Few hundreds of miles away from the Giant Island, was another island but a little smaller.
One of the very few kingdoms, who rejected the World Government, is the Kingdom of Color.
A very special land, where there is a festival celebrated called Holi.
"Haha! Woo!"
"Take this!"
"Ahhahah!"
The air was filled with the colors of life, thousands and thousands of people outside in the open.
They each were covered with various colors like red, blue, green, etc. With smiles on their faces, they rejoiced without any worry.
The sun at its highest point, shone on the Island with a few white clouds floating around the sky.
๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐บโฆ In the shadows of the buildings, a man walked with light footsteps.
His face was hidden by the metal face mask and his body completely covered with the black cloak.
The two eyes visible from the gap of the metal face mask, flashed with a yellow light in the darkness.
"I must meet the queen. There is not much time left for me here."
The man soon vanished in the shadows while none was aware that someone was present in that alley.
* * *
Rainbow Palace, this is the palace situated at the center of the Island where the queen lives.
Outside in the yard, huge figures were seated around a table in the middle which was tiny for them.
Those huge figures were the giants, one of them was the king of giants, Loki.
"Eat more! It's my day today!"
A voice packed with melody and sweetness sounded in the yard.
With a smile on her beautiful face, the peacock queen in her favorite green dress said to the guests.
There were not only the giants who were invited for Sali's birthday party. Some from the underworld and some from the nearby kingdoms were also present there.
"Yes yes! Eat more!"
The giant king, Loki, cheered and took a large bite of the meat in his hand. The surrounding giants also feasted more.
"Queen Seli, you are beautiful as always! It's like you never grow old!"
The other guest tried to impress Seli with their buttering words only to make Seli sighed.
"You all. I already know I am beautiful! Haha!"
Her laughter was like a song in itself causing the people around her to feel more delighted.
"Queen Seli, will you do the peacock dance today like every year?"
One of the guests, a middle aged man holding a glass of wine, asked with a curious face.
"What do you think?"
Resting her left cheek on her palm, Seli replied to the man with a question.
Her light green eyes stared at the man only for a second yet the man was stunned to even blink.
"Elon. You already know the answer right? Of course Queen Seli will do the Holi festival's most important dance!"
Loki's voice brought the middle aged man named Elon back to reality.
"Haha! Yes! It is so true!"
Elon, embarrassed, laughed awkwardly while trying to hide his burning face from the rest of the people.
"I will. You all should definitely see my dance. I am sure that you will love it."
Seli leaned back on the chair and said with a smile. The feast went on until it was evening time.
* * *
All the people of the kingdom headed towards the largest waterfall in the island.
They held torches made of not fire and wood but a kind of creature like a firefly.
When the moon started to rise higher, the people were all already gathered around the waterfall.
The moonlight shone on the water pool below the waterfall reflecting the world.
Giant King Loki sat next to a huge boulder while the rest of the giants surrounded him.
"It's my first time watching the peacock dance performed by the peacock queen."
Loki said with an excited voice. The giants around him all had already seen the dance at least once with the late king.
"King, you might not know this but Queen Seli is a devil fruit user."
The main guardian giant, Fuka, said. Loki was not so surprised as his interest in Queen Seli increased.
Unfortunately for him, Queen Seli was doomed to be single forever as it's a kind tradition passed on from the ancient times in the Kingdom of Color.
"What devil fruit?"
Asked Loki as he turned to look at Fuka. In his mind, he waited for Queen Seli to show up faster.
"Zoan devil fruit, Tori Tori no Mi. A peacock model. This is a special devil fruit which never once left this kingdom."
Explained Fuka with a deep voice. The other giants nodded their heads in agreement.
"A devil fruit that never leaves this island. How mysteriousโฆ"
Muttered Loki. His eyes stared at the silver moon with the black shadows.
* * *
Few hundred meters away from the people gathered, the escort army of the Queen's were coming.
In the middle was a huge palanquin with all the colors painted in various flower designs.
Inside, Seli sat on one side while the other was occupied with the very same man who wore the metal face mask.
"I knew someone was spying on me for a few days but I didn't expect it to be you."
Seli smiled at the man while her mind played some old memories.
"Your father came a few years ago with the same request. My answer is the same as that time."
As she said, her eyes started getting a bit moist but she wiped it away quickly.
"Take me away from here."
As the words left her lips, Seli lowered her face making it hard for the masked man to see her expression.
"Why do you wish for this?"
Asked the masked man with a sigh. Seli's body trembled slightly before tears dropped down her eyes.
"I-I want toโฆ be free!"
When Seli raised her head, the masked man saw the eyes filled with sorrow and pain.
๐๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅโฆ The masked man closed his eyes and leaned back.
These were the reasons for the queens of this kingdom to die faster.
"Why is it that I am the queen and not my younger sister? Why must I carry the weight of this kingdom while my sister enjoys her life with her very own family? I also want to have a family! A husband! A child!"
Sobbing quietly, Seli clenched her hands and looked at the masked man with some hope.
"Fine. After the dance, I will come and find you."
The masked man said with some frustration while Seli widened her eyes full of tears.
The masked man then held the metal face mask and pulled it off.
A face, half burned with small cracks was revealed to the stunned and shocked Seli.
He was Fenrir, who somehow survived the blast that perished the existence of Maba.
It could be said that he was actually a reborn as his heart had stopped for a while after the explosion making it impossible for Akuma to sense a living human in the sea.
He drifted to an island somewhere in the calm belt where he was saved by an old tribe expert in biology.
"I hope you don't regret itโฆ"