"It all started very long ago, long before the golden age of pirates and the pirate king's era," Crocus remarked in a solemn tone.
"There was once a powerful tribe that lived on the red line," Crocus said, causing my eyes to go wide for a second, but I quickly calmed myself down.
"They were both beautiful and powerful with bodies said to endure the harshest of environments, capable of producing flames that would melt even steel," he added, and I already had a guess about where he was going with his speech.
"People knew their dwelling on the red line as the kingdom of the gods," Crocus explained with a neutral expression. "However, all of this was before the formation of the current world government," Crocus added while shaking his head.
"The world government deemed them as enemies for unknown reasons and began hunting them down in an attempt to lead them to extinction," Crocus remarked as he paused to let his words sink in.
"Unknown reasons, eh?" I said with a knowing smile earning a shrug of indifference from the old doctor. I knew for a fact that Crocus was holding back information, but I didn't really care, and I'm not even sure if he'll budge if I asked him about it, so I decided to let it go.
"That is very interesting, indeed," Doc said with an exhausted wheeze. "But how is this so-called kingdom of gods related to me or my illness?" he asked in a confused tone.
"Patience, my boy," Crocus said with a sigh.
"In any case, the world government's armies were nearly successful in driving these people to extinction, but..." he said, hesitating for a second as he paused.
"The first celestial dragons of the time had something else in mind for the tribe," he added, his expression showing a hint of disgust for a second.
"The people of the tribe were beautiful as they were powerful, and the celestial dragons of that time, well..." Crocus said with a bitter expression, trailing at the end of his sentence.
"They were just as depraved and corrupt as their modern counterparts," he added, pausing and taking a breath to calm himself. "Their greed knew no bounds, and they directed it towards the few remaining survivors of the tribe," he said in a neutral tone.
"So they decided to enslave the survivors of the tribe and train them to become bodyguards and playthings for their sick amusement," Crocus remarked, struggling to dismiss the disgust out of his face.
"The celestial dragons seemed to find the idea of turning such a powerful tribe into playthings as the ultimate fulfillment of their twisted egos and a sign of their superiority over ordinary people," Crocus explained.
"And they did just that," Crocus concluded with another sigh.
"Hmm, and what is the name of this tribe, anyway?" Doc asked with another sickly wheeze. "I don't think I've heard of anything about such a tribe existing before..." he added.
"There were known as the Lunarians," Crocus replied in a calm tone. "And you haven't heard anything about them because the world government covered all signs of their existence," he added, massaging his forehead.
"Like they hid many other things from history..." he concluded in a bitter tone, shaking his head.
"At any rate, that wasn't the end of the Lunarians' suffering," Crocus said after several seconds of pause. "They were a proud tribe, and the idea of being playthings to their enemies was an insufferable one," he added.
"So they did the only thing they could at the time," Crocus remarked. "They fought back with all their strength, and despite the celestial dragons' best attempts to keep them under control, using torture, drugs, and whatever method their sick minds thought of, they failed," he added while gesturing with his hand to the side.
"But the celestial dragons were nothing if not persistent, and they continued to try to get the Lunarians under control, some of them even making it their lives missions," he added.
"Until one unusually powerful Lunarian managed to free himself," Crocus said, the edges of his mouth twitching in a faint smile. "That Lunarian managed to free many of his Lunarian comrades, along with many other captives from other races," he added.
"So the Lunarian warrior, along with his fellow captives, fought their way out of Marijoa, killing many celestial dragons as they escaped," he concluded with a satisfied nod.
"That sounds awfully familiar..." I said with a frown, trying to remember. "I've heard of a legend about a benevolent warrior with flaming hair that sla*es once revered as the sun god..." I added with a thoughtful expression.
"Sla*es believed that he would someday come for them to liberate them from their oppressive masters and bring smiles to their faces," I concluded, realization suddenly dawning on my face.
"Would that Lunarian warrior happen to be the same person, Nika, the sun god?" I asked with a raised brow as I looked at Crocus with an intense expression.
"How do you even know about that...?" Crocus asked with an astonished expression, earning a shrug from me for his effort.
"Youngsters sure are scary these days..." Crocus said with a chuckle. "But I'm afraid I don't know. However, it is possible," he added while shaking his head.
"Anyway, The Lunarian warrior, unfortunately, wasn't able to free all of his tribe from the celestial dragons," Crocus said. "And his act of slaughtering celestial dragons during his escape was the final nail in the captured Lunarian's coffin," he added with a sigh.
"The celestial dragons finally realized they can't control the Lunarians as they were at the time," Crocus said in a calm tone. "But they took that fact as a slight to their pride, and they decided to resort to extreme measures," he added, his expression showing slight signs of anger.
"And extreme they were, even for the celestial pigs," he added, anger showing more and more in his expression as he cursed the celestial dragons for the first time.
"They began developing a virus that would only target Lunarians," Crocus explained, his easy-going expression slowly disappearing. "The virus would kill any normal person within a single day, but it worked differently on Lunarians because of their regenerative ability," he added as he turned to look Doc.
"It would make them sickly and weak their entire lives, rendering them unable to resist the celestial dragons and eliminating any threat they could represent in the future," Crocus concluded. And his expression finally lost any sign of calm as it twisted in righteous rage.