Chapter 99: See You in the Future!
That night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Deep in the primeval forest, savage roars echoed from time to time. Now and then, a few dinosaurs thundered past under the cover of darkness, chasing their prey.
Rustle.
In the dense, damp grass, poisonous insects skittered across the ground.
Little Garden at night was anything but peaceful.
But…
No matter how ferocious the dinosaurs and beasts were, no matter how terrifying the venomous bugs were, hardly any creature on this ancient island dared to step into the open area not far away.
The dinosaurs were not really afraid of Dorry and Brogy. If they were, none of them would have been so obsessed with nibbling Brogy's butt in the first place. Roy had read about it once in the original book, and now he had seen it with his own eyes.
What kind of dinosaur develops that sort of hobby, seriously?
Today, though, the arrival of a thundercloud had thrown the whole island into panic.
They were not scared of giants who also ran on two legs across the ground. They were scared because nature itself had taught them fear. Lightning was different. That mysterious being that spat thunder from the sky was something every instinct screamed to avoid.
Since ancient times, nature had been both terrifying and magnificent. It gave life a place to survive, yet it also brought disasters without warning. Some calamities could wipe out a country, even an entire race.
For instance, thousands of years ago, this beautiful planet had been swallowed by a worldwide flood, leaving only the Red Line that circles the world, and the scattered islands around it.
For instance, some unknown catastrophe had wiped out dinosaurs everywhere else. Only Little Garden still had them.
A terrifying bolt of lightning shot from a white Homie that always wanted to turn into a cute plushie to please his master. It struck anything that crossed the line and sent the dinosaurs into a frenzy.
The lightning swept through the night, leaving behind a few dinosaurs that smelled like roasted meat. The rest ran for their lives.
…
"Sister Toki, I figured it out." In the open clearing, Roy lay with his head on Toki's lap, gazing at the stars. He suddenly sat up, eyes shining with excitement.
Beside a massive sea king skeleton, Brogy slept like a fallen mountain, snoring loud enough to shake the ground. Every time he rolled over, the earth trembled.
Above them, the thundercloud Homies and the flame Homies zipped around, determined to wage war on the stupid mosquitoes to the bitter end. One of them fired lightning at the swarms. Accurate or not, it always blasted a bunch of mosquitoes and other flying pests out of the air. Another scorched them with flames, utterly delighted with himself. The mosquitoes were having a very bad night.
From the dinosaur era onward, neither the ancient flood nor the disaster that ended their age had ever exterminated mosquitoes.
Yet today, two adorable little monsters were blasting them into retreat.
Pandora and Horus only got more excited the longer they fought. They wanted to give their master a sweet, comfortable night.
What was even more ridiculous was that they produced and consumed their own flames and lightning. They spat fire and thunder, then pulled it back and ate it afterward. If there were any environmentalists here, they would be clutching their hearts in despair. There was no way to scold these two.
Maybe this was the earliest mosquito hell in the One Piece world.
Common name, cough cough, better not say the common name. That one gets censored way too easily.
Horus and Pandora turned to Roy, completely confused. What was he even muttering about now?
"You two fly farther away and play." Roy glared at the pair.
Horus and Pandora laughed, answered together, and zipped off into the distance.
Toki smiled helplessly. Those two clowns were honestly impossible to hate.
Aside from that glutton Zeus, most Homies were loyal and pretty lovable.
"Sister Toki, didn't you tell me before that you couldn't activate your Devil Fruit once you arrived in this era?"
Even with the area emptier now, Roy still stayed cautious. He pulled Toki a little farther from the sleeping Brogy.
What he was about to say mattered too much. If Brogy woke up halfway through, things could get messy.
"That's right." Toki nodded, troubled. "When I used the Time Time Fruit to travel through time, something interfered. It forced me to land in this period."
That had always weighed on her heart.
Now that she was with Roy, she felt like her only good points were being gentle, pretty, and understanding. Her other trump card was the Time Time Fruit, a power so rare it was almost mythical. Yet for some reason, that fruit seemed to have withered inside her, like it had fallen asleep forever.
"Sister Toki, I need to tell you something. It might be the real reason your ability won't activate." Roy held her hand, looking completely sincere.
Toki had trusted everything to him. Roy felt it was time to share at least part of his secret.
Just the tip of the iceberg, really.
"It's fine. If you don't want to talk about it, I won't force you." Toki chuckled, squatting down and looking at the… cough cough, little man in front of her.
Roy shook his head. He had to tell her now.
Their trust had reached that point. It was time.
"Actually, I'm not from this period either. Like you, I'm also someone from eight hundred years ago."
Roy looked her straight in the eyes.
Toki froze for a heartbeat, then gave him a charming smile. "Roy, your joke is really funny."
Roy glared, grabbed the fox's hand, and pulled her close.
He shut her up the old fashioned way.
After a while, Toki was breathing hard, cheeks burning. She finally listened as Roy kept talking about what happened eight hundred years ago, and she chose to believe him.
"You really… are from eight hundred years ago too?" Toki stared at him, still dazed, licking her lips unconsciously.
"Of course." Roy nodded.
Then Roy explained that he himself did not understand how he was able to drift through time and space, landing in random eras and random places.
Toki could not believe it at first. She wondered if this was somehow tied to her fruit awakening.
But the more she thought about it, the less it fit. Roy had been swimming in the sea constantly for years, so he clearly was not a Devil Fruit user.
In truth, the seas were full of strange legends and mysteries. Some things simply did not obey normal rules.
Toki instinctively linked Roy to the ancient kingdom and those old myths. Her imagination began filling in the gaps all on its own.
"I think this special existence inside me is what lets me travel through time and space passively," Roy said, then looked at her. "And that thing inside me is a kind of rule that's even higher than a Devil Fruit."
Like in stories where a superior bloodline suppresses weaker ones.
Roy guessed that her Time Time Fruit was being suppressed by the rule within him.
He shared that guess with her carefully.
"So I believe that only when the time comes, and I leave this space time to travel forward again, will your Devil Fruit have the chance to awaken properly."
"Well… I don't really care if my power comes back or not." Toki lowered her eyes, voice soft. "But could you take me with you?"
Roy meant too much to her. She did not want to be apart from him for even a moment.
"No…" Roy dropped his head, dejected. If these rules could carry someone along, he would have abused that loophole ages ago.
"These rules are amazing, but they're also awful."
…
Roy had no answer for Toki's resentful, almost sulky stare.
But she was right.
You cannot even bring your wife on a time travel adventure? Bah, useless trash.
"Still, how about this," Roy said, forcing a grin as he squeezed her hand. "After I leave, I'll come find you again. We'll agree on a place to meet."
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