"I see…" Takero murmured, stroking his chin as he fell deep into thought.
Normally, the main character of a story would be famous, but Shanks had never even heard of "Straw Hat Luffy." It seemed Takero's initial assumptions were probably wrong. Still, just to be safe, he decided to ask about one more key piece of information.
"By the way, Shanks," he said, turning to the red-haired captain. "Since you're also searching for the Dragon Balls—I mean, what you call the 'One Piece'—then you must have heard of the 'Divine Dragon,' right?"
"'Divine Dragon'?" Shanks repeated, his brow furrowing slightly as he searched his memory. What did the One Piece have to do with a Divine Dragon? The two things seemed completely unrelated.
To find the legendary One Piece, a pirate needed to collect four red Road Poneglyphs. One of those stones was in the possession of Kaido of the Beasts, the tyrant who ruled over Wano Country. And Kaido… he was a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, having eaten the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon. When he transformed into a massive dragon that could block out the sky, he was definitely a being worthy of being called a "Divine Dragon."
Suddenly, it all clicked in Shanks's mind. But then another question arose: how could this kid, who claimed to have grown up on a deserted island, possibly know about Kaido?
His eyes drifted up to the mast, where a News Coo was occasionally resting. He instantly understood. Of course! It must have been the newspaper! That guy Kaido was always causing trouble in the New World, so it was common for him to make headlines.
With the pieces of the puzzle fitting together in his mind, Shanks's face lit up with realization, and he slapped his thigh. "Oh! You mean that 'Divine Dragon'! Of course, I know him! But that guy…"
He paused, and his tone grew more serious. "We'll only get to see him at the very end of the journey, won't we? He's the grand finale, so there's no need to rush it!"
Shanks thought to himself that getting the Poneglyph from Kaido would require some very careful planning.
Hearing this, Takero's last bit of doubt vanished, and he let out a long sigh of relief. That was it! You could only summon the Divine Dragon after collecting all the Dragon Balls, and that was always the final step! He glanced at the system prompt again; it clearly said he was on "Earth," and his Saiyan identity was real.
It seemed he just didn't know enough about how things worked in the Dragon Ball world. Then again, it made sense. Master Roshi lived in seclusion on a small island, and Goku often flew across the ocean. This all suggested that the seas in the Dragon Ball world were incredibly vast. The boundless ocean stretching out before him was the best proof of that. As for the lack of advanced technology… maybe he just hadn't come across a high-tech place like the city where Bulma lived. Every world had its disparities.
"Perhaps… I just haven't seen enough of the world yet…" Takero muttered to himself. He decided that as soon as they reached Ambri Island, he would gather as much information as he could to get a better understanding of things.
Meanwhile, on Ambri Island, located a dozen nautical miles from the Red Force, a different story was unfolding.
Outside a shop that was decorated in a flashy but tacky style, a young man with light green hair sat in front of a display window. He was separated from the inside by a set of thick, cold iron railings that made the shop look less like a storefront and more like a small, ornate prison.
Inside the cage sat a young woman with a cascade of golden hair and skin as white as snow. Her beautiful face was like that of a porcelain doll, and she listened quietly as the young man, Gild Tesoro, excitedly told her about his recent adventures. When he said something funny, she couldn't help but cover her mouth and let out a soft chuckle.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the bars, illuminating her face. Her smile was so pure and warm that it felt like an angel had descended to Earth, instantly brightening up the gloomy cage and filling Tesoro's heart with light. The young man stared at her, mesmerized, his heart pounding in his chest. For the first time, he truly understood what it felt like to be struck by Cupid's arrow.
"What's wrong, Tesoro?" the young woman, Stella, asked. Seeing him suddenly daze off, she chuckled again, her violet eyes filled with gentle concern.
Tesoro snapped back to reality, a blush spreading across his cheeks. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, and looked at the woman in the cage with incredibly serious and passionate eyes.
"This afternoon! As soon as I finish my last job for the day, I'll have enough money! Wait for me, Stella! Soon, very soon, we'll finally be together!"
Gild Tesoro was just an ordinary young man trying to survive on Ambri Island. He had been born into a poor family, and poverty had been like a brand on him, causing other children to avoid him from a young age. Even so, he held a dream deep in his heart: to one day stand on a dazzling stage and move people with his singing. However, his gambler father and his alcoholic mother, who despised singing, had completely crushed that small spark of hope.
At the age of twelve, Tesoro ran away from that cold and loveless home. He started a life of wandering and lived by stealing. For a short time, he used the money he stole to "buy" friends, and it was then that he first learned the suffocating power of money—it could bring you a fake sense of warmth, but it could also take everything away in an instant. Money became his new obsession.
By sixteen, he had managed to make something of himself, but he fell into the deep pit of gambling, losing all his savings and racking up a massive debt. When he couldn't pay it back, he was caught by casino thugs and beaten to within an inch of his life. The so-called friends he had bought with money were long gone. At that moment, Tesoro truly understood money—it could build fake connections, but it could destroy them just as easily.
The turning point in his life came when he was in this slave market. While recovering from his injuries, broken and disheartened, he met Stella. She was trapped in the cage, but this gentle girl didn't look down on him for being poor. Instead, she sincerely complimented his humming, telling him that it "sounded very good."
Her smile was like a ray of sunlight piercing through the darkness, illuminating Tesoro's grim world. In turn, Tesoro's presence brought long-lost joy and hope to the beautiful young woman trapped in the cage. The two lonely souls grew closer, came to understand each other, and slowly fell in love. But Stella knew her fate as a slave; she would eventually be sold, and their relationship felt like a hopeless tragedy.
To change their desperate fate, Tesoro began to work relentlessly for three long years. He worked tirelessly from dawn until late at night, enduring insults and harsh treatment, all to save up the astronomical amount of money needed to buy her freedom.
Now, after three years had passed, a glimmer of hope was finally breaking through the clouds. As long as he completed his last job today, he would have enough money!
"Stella, once you're out, we'll leave Ambri Island," Tesoro said, his eyes sparkling as he excitedly described the future he imagined for them. "We'll find a quiet, faraway town, and we'll live a peaceful life, just the two of us…"
Stella didn't interrupt him. She just listened quietly with a gentle smile on her face, her violet eyes filled with a deep longing for freedom and an unwavering trust in the young man before her.
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