Year 1516:
Somewhere in the grandline; Rudolph's island:
The forest floor seemed to shake s a thunderous noise rang through the sea of trees. Pebbles and rocks trembled as birds fled into the sky in terror.
A deer barely had time to react when a colossal boar burst out of the canopy and flattened it.
The boar didn't seem to notice the brutal drive by as it kept running. It seemed to be fleeing from something. It's breath seemed ragged, as if it had barely escaped after an intense fight.
A gash in the shape of a claw decorated it's right thigh on the hind leg, causing it to have a slight limp and decreasing it's speed.
A trail of blood followed it with every turn, which normally should have attracted every predator within a mile, but strangely, the animals seemed to be avoiding that particular area.
The boar, seeming so focused on running away, didn't notice the equally hulking figure chasing after it.
With a great leap, the figure bounded over the boar and latched onto it's back.
It was a giant lion. One unlike any other.
It's golden, almost ethereal hide of fur, did nothing to hide the thick muscles that coiled around it's limbs like a cobra. A huge golden flame replaced it's mane, flickering and floating in the air.
It's amber eyes glowed with intensity as it's claws, looking like massive war scythes, dug into the boars seemingly impenetrable skin.
The boar cried out in pain as the lions teeth found it's skull.
The panicking creature started tumbling around desperately, trying to tumble around and shake of it's attacker. This caused more damage to the surroundings thaen the lion, who didn't even flinch.
The boars last painful squeal was cut short, as it's head exploded like a watermelon under the pressure of the lions jaw.
It's body collapsed to the ground with a huge thud, with the victor leaping of in an elegant fashion.
The beasts full frame towerd over the boars body.
At a whopping 3 meters(10ft) vertically and 7 meters (23 ft), it looked like an absolute monster. Especially with blood, bone ships and brain matter coating it's mouth.
Suddenly, the lions frame started shrinking, growing smaller and smaller until it was a muscular human at around 8 feet tall.
Rudolph POV:
I looked past the dead boar, towards the havoc our chase had wrecked across the island.
Over the past 3 months since I had eaten the devil fruit, a lot had changed. My previously slightly leaner physique had noticeably bulked up, comparable to ones like shanks or Roger or the like.
My senses had also increased to a whole new level, to the point that I suspected I might have awakened observation haki.
My skin was also way tougher, being able to survive attacks from the beasts here that would have probably crippled or killed me before without a scratch. My vitality and recovery rate had leveled up to the point that i could casually eat most of the poisons on the island with no consequences while also being able to regenerate a shattered arm I had gotten from a sea king 2 months ago within a minute.
Not on the level of guys like big mom or kaido, but pretty fucking good if I don't say so myself. All courtesy of my new zoan fruit.
Mythical zoan: neko-neko no mi, Model: Nemean lion.
In my lion and hybrid form, I had an extremely tough hide, incomparable to my base for, along with diamond like hardness, and sharpness he guessed was comparable to a great grade blade.
A sigh escaped my lips, as I rubbed my head.
Due to my new power up, my appetite had vastly increased as well, causing me to clean out my "territory" that i had claimed during this time, and leaving me without food.
I had just been thinking about expanding my territory, when this dumbass boar came waddling in my view. I had thought he was easy pray, but this thing had led me on a wild goose chase across half the island for 6 straight hours.
"Whatever. No use crying over spilled milk. I'm going to eat this and go home. "
After quickly tearing the bore apart and consuming it within a few minutes - yes, I ate raw - I rushed back to my hut, which had actually become way more damaged since I accidentally transformed in here once.
There, on the big wood rectangle called the 'bed', sat a diary.
You see, a month ago, a boat and few supplies had washed ashore. This diary was one of them. It had come in a tight steel box trapped in one of the boats unbroken conrners, along with a log pose, some berry and a few bounty poster that he didn't care about.
It gave me some basic information about the timeline and my location. Since the latest entry seemed pretty new, this was likely year 1516, 16 years after rogers death an and 6 years before canon. I was actually 7 years older then luffy if that was the case, meaning I'd probably be about 23 at the start of one piece. If the ship crash close to this island, then I was somwhere close to the calm belts, which explained the abnormal number of sea kings.
A straight journey from here should lead to water 7, and a turn somwhere along the way should lead me to Enies lobby.
"Plenty of time to get stronger. " I said with a big grin.
Over the course of a few weeks, I had tried fixing the boat. Due to my inexperience in this field, I had to resort to trial and error, and failed multiple times. But at the end, I have succeeded in properly rebuilding it, and even reinforced it (I was fearing for my life).
Now, I had decided to set sail after double, triple, quadruple and many more thorough checking to make sure the boat wouldn't break and I wouldn't drown.
I picked up my boat with one hand from the side of the hut and made my way down to the shore of the island.
With a splash, I placed it onto the sandy beach. The boat was stocked up with 4 days worth of food if I ate frugaly. Since I definitely didn't want to interact with Cp 9 anytime soon,I'll probably head for water 7. Perfect place to get a proper ship and stock up on supplies. I'd find a way for the money part.
I sighed and turned around, taking a long look at the island.
'I'll definitely come back here. Maybe make it my permanent base sometime in the future. But not now. '
With a resolute expression, I climb onto the boat and push away from the island, using the oars to row a long distance way from the island, before taking out my log pose.
"Now, lets see. How do I use this thing? Shouldn't be that hard. "
1 day later:
"Godamn I'm lost. I think I might run into zoro at this point. "
I was completely, utterly and hopelessly lost. I didn't know a single thing about navigation, a very heavy oversight on my part. As the sweltering suns heat clashed against my skin, a troubled look shadowed my face.
"Shit. What do I do? I can't... Wait a minute... Is that a ship?! "
I squinted my eyes and, indeed, in the distance was the silhouette of a ship.
"Holy... I'm saved! Praise the plot armour, I'm saved!! "
As the ship got closer and closer, he was able to make out the words in bold letters that said.
MARINE
"Oh... "