The three-day ultimatum felt like a slow-motion execution for the upper echelons of the Marine Headquarters.
Sengoku hadn't slept. He sat in his ruined office, musing about how this was going to go. To his left, Tsuru, to his right, Akainu, who stood like a statue of cooling magma, his arms crossed, his very presence radiating a heat that threatened to singe the remaining floorboards.
"Sixty fruits," Akainu growled, his voice low. "We are really going to hand the brat sixty fruits. We should still be on Sabaody looking for that brat, we should descend with the full force of the Buster Call, not playing courier for a criminal."
"We can't even find him, even if we do, then what? What happens when he brings that red light down on New Marineford, Sakazuki?" Sengoku snapped, not even looking up.
"The Gorosei have ordered compliance," Tsuru reminded them, her voice devoid of emotion. "They seem… shaken. Saint Mars' death was so unexpected, and the destruction of Mary Geoise is not really a small thing, its not something they can afford again."
Akainu spat on the floor, the saliva sizzling into steam. "Cowards. We are all cowards."
"No," Sengoku whispered. "I don't believe that's the only reason they decided to accept."
The fleet admiral paused as he thought more about when he spoke with the elders, they didn't just seem accepting, no, they were angry, very angry. Sengoku was sure that they were planning something, and he could only hope that they didn't make things worse than they already were, like whenever they got involved.
With Lucian.
"I'm curious what you're doing right now."
A voice slithered into his mind while he was trying to focus.
Lucian didn't respond. He sat cross-legged on the deck of his ship, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched so tight it ached. He was staring at the empty air in front of him, focusing every fiber of his being on a single point. Veins bulged faintly along his temples, pulsing with the rhythm of his racing heart.
His face contorted, sweat beading on his brow, as he forced himself to push his haki outward, trying to impose it on the world.
He was trying to manifest Conqueror's Haki. He already possessed Observation and Armament, but this, the so called "Color of the Supreme King," remained a locked door.
It's funny that the anime never really explained how one manifests it. Yes, it mentions that only those born with it can use it, but it never really said how to bring it forth, or had it, and he wasn't paying attention. Anyway, he had no doubt that he had it, even if he was just that confident in himself, and even if he didn't, he could get it, but for now, he was trying to see if he could do it himself.
"Arg!" he growled as he fell back flat onto the deck with a dull thud. He stared up at the shifting clouds, breathing in the salty air. "I could just find someone who has it and trade for it."
He sighed as he watched the clouds pass by, "But finding a willing so called "king" to bargain with or accept with their massive pride will not be easy."
Throughout the show, not more than 30 people had it, hell, he was sure it was less than that who were alive at the moment, so how would he find one.
Silence stretched for a few moments, punctuated only by the rhythmic creaking of the ship's hull. Then—Sip.
Lucian's eye twitched.
Siiippppp
He could hear it clearly through their mental link, the distinct, slow sound of someone sipping something.
"...You're doing that on purpose," he muttered to the sky.
A low, amused chuckle echoed in his mind. Raum wasn't truly there in a physical sense, nor was he strictly "inside" Lucian's head like a common telepath. Their connection spanned time and the vast gaps between dimensions. Yet, the demon was intentionally projecting the details of his tea just to grate on Lucian's nerves.
He sighed, ignoring the annoying demon that was his ancestor. He had started to understand the being a little, he had a desire for knowledge, hated being ignored, loved his own voice, and, unlike other demons he'd heard of or even devils, the demon lacked pride and was more shameless than anyone he'd ever met when it came to something he wanted.
"Who was he?" he suddenly asked the question that had been bothering him for a while now.
"Who was who?" the demon asked, his voice dripping with a feigned, honeyed innocence that Lucian knew was just to annoy him.
"...The man I saw," Lucian finally asked, his voice dropping to a low whisper that barely carried over the waves. "When I looked into the past."
There was a long, heavy pause, one that made it feel like the world had stopped turning. When Raum spoke again, the playfulness was gone. His voice was stripped of its fake warmth, becoming something jagged, ancient, and cold.
"Do not act ignorant, child. You know exactly who he was. Are you telling me you haven't seen the statues? Have you not seen the images of his brilliance in the Great Halls of the underworld?"
"I... he just looked so different," Lucian whispered, a sudden, primal chill creeping up his spine. "The statues and the images in the Underworld don't look like what I saw. They are brilliant, yes, but it was different, the man I saw... he didn't look like.....like... He looked… perfect."
"Oh yes, I understand now. I have seen those in the eyes of some of my descendants, but of course they look different," Raum growled, sounding genuinely insulted, as if Lucian had just insulted him personally. "That which you have seen in your time is but a fragment of his light. An imperfect manifestation crafted for lesser beings who never deserved to gaze upon his true, unadulterated glory. You. Boy, should feel honored, I have no doubt you're the only one of your kind to see his true beauty."
Lucian swallowed hard, his throat feeling like it was filled with dry sand. "I saw him. And I felt it… he almost saw me."
"Not almost, boy," Raum said, his voice dropping into a dark, guttural register that made Lucian's heart thrum with fear as the demon seemed amused at his thought.
"Did you truly believe you could gaze upon the Morningstar unnoticed? Did you think a lesser being like you could set his sight upon the First Fallen, the one who redefined existence through his own pride, and he would not know? The Morningstar does not 'almost' do anything."
Lucian's breath hitched.
Lucifer Morningstar.
The Prince of Darkness.
The Original Rebel.
The name itself felt like a weight that could crush his lungs.
"You are fortunate beyond measure," Raum continued, letting out a dark, mocking laugh that echoed like falling stones. "You lived only because the Morningstar deemed you beneath his notice. To him, you were a speck of dust momentarily caught in a beam of light. Try that again, and you will not be granted such mercy. You will cease to exist, child, be wiped from the very cosmos, as if the very concept of you was never even whispered."
Lucian said nothing. He couldn't. The terror he was feeling was making it hard to even breathe, he broke into a cold sweat.
He had accidentally locked eyes with the progenitor of his entire race and survived only because he was too insignificant to bother killing. It was a humbling, horrifying realization.
This world, DxD world, was not the anime one, and the things that the morning star had done...well, let's just say that it's not just humans that use THE DEVIL as a bedtime story to scare kids straight. He gulped.
What could have happened to him if Lucifer had decided to just... he shook his head, no more past trips for now.
"I... I wonder what those Marines are doing," Lucian finally stammered, desperately flipping the conversation to something, anything, less existential. "It's been two days already. Surely they've finished deciding what to do."
He felt Raum's amusement linger at his terror and his attempt to change the subject before the demon's presence retreated from his mind. Lucian pushed himself up, needing to drown out the memory of that golden gaze.
"Training, yes, better get back to training".
He spent the rest of the day training with a desperation he hadn't felt since his first night after he went hunting in the pits and nearly died when he was a kid.
His sword skills were becoming better and better as the days passed, the blade singing through the air. He had recently managed to trade with a high-ranking Marine for the Tekkai (Iron Body) technique. While it wasn't the Soru (Shave) he truly coveted for its utility, Tekkai allowed him to harden his muscles to the density of iron or even more with mastery. When combined with his Armament Haki, his defensive capabilities improved to an even higher level.
Then they were also his chains of heaven.
He moved like a ghost across the deck, practicing the deployment of his Chains of Heaven. Golden portals snapped open in the air around him, links of celestial metal shooting out to strike invisible targets.
He was consciously adopting the style of a certain Golden King he admired—maintaining absolute dominance from a distance. Gilgamesh may have made it seem easy, but controlling multiple chains accurately was a bit hard, to be honest.
Close-quarters combat was a necessity he would master, but after years in the pits of the underworld hunting beasts, he'd prefer not to get close to enemies unless the need arises. Still, he will master CQC.
By the afternoon of the third day, the air above the Red Line seemed to ripple with tension. Lucian flew above the red line, looking down on the ruins of Mary Geoise and what was left of it, his dark wings spread wide against the setting sun.
"It's already been three days," he muttered. They hadn't reached out to him, so to him that simply meant that they didn't want the deal, guess he just had to finish what he started.
He raised his hand slowly. Golden portal opening beside him as the familiar hilt of the golden weapon comes out, reaching out and pulling it out fully from the gate and raising it high above his head.
The air began to scream as the red-and-black drill blade of EA began to materialize, its rotation shredding the clouds above him.
"Now begone, you human trash," he murmured, the crimson energy reflecting in his eyes.
Before he could unleash the strike, his Den Den Mushi in his pocket began to ring. He paused for a second, the weapon humming with a destructive power in his hand as he used his free hand to answer.
"Yes?" he answered, his tone cold and uncaring.
"We have your Devil Fruits," Tsuru's voice crackled through, sounding older and more exhausted than the last time they spoke.
Lucian blinked, and then his face split into a bright, cheerful smile, his cold eyes immediately replaced by warmth. "Oh! Why didn't you say so earlier? And here I was just about to finish the job and return this plateau to the sea."
"You don't need to do that," Tsuru said hurriedly, the panic in her voice barely suppressed. "We have met every one of your demands. The payment is ready."
Oh, have they? Have they removed his bounty? and given an apology? when?
"I'm ready for the summons, then. Don't keep a merchant waiting, it's bad for business."
The call cut as he cancelled the charging weapon and returned it to his gate. After that, he waited for the familiar pull, yet it seemed to be taking a while before he felt it.
Allowing himself to be pulled through, Lucian found himself in a large room. Looking around, he could tell in an instant that he was not in any marine quarters, and if he was, then it sure didn't look like one, he thought.
The place was wide and big, and he was standing in the center of the room with hundreds of Marines and white-masked CP0 agents surrounding him.
Forming a circle around him were four figures. The Gorosei.
And just behind them were the admirals and vice admirals around, all watching him.
Lucian tilted his head, looking around with an exaggerated sense of wonder before focusing back on the elders. "Huh. Weren't there supposed to be five of you guys?"
The temperature in the room plummeted. killing intent radiating from the four remaining Elders, so thick it felt like physical sludge, pressing against the walls. It was terrifying, or it would have been if he had not been summoned.
There was a reason he said to summon him. As long as he was summoned, it meant a deal was in process, and when a deal was in process, his essence power would protect him until the deal was done.
If they decided that they didn't want a deal, ending it, then he had the choice of going back to where he was summoned from or staying.
Shrugging off the killing intent, he gave them a polite smile like he didn't feel anything.
"Well, it doesn't matter." Lucian waved it off flippantly, stepping forward as if he were walking into a tavern. "Now, where are my fruits?" he said, clapping his hands as he rubbed them happily.
"You dare," one of the Elders roared, his voice trembling with fury. "To destroy the Holy Land, to slaughter a Saint of the highest blood, to dare to harm....." he paused like he was about to say something, then changed what he was saying, "and then walk into our presence demanding rewards?"
"Today," another added, his hand gripping the hilt of his massive katana so hard the knuckles turned white, "we will make an example of you. We will show the world what happens to those who defy the natural order of the Government."
On cue, the hundreds of soldiers in the room shifted. Weapons were drawn. Haki flared from every corner, the sheer collective pressure alone was enough to make any normal man's heart stop just from standing where Lucian stood.
Yet.....
Lucian just gave them a deadpan look, his expression completely blank. He didn't reach for a weapon. He didn't even drop his relaxed, slouching posture.
"Then come on," he said, spreading his arms wide, exposing his chest to their blades. "I'm right here. All of you, at once." They hadn't said they didn't want a deal yet, so he was protected.
Silence fell.
Despite their words, Nobody moved. Not a single Marine charged, and not a single Elder drew their blade.
Because despite their posturing, they all remembered the red light. They didn't know what it was, they didn't know anything about this brat, and despite trying to pressure him with combined power, nothing was happening.
Lucian's smile slowly faded, replaced by a look of boredom. His eyes grew cold, the silver and crimson glowing with a predatory light that seemed to dim the lamps in the room.
"Last chance," he whispered, and the air around him began to crackle and pop with static. "I will accept 60 devil fruits for the exchange of not repeating what happened before. Will you accept that deal, or will you forfeit the deal and I wipe what's left of that rotten city"
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