Like two rushing missiles, both Kronos and Luffy were flung towards two separate trees, greatly fracturing them in the process. Blood spurted out of their mouths as their eyes widened abruptly.
"Oops, guess I used too much Armament Haki and strength!" Garp cheekily said with crescent moon like eyes as he smiled. Luffy struggled to his feet while gritting his teeth.
'Damned old man…! I'll kill you one day..!!' Luffy spat with rage. His character was different from what you could recall, right? Well it is to be expected as Kronos's birth wasn't meant to be.
With him defying this world's laws and being sent into its reincarnation cycle rather forcefully by that 'being', the world has morphed and etched his fate into its laws.
With him being a part of the world it had undergone an evolution, changing not the past but rather the current present and future to come.
With that being understood, one of the present changes was Luffy's personality.
He, instead of being the regular dimwitted dancing clown now had a sharper mind and more sensible way of thinking albeit he was still a cry baby.
Luffy looked to his right, towards where his brother lay. There he saw that Kronos showed no signs of getting up.
This made a wave of concern drench the entirety of his heart as he forcefully carried himself over to Kronos.
"Kronos!!" He called out abruptly. At this point tears had begun to well up within Luffy's eyes as he threw a hateful look towards his grandfather.
Garp who saw this chuckled awkwardly as he approached them both.
"Let me have a look at him." Garp said in a low tone. His face held his trademark smile but deep within was a belly full of regret.
He had regretted his actions previously and the more he stared at his unconscious grandson the heavier the guilt he had within his heart felt.
He placed his fingers at the side of his neck and another right below his wrist. Feeling his pulse he sighed in relief before picking him up and signaling to Luffy that they should leave.
Luffy gritted his teeth and shouted, "You damned shitty old man! What if you had killed him?! Do you only think with your fists you old fart! I hate you!!"
Luffy who screamed at him with a belly full of rage had tears and snot streaming down his face. After seeing his brother lying at his previous spot simply not moving at all, Luffy had thought that he was about to lose his brother.
Seeing his grandson's reaction he sighed sadly and muttered within his mind, 'Now I know for sure I cannot get either of them to join the Navy… *sigh*'
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Both Garp and Luffy were seen approaching a giant mountain with a house located at its peak. The house was built out of wood and had a little above average size to it with enough space to house a group of people.
Holding Kronos carefully yet tightly, Garp and Luffy walked upon the path of the mountain which directly led to the top. It wasn't long before they arrived.
At this moment a middle aged woman who was obeist and had long messy orange hair came out and greeted the trio after noticing their figures from a distance.
She stuttered slightly as she greeted, "A-ah.. Garp-san, how are you?"
Though there was fear evident in her tone, this woman was no ordinary woman. She was the leader of the mountain bandits and was also the caretaker for both Luffy and Kronos.
Seeing how she stuttered, Garp looked at her with a glint in his eyes before they began to chat back and forth, albeit not for long.
After some short catching up, the messy haired woman, Dadan took Kronos out of Garp's arms and placed him atop a mattress. Luffy stayed with him while Garp continued to look deep into Dadan's eyes.
He knew she was hiding something from him. With a simple release or his killing intent he enshrouded her with it causing her to tremble in fear. "Speak."
His voice was resolute as he spoke, "What are you hiding from me?" Garp's eyes at this moment pierced her soul. His eyes glowed as he leaked more of his killing intent.
Dadan couldn't hold on for longer as she weakly dropped to her knees. Her body jiggled as it became drenched in sweat. "I-I may have f-found an extraordinary item..!" She frighteningly uttered.
Garp raised an eyebrow as he then said, "Lead the way."
Following Dadan she brought him to the back of the house, before entering deep into the forest.
Soon they arrived at the entrance of a cave and from within Garp could sense the Spiritual Energy of something with extreme power.
A Devil Fruit? In such an odd area? Garp couldn't believe it yet his senses told him that the Spiritual Energy it released was legit.
Now, you might be asking, what is Spiritual Energy? Well allow me to give you a short introduction towards the term Spiritual Energy.
Whether it may be Armament, Observation or even Conquerors Haki, they are all made up of Spiritual Energy. And this same energy is what lies dormant in every Devil Fruit.
When one strengthens their Haki they are simply using their own methods of training to absorb the Spiritual Energy around them to further strengthen both themselves and their Haki which is the main reason to why someone who may only focus on training Haki gains a tremendous boost in physical prowess when compared to a person who trained without achieving any of the forms of Haki.
The same goes for Devil Fruits as well. If one can absorb the Spiritual Energy of the world whilst training their Devil Fruit's ability to its limit they would be able to free themselves of its shackles and attain a higher level of strength with it.
With that being said, Garp being able to sense the Spiritual Energy of the Devil Fruit was quite normal.
He then issued to Dadan to lead the way. And as she did he followed behind, both activating their Observation Haki.
The pitch dark cave was suddenly visible to their eyes as they walked smoothly without any hindrance.
Soon, Garp had arrived at where the Devil Fruit lay. Shock instantly filled his heart as his face took on an expression of confusion.
"M-Mera Mera Mi…?" He asked himself confusingly. In front of him a small plant sprouted a thick branch which held up a Devil Fruit that took on the appearance of an apple with flame-like swirls covering its body.
However there was something about this Devil Fruit that made Garp stutter while openingly acknowledging it.
Its color, instead of being bright orange, was something that looked akin to the beautiful scenery of a mountain of shining crystal-blue jewels.
Garp was intrigued by this as the thought of it being a variation of the Mera Mera No Mi came to mind.
He then reached towards it in order to pick it. However the moment he did, he felt a monstrous pressure befell his body.
"Wha-" Garp was instantly cut off as his upper body fell forwards with his feet sinking into the ground.
He glanced at the Devil Fruit with a terrified expression and as he did thick strands of Spiritual Energy shot out of the Devil Fruit heading towards the direction of the wooden house.
Seeing this it alerted the old man but before he could act upon instinct and move to stop it from heading towards the house his body was slammed into the Earth heavily.
*Boom*
With all forms of movement disabled Garp had no other choice than to stay low and quiet. The strands of energy continued on it's path as it quickly caught up to the location of the house.
Wind whistled at this moment as it started seeping into the house and heading towards a certain room.
Within that room Luffy sat next to the unconscious Kronos who was still unable to wake up. Luffy's eyes were moist and red as it gave evidence that he had been crying for a while now.
Luffy at this moment however felt a chill down his spine and turned around abruptly. However to his surprise he saw nothing. That was when the invisible yet thick strands of energy invaded Kronos's body by forcefully opening his pores.
"Argh!!" Kronos released a pained cry as his body shot upwards with incredible speed.
This event startled Luffy greatly causing the boy to jump back in fear and alertness. "Kronos!" He shouted with concern. Seemingly helpless towards his brother's situation Luffy stood glued to the ground as his eyes widened with the seconds that flew by.
It felt like hours but soon everything had calmed down.
At this time Garp had arrived as he was immediately freed from his immobility the moment Kronos returned back to his normal state. Luffy was the first to approach the boy while bawling his eyes out.
"Kronos!! Waaaaaaa!! Wake up, please!" He shouted as he shook his brother intensely which did indeed wake up the boy albeit in an irritated manner.
"The fuck is up with you Luffy!! Arghh– Stop shaking me so damn much!" He cursed his teary brother who cried some more seeing that he was up and well.
Garp laughed and slapped his shoulder causing him to wince softly due to both its heaviness and toughness.
He threw a bashful gaze at his grandpa though before attempting to get up. However as he did this a sharp burning sensation filled his body.
He felt his skin scorch causing him to grunt in extreme pain. Both sensing Kronos's situation they hurriedly asked the cause of this matter. "Clothes… take off my clothes it's so hot!! Argh!!" Kronos yelped intensely.
Hearing his words Garp showed no hesitation as he ripped off the boy's shirt leaving only his lower body's garments and wear. That's when they saw the root of the current problem.
On Kronos upper back from his shoulder stretching down to his wrist a bright red light shaped itself into mysterious looking runic engravings and continued to change hue as a massive heatwave radiated off of it.
This scene caused both Luffy and Garp to feel as helpless as ever. They had no clue what they should do.
However as hope was seemingly escaping their grasps the scorching red marks suddenly turned a deep sea blue and stabilized it's form before instantly materializing into deep dark blue tribal like tattoos.
As this happened, shocking both Garp and Luffy, another incident outplayed itself. Kronos's eyes started releasing steam as his pain started to recede.
Getting up with his back against both Garp and Luffy he left them wondering what was the steam all about.
But other than that they seemed extremely relieved completely ignoring the set of tribal tattoos coloured blue that stretched from his shoulders to his wrist.
Slowly he turned around and as he did the steam was beginning to dissipate. That's when his irises glistened. Icy blue irises so deep that they pierced one's soul.
This was one of many changes that appeared apparent in Kronos. Some other changes were for example his hair and height.
His white hair now carried a silver shimmer akin to a holy silver sword and his height increased dramatically, now towering over Luffy making him look more like a 12 year old than a 7.
This stunned them both as such an otherworldly occurrence left them bewildered. "What?" Kronos questioned feeling their piercing gazes.
That's when Garp took out from his pocket a mirror he coincidentally appeared to carry around with him and gave it to his grandson.
Taking it with a raised eyebrow, Kronos finally laid eyes upon his face. It was truly a sight to behold.
Seeing his piercingly blue irises and silver coated white hair he gasped in both bewilderment and admiration.
Whilst examining himself further he took notice that he no longer looked similar to Luffy, not even appearing to look like his twin.
His face looked a bit more mature and now held a cold and fierce aura to it.
Lowering the mirror he then took notice of the tattoos which took its place upon his shoulders.
However he seemed unfazed by it and turned his attention back to his grandfather and brother. "I feel amazing…" He muttered aloud.
Both then took recognition of his new and improved state. Luffy was happy that his brother was both safe and stronger while Garp was skeptical and suspicious of why such events occured.
However while he was left wondering and theorizing, Kronos already knew the reason why things turned out the way they currently are.
'That godly bastard did it again..!!' Kronos grinned fiercely as his words reverberated throughout his head.