POP—!
They had a mission to patrol their area, but one blink later, they were in the air.
"Fufufufu~ We've been flying for twenty minutes… it's your ability, right? S-Kuma…"
"No, not me."
Seven of the strongest children in the world were now inside one big paw bubble, flying toward an uninhabited island. Well, there was one guy stuck in a treasure chest there, but it didn't matter.
After stealing Mother Flame, Shun went to bring Baccarat with him.
'I might be paranoid, but lately I've been unlucky. I'll need her around me to increase my luck.'
Looking at Baccarat's red expression, Shun was a bit stunned.
'Did my words cause a misunderstanding? I just told her to stay by my side forever. Meaning so she could increase my luck with her Devil Fruit, but she has been acting like… Juvia?'
Noticing Shun's gaze, Baccarat faked a few coughs and then asked, "Where are we?"
"It's an island in East Blue. The island of rare animals. I'm about to have an important meeting here. I'll leave it to you to max out my luck."
"Of course! But there is no upper limit to luck, so I'll just increase it as much as I can."
'Huh? That's news to me. The Luck Luck Fruit has incredible potential, then.' Shun immediately came up with an outrageous plan, but it could wait.
A few moments later.
POP—!
A huge paw-shaped crater was made on the island, scaring the poor animals and a man stuck in a box into running away.
"Hello~ kids, you've been adopted."
"…"
Shun's words stunned the seven kids. The most stunned was Baccarat.
'An important meeting was… adopting children?'
Soon the seven kids walked out of the crater.
"You… a navy admiral. An ally." S-Hawk, who was about to attack as soon as he got out, calmed down.
"Wait, those kids look familiar…?" Baccarat muttered.
"They're clones created from the original seven Warlords' blood. Made by the World Government, of course."
"!"
"What do you mean by adopted?" S-Snake asked. She seemed to be the leader, or rather the others didn't bother with leading.
"It's just as the word means. I kidnapped you guys so you could be my children and partners. Isn't it suffocating? Having to listen to orders from weaklings and idiots."
"…"
While some of them like S-Snake weren't even moved by his words, S-Flamingo and S-Crocodile were really attracted to his offer.
"Return us back—" Mid talk, all of their expressions turned weird.
"Whoever was the one who kidnapped us, kill them!"
"Ho? So that's the order you got? You can be given orders from this far away, huh?" Shun was studying their every word and action.
"Well for now, Seaprism handcuffs." Shun chanted and put them around S-Kuma's arms.
'This brat's ability is annoying. Better keep it sealed until the meeting is over. An ability that could teleport them back to Egghead Island instantly? That's a bullshit power.' Shun made some complaints in his mind.
After handcuffing S-Kuma, Shun went back to his original position. Only then did time return to moving.
"!"
"Ugh, feeling weak…" S-Kuma dropped to the ground, only then realizing he had been handcuffed.
"All right then, try to complete your order." Shun smiled and taunted the kids.
Shun was immediately surrounded by six kids.
"Baccarat, go hide for a bit." Shun said and enveloped her in a bubble shield. With little Doflamingo around, he couldn't be too careful.
S-Hawk rushed at Shun with a sword that was similar to Mihawk's.
He swung it downward toward Shun, who wasn't paying attention.
"Using a weapon against me is meaningless." Shun said and cast his favorite magic, Arc of Time.
"!"
The sword in S-Hawk's hand fell and turned into steel and a few other materials.
"…"
Though it was a ridiculous situation, S-Hawk now turned to attacking with bare hands.
'This guy is a natural fighter…' Shun thought, but at the last second, S-Hawk's hands turned into blades.
POP—!
But it was repelled away smoothly.
"So everyone is a Devil Fruit user…"
After S-Hawk came a fat kid swimming in the ground, then a brat with stitches on his face, another fat kid, a cute kid, then a villainous looking kid.
Pant—! Pant—!
After fifteen minutes of trying, the kids were in disbelief. They had been toyed around. Despite being kids, they should be able to beat pirates with a billion belli bounty.
"Have you calmed down now?" Shun said, then threw them a paper.
"It's a contract. Read it."
Seeing them still mad, or rather not in control of their bodies, Shun was troubled.
"Territory." Shun chanted. It was one of his trump cards, combined from three magics: one was his own paw bubbles, another was Freed's word magic, and the last was Fairy Sphere.
'To put it simply, nothing can leave or enter this space without my permission. That includes the radio waves the ones controlling them were using. The permissions are written by Freed's word magic in those alien purple letters.'
"Have you calmed down now?" Shun asked, seeing their eyes return to sense.
"Yes…" S-Snake, for some reason, blushed while replying.
'Is it one of her tricks? How terrifying, but she is cute.'
"Then read."
On the contract, it said in summary: by being adopted by Shun, Shun would make sure they had freedom, meaning he would cut the control from others. As long as they didn't harm Shun's interests, they would be free to wander around the world. It would be a mutual cooperation. If they were in trouble, they could call Shun for help. Also, each of them would continue training to be as strong as admirals.
'Well, that shouldn't be a problem with their potential.'
"Fufufufu~ it sounds a bit too good to be true. What's the catch?" S-Flamingo asked.
Hearing that, the others looked at Shun.
"Of course, once you sign the contract, you could be called to complete missions by me. I can teleport you guys to me directly, or you can summon me too."
'That contract was the famous Celestial Spirit magic. If they agree, each of them will be able to be summoned by the seven diamond keys I made.'
"Hm, if you guys are good kids, I could even offer you more benefits. Like removing the ridiculous weakness of being unable to swim."
"!"
"Or eternal life." Shun said and pulled out a gold that was so bright they had to cover their eyes.
"Think about it. You guys have the potential to be the strongest, but a random trash can order you around. And a random trash with a Seaprism stone can take you down. Just thinking from your perspective makes me feel suffocated."
"…"
While they remained silent, it was visible that his words had an effect on them.
"I simply dislike the fact that you guys are considered mere puppets. I find it pathetic that with your strength and potential, you can't even call yourself a human. What I hope is for you to become true warriors and have a cooperative relationship with each other and me."
"…"
They were still silent.
Shun finished his speech. Now all he had to do was wait.
'Since I had Baccarat increase my luck, it should probably work.'
While Shun's words were outrageous and arrogant and hard to believe, as always, strong people's words carried weight.
"I agree!" To everyone's surprise, S-Snake agreed first, her eyes turning into heart shapes.
'Huh? What is this weird feeling… I feel like I just experienced the same thing a few days ago.' Shun thought as he saw S-Snake.
"!"
'Is she the Juvia of this world? Does Baccarat's power have anything to do with it?' Shun was full of questions, but now wasn't the time.
He came closer to S-Snake and placed a hand on her head.
"?"
Soon, a paw bubble came out of her. It had a bluish color, typical of metal.
Once it was fully out of her body, Shun had to use an enormous amount of magic to destroy it.
"What did you do?" S-Snake asked, touching and feeling her body to see if there was anything different.
"I made you human while still keeping all the benefits." Shun smiled, bragging about his ability.
"!"
"Also, you are now free. No one can control you or give you orders. As for removing your weakness to Seaprism stone, I'll do it if you are a good girl."
"All right then, sign here." Other than the contract paper he showed earlier, he had one for each of them to sign. It was just a procedure for safety, the basics of Celestial Spirit magic. Not any suspicious contract.
"Yes!" S-Snake signed immediately without reading thoroughly. Her eyes were still in the shape of hearts.
'Sigh, I'm starting to worry now, seeing her trust me this much. Signing without reading?'
'Wasn't this girl supposed to be like this toward Luffy? Luffy and I both met Boa Hancock. Since she is a clone of her, she would like one of us, just depending on who meets her first.' That was the conclusion Shun reached.
'So Baccarat's power worked in this way? As expected, her power is good.'
Seeing S-Snake happily and freely running around Shun, the others were tempted.
One by one, they got the same treatment.
Except for S-Hawk.
Shun walked to his side and patted his head.
"Are you angry that I broke your sword?"
Hearing that, S-Hawk turned his head to the side silently.
'Heh, what a childish brat. Well, they are kids after all.'
Shun smoothly fixed the sword back and handed it to him.
"!"
Though initially surprised, S-Hawk received it and placed it behind his back. Only then did he sign the contract.
"Shun, what's this key?" S-Kuma asked.
"It was made by me, signifying our partnership." There were a total of fourteen diamond keys. The shape was the usual Celestial Spirit keys, but it was made of one hundred percent diamond, nothing else.
"Take one each. If you are in trouble, speak to the key and it can call me. I also have keys for each of you. I can summon you if there are small fries that I need you guys to beat."
Shun's explanation was simple to understand.
Seeing them have issues with where to store them, Shun made them into necklaces so they wouldn't lose them. Treating them as total kids was a new and somewhat warm feeling for them.
"So now that you are free, what will you do?"
"I'll go with you!" S-Snake was determined.
"…"
"What about you guys?"
"I don't know," came their combined answers.
"How about you all team up and explore the seas, so you can see the world and grow strong?"
Shun's offer was accepted without any resistance, or rather they were attracted to the idea.
"Hey, S-Snake, you should go with them. They need a big sister who can lead them."
"Yes!" S-Snake was a complete yes-man around Shun.
Shun made them a ship that was exactly similar to the Thousand Sunny.
'It's at Sabaody, because the crew is having a training arc and I explored it the other day. It's a great ship.'
"Since you guys became human, let's change your names. Calling S before your name every time is a bit annoying."
"Then just call us without the S. From now on I'm Snake."
Like that, the S was removed from their names.
"All right, good luck on your journey. Don't trust strangers. If there is a problem, don't forget to call me. Don't hesitate to run if there is danger. Don't—"
"Understood!"
Just like that, the beginning of the strongest pirate ship had begun.
——
Meanwhile…
Smash—!
A random table was broken somewhere by someone's punch.
"So are you saying that all of the Seraphims have been stolen, and on top of that, Mother Flame is gone too? But you didn't even notice when it happened…"
Saint Saturn was about to have a stroke, hearing the news from Vegapunk.
——
Next morning.
The title of the news was made by none other than Big News Morgan.
"Big news!! Someone has robbed the World Government and stolen their most treasured treasures: the Seraphims and Mother Flame!"
Morgan was a crazy guy who somehow managed to take pictures from Imu's room when the Sabo incident happened. The news this time was mellowed down compared to that.
"So what even are the Seraphim and Mother Flame?" one of the workers asked.
"I don't know. They didn't explain, but they should be important treasures. But they were stolen without them even noticing! That's big news in itself."
While the world was in confused uproar, Shun woke up on an uninhabited island with Hibari and Baccarat in his arms.