King of Fertility (One Piece)

He was "different" from other people - but it took a long time for Ingnar Frey to become clearly aware of this from the time he was young. There weren't many people who would point it out to him directly.

However, he had felt a vague sense of alienation ever since he was old enough to understand. It was only natural that while the children around him were living peaceful lives, doted on by their parents, he was the only one who was constantly being treated the complete opposite.

He knew that the root of this was likely his appearance, with his silver hair and red eyes, which made him different from either of his parents, but of course, there was nothing Frey himself could do about it. Despite this, his parents had no hesitation in abusing their own child on a daily basis.

The relationship between his parents was not good either. His mother hated his father, who would not believe him no matter how much he pleaded innocence, and his father resented his mother for accepting the seed of a man he did not know about without his knowledge - Frey did not know the truth, but at least he seemed to think that this was the case.

It was a miracle that they did not get divorced, but even more so, the existence of Frey, who they hated and resented, and who they had unilaterally decided was the root cause of their problems, may have served as a good outlet for their stress. By venting their anger on their son on a daily basis, they were able to secure the mental space to calmly consider the specific risks of a divorce and the hardships that would follow.

In a sense, Frey was a lubricant to reduce friction between the couple, but Frey himself never wanted that, and of course he never felt happy that he was of use. His perfectly-formed features may have also acted as a tailwind from a different direction. As was surprisingly the case with other people of his kind, he was met with more jealousy than envy. Not only from his parents, who were by no means good-looking, but also from the other people around him.

Anyway, that's a digression.

Although they said they lived peaceful lives, the children other than Frey did not have it easy either. The country they were born and raised in was poor. Strictly speaking, the common people, excluding the royal family, were forced to live a life of poverty, and even a child like Frey knew that this was because most of their earnings were taken away to pay the tribute called ``Heavenly Gold.''

So, naturally, even a young person like him was made to work as a valuable labor force - at least, that was common sense in this country, but for someone like Frey to be made to do this at an age when he was barely conscious, was indeed abnormal. From his parents' perspective, Frey was assumed to be the product of infidelity and was the subject of gossip from the neighbors, so they didn't want to keep him in the house - out of sight as much as possible.

In fact, when he was at home, he was told to stay as still as possible in the moldy, narrow storeroom that was assigned to him as his room, and was strictly prohibited from working outside, going to the toilet, or leaving the room for any reason other than to dry himself off with a wet towel instead of a shower.

What's more, all of the wages he earned from work were taken away, and his meals were extremely frugal, so simple that dog food would have been better. At its worst, he was told to procure food himself from the garbage behind a restaurant, such as cold soup with only vegetable scraps that were no longer needed during the cooking process, or dry, moldy bread that was clearly past its expiration date.

Naturally, if Frey, who had a bad reputation among the neighbors, did something like that, he would be stoned and beaten with wooden sticks. He was treated almost the same as a nasty stray dog - no, even a stray dog would at least be given food by people passing by, so Frey, who didn't even have that, might have been in a position worse than a dog. After all, when Frey walked down the street, parents with children would cover their eyes and look at him with looks that said, "Hurry up and get out of here."

"Discrimination" is relief. In the end, people can't survive without looking down on "someone" to a greater or lesser extent. For the people of a country that was already forced to live in poverty, discriminating against and oppressing Frey, who was at the bottom of the hierarchy, was probably necessary for them to survive - but he didn't think he would ever reach that conclusion, but he knew that there was no point in resisting. The key to being a human is to give up.

However, Frey's strange appearance and being an unloved child were not the only reason for the persecution. There was another reason why the people were creeped out by Frey.

First of all, in the above-mentioned food environment, it would not be surprising if he became extremely thin, let alone collapsed from malnutrition many times, but that never happened in his case. On the contrary, even though he didn't consciously train his body, it was strong and toned - in fact, his physical strength and stamina were superior to anyone else around him, including adults.

Making money mainly through manual labor, he worked later than anyone else and carried heavier loads than anyone else. Even so, with his iron mask and expressionless face - although he did sweat a little - he never got out of breath, which may have been one of the reasons why people around him found him creepy.

There were other reasons too. First of all, he had an unusually sharp intuition. At least, that was how the people around him seemed to perceive him. Whenever Frey walked down the street, bad boys whose parents had told him about his reputation would often throw stones at him, but Frey was never hit by them.

Naturally, they got annoyed and threw more stones at him, but they still missed -- as if they could see him in the future. Sudden attacks from hiding in the shadows were also useless -- as if they could grasp the presence of people in invisible places.

As if that were the case, the bad boys, getting impatient, would surround him -- in other words, cut off his escape route -- and often unleash more direct violence, but even here Frey's abnormality was on full display. Simultaneous violence by a large number of people that could not be avoided. So far so good. Well, of course, it was not good from Frey's point of view -- but he never felt any pain. On the contrary, it was often the bad boys who attacked them who would have their fists red and swollen and shed tears of pain.

In those cases, the part of Frey's body that he had hit had turned black and shiny, like obsidian, but the bruises were not caused by the blow. Both Frey and the bad boys knew that. Because the order was reversed. The skin had not turned black because of the blow--it had turned black just before the blow.

Once, he even got into a fight with a stray dog, but it didn't even end up being an opportunity to avoid or block it. All it took was for Frey to glare at it in frustration, and the dog would foam at the mouth and collapse. That happened sometimes when he got into fights with the bad boys.

The power to see a little into the future, and to sense the presence of people in unseen places.

The power to harden and strengthen any part of the body that he senses.

The power to make someone lose consciousness without directly touching them.

Why did he have such powers? Frey didn't know. There was not a single kind adult around him who could teach him, and even the adults didn't seem to understand the true nature of Frey's powers. To be more specific, Frey had a huge misconception that the "powers" he possessed were not special, but something that all humans possess. From his perspective, it was something he had been able to use freely since he was old enough to understand, so when he found out that this was not the case for other humans, he was extremely surprised - although he didn't show it on his face.

But there's no point in wasting time on questions that have no answers - after thinking along those lines, Frey gave up on understanding and lived a miserable daily life, but the people around him didn't approve. Well, they had given up on understanding, but that didn't mean they would just leave Frey alone. His strange appearance. The product of infidelity (although that was just an accusation). That was fine. But his mysterious "supernatural powers" were beyond his understanding. That was something they couldn't accept.

That's probably why - his parents and others didn't hesitate at all to put him up for "sale" to reduce the number of mouths to feed. Frey was only five years old at the time.

The "selling" and "buying" of people is a bad culture that was banned long ago. ...That's what it should have been, but there are exceptions and loopholes in any era and any place - especially the "World Nobles" who openly committed such evil deeds using their power as a shield.

"World Nobles" - commonly known as "Tenryubito".

Descendants of the people who are said to have created the world. Hence the power. Hence the tyranny.

"Jewel-like eyes, huh. Not bad looking either... Maybe I'll raise him a bit and then stuff him, or... I can't decide."

"He's someone who needs even a 'youkai' like you. Do your best!"

I didn't resist. It would have been easy if I'd wanted to, and I could have escaped, but I didn't have the energy. I also wondered what the point of doing something like that would be. I knew that those feelings would have vanished a long time ago, but still, it was quite a shock. The very person who was supposed to have given birth to me would have uttered such abusive words to me.

...Maybe somewhere in his heart, he had harbored a sliver of hope that his parents still loved him after all. And that was all.

Frey naturally knew that the "Celestial Dragons" were coming, and that the whole country was feeling unsettled and tense because of it, but he hadn't expected this turn of events to happen. He was at the workplace where he was forced to do the same heavy labor as always, when suddenly, a Celestial Dragon accompanied by his parents and the royal family -- at the time, he didn't immediately realize that the person was "that" -- dressed in a luxurious white robe-like garment, with what looked like a square piece of transparent glass surrounding his face -- arrived, and without any explanation to Frey himself, a "special" collar was placed around his neck, and several tens of minutes later, he was sitting in a cage inside the ship the Celestial Dragons had arrived on.

It may seem repetitive, but his parents never opposed such a procedure, and naturally the same was true for Frey's coworkers and the people in town who knew him - these facts, once again confronting him, were enough to snuff out any rebellious feelings that may have welled up in Frey's heart.

He was no longer needed in this world.

Or so he thought.

"..."

If you think about it calmly, just because you were persecuted on one island or in one country doesn't mean it will be the same in other places. So it's probably too early to judge his value in the vast framework of the "world" based on just this one incident, and it is probably premature, but - as I said before, he is still only five years old. Don't underestimate the values and narrow perspective of a young child.

For a child like him, the "world" is only what he has seen and heard. A frog in a well does not know the ocean -- there was a window on the other side of the cage Frey was in, and beyond that was a view of the "ocean," but he could not hold any hope that the "freedom" and "happiness" he desired might be somewhere there.

But,

"What is this?! No matter how much you slash, stab, or hit it, you can use it over and over again! That's fun!"

No matter what his feelings were, it did not affect the natural talent that resided within him, and soon, like the majority of slaves, he was branded with a dragon's hoof-like branding mark on his back, a mark of being a "slave of the Celestial Dragons," and he found himself in a harsh environment where he was subjected to violence, such as being punched and kicked for the slightest thing -- but even here, the "mysterious power to harden parts of the body," which had become a conditioned reflex, was displayed. The dagger that was thrust into him, the iron club that was swung, all of these were mercilessly shattered by Frey's mysterious physical strength.

He was clearly different from the other slaves - and so the Celestial Dragon who had bought him was amused at first, as mentioned earlier, but after a few days this had turned to irritation. One factor may have been the lack of change in his facial expression, which had always been there, even after he had become a slave.

Frey's owner, the Celestial Dragon, was like this,

"He didn't even groan or cry... How boring! So annoying! ...Ah, that's right! I have 'that'! If I feed him 'that' and put the seastone lock on him, his strange powers will surely disappear!"

"...?"

The young Frey didn't really understand what 'that' or 'seastone' meant, but perhaps it was a poisonous food or something? She braced herself. Of course, even if she braced herself, there was no way she could refuse it.

And in a way, Frey's prediction that it was 'poison' was correct. It was poison, a deadly poison -- what had been forced into his mouth was a kind of strange fruit known as a "Devil Fruit", which bestows special powers on the eater in exchange for eliminating all resistance to the "sea (i.e. water above a certain amount)".

"Ahhhhh!"

The strange swirling pattern on the fruit was awful. No, it was too awful. It tasted even worse than any of the leftovers that he had eaten several times in his country when he couldn't bear the hunger, and Frey immediately choked, but he hadn't forgotten what would happen if he spat it out, so he mustered all his strength to swallow it -- but the change occurred immediately after. A mysterious chill ran through his entire body. After it entered her stomach, "something" quickly permeated every corner of her body, and Frey instinctively became convinced that she had now become a completely different creature from the one she had been just a few seconds before. She was convinced.

Meanwhile, the Celestial Dragon and his attendant, who seemed to have known this would happen beforehand, showed no sign of surprise. Taking advantage of Frey's confusion, the male attendant, who had received further instructions from the Celestial Dragon, quickly fitted a pair of black locks connected by chains onto Frey's wrists with quick movements.

(Wha...?!)

The effect was immediate. She learned later that the material used to make the lock, "seastone," has the same properties as the sea, and if a human who has eaten a Devil Fruit, commonly known as a "Devil," comes into contact with it, it causes the same phenomenon as sinking into the "sea," which is their weakness mentioned above -- in other words, they lose all strength from their entire body and become unable to move properly. Of course, they also lose the "power" they were granted in exchange for the "curse."

Without any prior knowledge of this, Frey was naturally surprised, and without knowing the details of the "devil's power" that resided within her -- her days of hell began. The seastone lock also suppressed the mysterious power Frey had been born with, and like the other slaves, she was pierced by blades and had bruises from being hit with the iron club. The Celestial Dragons were in high spirits.

It really was hell. She was no longer a "human." Frey thought this every time her limp body was cut by a knife and beaten with a iron club. She was made to face it. How long would this life continue? The thought made Frey feel hopeless. The only thing he could do was to try not to groan or scream as much as possible. That way, there was a chance that a Celestial Dragon would get tired of his lack of reaction and sell him to another "Human Shop", just as had happened with some of the other slaves besides Frey. Of course, there was no guarantee that the shop owner or the next owner would be any better than the Celestial Dragon...

But in the end, those hellish days only lasted for a few months. It happened on an island called "God Valley", where he had been dragged by his Celestial Dragon owner. The "Rocks Pirates", known as the strongest and feared in the world at the time, attacked the island.

The Celestial Dragons are said to be the "descendants of God". The extent of their power can be seen from the fact that if they do anything to them, an "admiral"-ranked person, considered the most powerful force in the world's maritime security organization - commonly known as the "Navy", will come with his warships, but the "Rocks Pirates" are not afraid of this, which is why they are a group of the strongest pirates in the world.

"Eeek! Run away! Hey, you! Go faster!"

The intensity of the battle should be expected, as such people started fighting on the same island, and even the normally arrogant Celestial Dragons - or rather, because they are so arrogant, Frey's owner, who puts his own life first at times like this, whipped the large transport slave he had made crawl on all fours and frantically fled to the port where the Navy's warships were parked. ...Leaving Frey behind, who for some reason refused to follow.

"..."

Explosive sounds could be heard intermittently from outside, and the accompanying vibrations. Screams and angry voices. Frey sat down, staring blankly at the window opposite, from which she could see flames rising from all over the island. She had only been a slave for a few months - but still, a few months. It was common sense that time passes more slowly for children than adults, and Frey had spent those months being treated like she wasn't even a person.

That was more than enough time for a young child to give up on life - and Frey was surprised that she was the only one left. What were the other slaves who had accompanied the Celestial Dragons thinking? Even if they managed to escape death, with the "collar" in place, they had no human rights and therefore no future. ...Why didn't they realize that it would be smarter to just die here?　That's what she really thought.

That's probably why there was such a loud explosion. The impact caused the opposite wall to collapse. It was a place that the Celestial Dragons would use as a temporary residence. The building was unnecessarily large and solidly constructed, and as Frey stared blankly at a part of it slowly approaching from the other side, she thought, "Ah, he's dead." Her eyes were blank, and she thought, "What a boring life."

But in the end, he did not die. There was another explosion -- or was it an impact? Anyway, a loud noise was heard from outside, and at the same time, "something" came flying, crashing through the wall to the side. It smashed the thick stone wall that was about to crush Frey's small body from the side, and then crashed through the wall beyond that, disappearing from sight. However, judging from the sound of it crashing into the ground, it couldn't have gone that far -- and sure enough, soon after, "it" emerged, brushing off the dust from its body.

"Ah, those bastards Rocks...! Why would I have to do this for those scum... seriously...!"

It was a human. A large, muscular man appeared, wearing ripped white pants, a black shirt, a white tie and short black hair, muttering to himself. He wasn't wearing the white coat with the word "Justice" on it, so it was a little hard to tell who it was, but he was probably the navy man mentioned earlier - a marine. Despite being blown away with such force, breaking through at least three thick walls, his clothes were dirty and he didn't seem to have any injuries. He was fearsomely tough.

"Huh? A brat?"

The big man's eyes landed on Frey, who was showing the expression of a cat looking in the mirror for the first time.

"What are you doing? Why don't you run away like the other slaves?"

Frey thought that this was what a marine who was supposed to protect the people would say, but she immediately remembered that a slave like herself was below the ranks of the "people", and couldn't even be classified as such. That's why he said,

"...There's no point in running away. As long as I have this..."

Frey said this while poking the collar that was on him with his finger, and then he didn't continue speaking any more. He didn't think there was any need to continue. The Navy is basically just running errands for the Celestial Dragons, and even though they know that buying and selling slaves is a taboo in the world, there's no way they would say anything to the Celestial Dragons who do it, much less help the slaves. That's how it should be――

"...Tch!"

He clicked his tongue in disgust. The man who said it acted quickly. He bent down in front of Frey, grabbed the collar that was on him, and started to exert force――But,

"...! Hey!? Wait, if you do that it'll explode――!?"

"Shut up! Just stay still!"

Collars that are put on slaves and the like are basically equipped with an explosion function to prevent escape. Basically, to prevent the flames from spreading to the owner, the explosion would only be enough to nearly kill any slave who tried to remove the collar themselves, but it was not hard to imagine that it would also cause damage to a third party who tried to remove the collar.

That was what Frey thought, so she tried to warn him, but the man paid no attention. Sure enough, a beep, beep, beep sounded, signaling an impending explosion, and the explosion that followed immediately afterwards exposed Frey and the man to the flames - but they did not. Somehow, the collar was not something that could be removed by force, but the man actually crushed part of it with a crunch, removed it, and threw it aside before it exploded.

Although the explosion itself could not be stopped, it did not involve Frey and the man - and as a result, Frey was able to escape from the collar that had restricted her freedom. The man also removed (=destroyed) the handcuffs in the same way. It took Frey quite some time to accept this fact.

"Huh?...Huh?"

"Run to the port quickly....You're still a greenhorn, but don't act like you've given up on everything."

"...! Ah, um...!"

Frey reached out her hand to the man who was turning away and spitting out those words. But the man didn't stop. "Wait for me--Rocks!" He said that and disappeared with a speed that was too fast to even see. Actually, to be precise, with her extraordinary kinetic vision, she had definitely seen the man kick the ground more than ten times just before that--but that didn't matter.

(...Which way--)

--Should I go? Frey was unsure. The direction the mysterious man disappeared in was the exact opposite of where the port was. Even though he had given up on this life until just now, now that the collar was removed, desires began to well up within him - should he run away? Should he chase? Frey somehow sensed that this was a turning point in his life. Without even knowing why.

And then,

--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! There was a loud explosion. No, it wasn't a sound. It wasn't a sound, but something definitely shook the air around him - probably the entire island. At the same time, Frey saw what looked like several streaks of black lightning spreading out around him. It was him! Frey was instinctively certain. And he started running. Not to the port, but to where the man had disappeared to - to the place that seemed to be the center of the mysterious soundless rumbling.

"AAAAAAAAA!"

Arriving at the scene, Frey watched the "battle" with a cold sweat. There were three people involved. The marine from earlier, and the man wearing a pirate hat, were clearly pirates at a glance, and the man with long hair holding a sword. Of those, it was puzzling that the marine and the man with the pirate hat seemed to be holding hands, but what interested Frey more was-

(How... fun...)

Thought Frey. The battle was so intense and high-dimensional that even Frey, who still didn't know much about the world, instinctively knew that what was unfolding before his eyes was undoubtedly the best in the world, but what interested him more was the expressions of the men, who were smiling as if they were saying that this was the best time of their lives.

It was something that Frey, who had been forced to live a life of bondage and persecution since he was old enough to understand, did not have - and that's why it looked so dazzling to him. He clearly felt envious. Me too - me too.

Frey watched the battle until the "end". Not just the expressions of the three. The various techniques unleashed during the fight and their preparatory movements. Breathing, footwork, body movements - "everything".

With sparkling, curious "eyes" for the first time in his life.

Not to miss a single thing, not to forget - until the "end".

◆　　　　　　　　　　◆

A little later, Frey was flying in the air. More precisely, he was kicking the air with superhuman leg strength, and using the recoil to move. It was one of the many techniques he had acquired during the "training session" earlier - no matter how you look at it, it was not a feat that a five-year-old should be able to do, but Frey was not aware of it, and in any case, right now he was busy ruminating over the previous battle in his mind.

He didn't even feel like finding out the details of the "demon power" that should have become available now that the seastone lock had been removed - at least for now, that wasn't his top priority - but he wanted to remember it over and over again, and make sure he never forgot it until he died. The memories that would become his "origin" and give him his "future" - the whole story.

The battle ended with the victory of the marine man and the man with the pirate hat. The man with the full hair was dead. What's more, the island where the battle took place also disappeared.

Was there a connection between the intensity of the battle between the three men and the disappearance of the island? Frey didn't know, and to be honest, he wasn't that interested. His mind was occupied by the battle between the three men, the various techniques seen during the battle, and the lively expressions on their faces.

He was envious.

To be able to make such expressions in the middle of a fierce battle where it would not have been surprising if they had died within a few seconds - he was truly envious.

(Me too... me too...)

Thinking this again, Frey didn't go to the port like the marine had said. She was a little intimidated by the countless navy ships - warships, and in the first place, if she was taken in by the navy, which was under the direct control of the World Government, which ruled over the Celestial Dragons, there was a possibility that she would be collared as a slave again. If that happened, that man's good deeds would be wasted.

So she gave up on even thanking that man. He was probably a heretic even within the navy, having unilaterally released the possessions of the Celestial Dragons and calling them "scum" in the first place - but if she approached him casually to thank him, surely it was not unlikely that the other marines nearby were loyal to their duties, unlike the man?

Instead, she at least remembered his name. Once the battle was over, almost all the marines were shouting the name of the man who had become a "hero" in this incident - Monkey D. Garp. That seemed to be the big man's name. When one person's fame increases, the names of their opponents and allies inevitably spread along with it - the man in the pirate hat was Gol D. Roger. The defeated and dead man with the full head of hair was apparently Rocks D. Xebec (Why did all of them have a "D" in their names? Frey wondered, but there was no way she could come up with an answer). Frey also clearly remembered the names of the two men who, in a sense, could be said to be his benefactors on a par with Garp.

The others - unconfirmed, but apparently on the same island - were the crew members of the famous Rocks Pirates, "Newgate", "Linlin", "Shiki", etc. I felt like there were a few others who were being talked about, but honestly, I wasn't that interested.

What occupies Frey's mind is Garp, Roger who cooperated with him despite being a pirate, and Rocks who faced them. The battle between these three - their "expressions" and the many techniques that transcend human understanding that were used during the battle.

(...At least at that time, in that place, those three were the ones who "orca" the most "freedom" in the world.)

Frey was convinced of this. "Freedom" was something that she had no connection with since she was old enough to understand, and therefore somewhere in her heart she craved. "Happiness" that can be obtained by exercising it. The supreme state that exists beyond values such as good and evil. That was clearly shown in the expressions of the three at that time - and that is why Frey, who wanted to see the same scenery, learned three main things from this incident.

To feel "happiness" in today's world, you must first be "free."

And to remain "free", one needs a certain "strength".

That "strength" is not yet sufficient for him at the moment.

(...There is much to be done...)

It had been several minutes since he had given up on the navy's protection and left the island from another coast using a special aerial movement technique he had just learned - apparently called "Geppou". Looking back, he could no longer see God Valley, and had not yet decided on his destination. When he was on a deserted coast and saw the crimson horizon as the sun was about to set, he thought to himself that he should first go "ahead". To the other side of this scenery that is so beautiful it is indescribable. ...That was the "first step".

"..."

The pleasant wind caresses Frey's cheeks as she unconsciously races through the sky at incredible speed, pulling her hair back. The stars begin to appear, and fade away into the edge of her vision as a series of white lines.

The vast sky stretches on forever, and the ocean fills every corner of the horizon. A definite "light" shines in Frey's crimson eyes as she looks ahead - the slave who had despaired at his fate is no longer anywhere to be found.

"Freedom" is there.

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