong fighters among them?"
Roy chuckled and shook his head.
"Not yet," he replied.
There would be, in the future.
But the one who would become truly powerful, Vinsmoke Sanji, would be thrown away by his own father long before he grew up.
Vinsmoke Judge.
What a rotten man.
When his wife was pregnant, he had her take a drug based on the theory of bloodline factors, all to alter his children's genes and create a squad of living weapons.
Even a dog would turn away from a man like that.
When he decided Sanji was inferior to his other children, he staged the boy's death and locked him away.
Sanji's brothers bullied and mocked him relentlessly.
In that entire family, aside from his gentle older sister Reiju and his late mother Sora, there was not a single decent person.
Their so called "successful" children, the modified sons, were in truth at their peak only in childhood. As adults, they relied entirely on their equipment and stopped growing, just gliding along on the power they had been handed.
Sanji, the one they called a failure, was the only child who kept growing stronger. He was the real success story.
But because he had seemed so ordinary compared to his monstrous siblings, Judge had written him off and cast him aside.
On the shore ahead, the snail ships of Germa 66 ground up onto Corgi's beaches. The Vinsmoke clone soldiers poured out, wielding advanced weapons as they stormed into the kingdom.
War exploded across the coastline.
"There are two brats over there." Hancock pointed toward the rocky outcrop along the shore.
"I see them," Roy replied with a nod.
Behind that boulder, Vinsmoke Reiju was helping Sanji escape from Germa's sea fortress.
Roy's lips curved in a faint smile, a hint of mischief hiding behind his calm eyes.
He wondered what would happen if he trained Sanji for a bit first, then nudged the boy's ideals in a different direction with his words and example.
Not to change his dream of finding All Blue.
That, Roy respected.
He just wanted to see whether he could turn Sanji into the kind of man who had no goddess in his heart and would not hesitate to kick a so called divine being in the face.
A person's personality was shaped by their upbringing, the teachings of their elders, and the experiences they lived through.
Not by fixed game stats or character sheets.
What was memory?
Flashbacks in Oda's work were not just padding for the page count. They were one of the secrets to building living, breathing characters.
Memories meant childhood, family, heartbreak, chance encounters, and the influences of the people who crossed your path.
All of that mattered.
All of that decided who you became.
...
Behind the boulder, Reiju and Sanji had no idea they were being watched.
"Listen carefully," Reiju said, her hand gripping Sanji's shoulder tightly. Her pink hair shook as she leaned close, her other hand holding his arm as he cried into it. "You must never come back here again."
Even their father had abandoned Sanji.
His brothers were cruel and merciless.
As his older sister, Reiju knew his only hope was to run away from the Vinsmoke family.
This cold, heartless household had smothered every last bit of warmth. There was nothing here but despair.
Sanji's hair was tangled and dirty, his clothes stained, his small body shaking as he covered his eyes and sobbed.
How much pain did a child have to go through before he could say he never wanted to see his father again?
A father like that...
Even ghosts would avoid him.
"The sea is so wide. One day..."
Reiju's voice began to tremble. Her eyes grew hot, and she had to bite her lip hard to hold back her tears.
"One day, you will definitely meet kind people."
She gripped his shoulders and turned him around so his back was to her, shoving him lightly toward the shore.
"Hurry," she cried. "Go!"
"Do not look back!"
"Run, Sanji!"
Her voice followed him as he stumbled away from Germa, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Sanji ran, crying as he went, toward the large ship anchored ahead.
His chest ached so badly he could hardly breathe.
His heart felt like a mirror shattered by his father, then ground into dust beneath his brothers' boots.
Only his kind, gentle older sister had secretly tended his wounds.
It was the cruelty of the Vinsmoke family that had finally given him the courage to ask her for permission to leave.
"Aaah!"
Sanji ran and wiped his tears at the same time, barely able to see the path.
"Oh, what a silly little brat."
A pleasant, magnetic male voice drifted over the sound of the waves into Sanji's ears.
He kept running, hoping to sneak aboard the large ship.
But when he finally looked up, he realized he had already been spotted.
At the bow of the ship stood a man with flowing, fiery red hair. He was tall and broad shouldered, with a blue longsword at his waist and sharp eyes focused straight on Sanji.
Beside him stood a beautiful woman with long black hair. At first glance, she seemed proud and untouchable.
"How about..." Sanji's voice cracked. "How about I pick another ship?"
He quickly looked toward the nearby passenger vessel.
"Boom."
The sea directly in front of the ships erupted.
A colossal serpent shot out of the water, blue scales gleaming coldly in the sun. The massive sea snake raised its head, icy eyes locking onto the tiny human child who had dared to approach.
"Aaaah!"
Sanji fell backward onto the sand with a thud.
Behind the red haired man, on the stern of the ship, the giant serpent Aonami coiled and reared, its huge body towering into the sky.
Two pairs of eyes looked down at him from above, one amused, one filled with cold predatory focus.
There was also that stunning woman, but her gaze was fixed on the red haired man. She did not spare Sanji a single glance.
That moment burned itself into Sanji's heart.
The sight of the red haired man, the serpent that split the sea, and the beautiful woman at his side, framed against the light.
Like a painting.
A memory carved forever into his soul.
<><><><><>
[P@treon Discount: 20% OFF]
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]