Chapter 2 - The Fate of the Two Emperors
***
Looking back at his memories, he still didn't know if the cause of his mission failed because of those slaves since his soldiers weren't the most capable that they would be trustful.
And as he told Mathias about this incident, now that he was detached from the spirit of the battlefield, he told this story again to the young king, making him reminiscent of those guys' words.
"Since I got to Targoviste, I began interrogating the two slaves. All I got was a bunch of information that didn't make sense to me.
As if those people weren't from Europe, but a distant place. In that rage of mine, it was something they would rather not tell me, as I vented my anger on them. Weak, right?"
"A bit, but understandable." responded the young king while listening to this experienced Prince, someone he valued highly for his military and administrative skills.
"However, don't bother telling me how you tortured them and all that unnecessary information. Tell me what stories they had to tell before you ended them."
"I got to recollect all the information on those slaves."
He stroked his long beard, a body mechanism that told that he started processing the information collected in his life.
From all the events that happened to him, remembering some insignificant slaves he executed wouldn't be something that he would remember, but those two marked him with their stories.
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With the wind of June 1462, he was at the back of his army as if he was the last defensive line. He could see their morale vanish so chilling like burnt wood ash, and he, too, understood the consequences of his actions.
Being silent made him calm down, but the anger at how fast this operation ended made him stare murderously at the two slaves dragged by his infantry soldiers.
It was a pressure that those two guys could feel but couldn't do anything to have this man they didn't even know to calm down. They only prayed that they wouldn't be killed in the following hours and were given a chance to explain to Vlad their origins.
Besides worrying about their lives, those two guys also took the chance of looking at the surrounding scenery that were all scarred with marks of war.
Nevertheless, it wasn't a long journey since it took them 5 days to reach a fortified city rather large compared to the desolate villages they passed by, where one could take in the miasma of death lurking in the air.
There was so much death surrounding them that their lives on the sea and piracy was nothing compared to what this monster in front of them unleashed.
'This is a mad world. I have never seen so much death in my life.'
'There's so many impaled corpses all the eyes could see.'
Unlike anything they saw in their lives, the fortified city's presence made them gulp, looking at one another, questioning where they had truly shipwrecked.
They couldn't see everything in the city, as they were taken directly to the Princely Court, another set of fortifications with walls surrounding a vast wall that gave them the impression of looking at an image of the Celestial Dragon Gate of the Mary Geoise.
Not long after, they found themselves inside a dark, cold torture chamber, bound by the heavy iron chains.
They felt so hard that it made them question where their power went, have they vanished altogether?
"Quinn, we are screwed. I can't use my Haki, and also my body is so weak, I can't even bulge those chains." mentioned in a whispering voice one of the slaves after the guards bound them, taking their leave.
"I am also trying Wormblod. I am in the same position as you. I have this feeling we are fucked. Also, fuck you for telling me to chase Roger, "We can end him easily.". Moron, can you see in what state we ended? Without my devil powers, without my Haki, and even the strength I trained so much to nurture. All ended in that damn Vortex."
"Fuck! Fuck! Why have I not listened to you, Quinn?
Why have I gotten arrogant believing I could destroy that Vortex with my own hands? It got us in this mess because I almost got so close to destroying Roger's flagship and drowning him on the Sea like the dog he is. Brother, if we meet in Hell, I will apologize again."
"Wormblod shut the fuck up for a second. We have to do everything to convince that madman to release us."
"Friend, I doubt we can do such a thing. We might have landed in another world by using that Vortex. Only the two of us survived the impact of that anomaly."
"No, there must be a way out of this prison, I, Wormblod, The Hound of Hell will not sit down rotting inside a prison cell without fighting back." mentioned the middle-aged man who began struggling in the chains that bound him tight to the floor.
"We have nothing here. We are like those simple people we laughed at. How things can change in an instant is quite ironic. How did those things even happen? All the stars were aligned for our success in defeating Roger after his fight with Shiki. I even pierced his chest with one of my arrows."
"Arghh, it is so painful to remember that."
"Let's try, and maybe we can find the reason why we got in this mess we're in right now."
.
.
In their minds, the events of that important day where Shiki challenged Roger again reached their ears, and their fight made waves inside the whole Paradise, a point where the two saw this as an opportunity to take down two rabbits in one stone.
The chase began at full speed, entering Paradise using an extreme method of passing the Red Line at top speed, and then reached the moment where Roger defeated Shiki, who retreated, while himself was taking his breath recovering from the fight.
"ROGER, YOU THOUGHT WE HAD FORGOTTEN YOU? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING IN THOSE BLASTED LANDS OF THE PARADISE?
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?" shouted Wormblod, who morphed his entire arm into a monstrous hand covered in a black energy armor that released waves after waves of spirit.
The people's cries could be heard from inside Roger's ship, giving great satisfaction to the middle-aged man preparing for his powerful attack.
"It is the Hound of Hell, Wormblod!"
"HAHAHA, So you bastards also come to wish me good luck on my journey? How cute of you, hound." replied Roger from a distance, immediately turning serious from his initial smiling expression when the two Emperors came to greet him.
"LAUGH ALL YOU WANT, ROGER! I WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD!"
"TARTARUS GATES!"
Wormblod sent out a powerful punch attack that devoured everything in its path from the rain and clouds of the sky, to the water the attack touched, with only a target in mind, Roger and the Oro Jackson flagship.
"DIVINE DEPARTURE!"
Roger, who was standing on the Bowsprit, released hearty laughter before slashing his gladius sword, releasing an insane sword wave that collided with Wormblod's attack, canceling out one another while the clash of Conqueror's Haki was on full scale.
In that clash of wills, the sky was washed by a black color like the ink, where thunder began charging up.
"You still have a long way to go to defeat me, dog."
The two yonkos saw Oro Jackson turn around to flee from them, and before they knew, a chase inside a Paradise where the Sea in question did look way worse and more menacing than the ones in the New World.
Curses were flying from both sides, while Roger, visibly weakened from his fight with Shiki, could only laugh at their pathetic attempts at making him fight to a suicidal point.
.
The outside was stormy, with the waves of the Grand Ocean being able to devour most ships from the Yonko's fleet, devouring everything in their path, yet for the two Yonkos sharing the same ship was easy to pass by this stormy environment.
This wasn't something to bother them. With their immense powers Wormblod who had an Mythical Zoan powers, destroyed the waves, ready to gobble them up.
On the other hand, Quinn was hot on Roger's pursuit, firing his bow shots using his "Archer-Archer" Devil Fruit being able to shoot accurately at will, having Roger in his sight at all times.
It was Silvers Rayleigh, the Dark King, defending the Oro Jackson from Quinn's murderous shoots.
Rayleigh was mocking their attempts at fighting them in their weakest state, and while the two Yonkos started getting closer, following their tails, suddenly vortexes inside the Sea began propping up.
Initially, the first vortexes were small enough to be dodged by ship, and even Roger's crew managed to deal well with this part.
They passed more of the smaller ones, but once they were so close for Wormblod to blast one of his powerful hits on Roger's Flagship, a larger vortex appeared before him, making him frown and curse for losing his chance at blowing Roger up.
In his arrogance, he didn't give much importance to this occurrence and tried to destroy the Vortex using his Advanced Armament Haki and Devil Fruit power combined.
He tried once, tried twice, another try, time flew by, and Wormblod assured Quinn that he would destroy this Vortex in the next hit, but that too failed.
Once they got too closer to the Vortex, it was too late to do anything, getting devoured by this mysterious water vortex that instantly pressed them down with a weight they couldn't understand how it was so heavy.
The cries of their henchmen could be heard by the 2 yonkos who struggled to keep themselves planted by this weight until they too dropped down on the cold floor of their flagship.
Slowly unsure of how long it passed, with a chilling silence they suddenly felt and sensed the light touch them once again along with the cries of the birds, and the waves that pushed them and their ship, another storm welcomed them to their new location.
They felt their bodies go weak and without being able to stop their ship from going wreak.
Soon they hear the cries of men, shouting about their ship, reaching the shore before the men could get to them. Both Wormblod and Quinn looked amused at those guys gathering with weapons on their bodies, as if they were about to apprehend them, two of the 5 Emperors of the New World.
The first thought was that they reached a new territory undiscovered by any man, and in their mind, they started celebrating the idea they might have reached the Last Island of the World, which was only a fable they heard only by word of mouth.
With those thoughts only by themselves, one could see confidence rising in their eyes as they were staring at the Guards wearing a uniform they never saw before with turbans on their heads.
'Could those people be like the ones from Alabasta?' thought Quinn while seeing those guards.
Until they touched the shores, finding out first hand the harsh truth, about how weird their bodies felt when landing down, a chill and the numbness of their legs was a first for them, and this sensation continued on, finding themselves going weaker with each second, not able to comprehend why and how their powers were lost.
Seeing the guards get to them, the yonkos tried to behave normally, but the Ottomans didn't have much common sense and glanced at the two middle-aged men with aggression.
"Greek Pirates! You swine of the Sea finally reached your end and got thrown off by the Sea."
"Identify yourself, you pirates!"
"Don't bother listening to their made-up stories about how they aren't pirates.
Just look at their ship. It is worth lots of money from what the Genoese Merchants told me. Let's take their treasure, even their ship, since we could repair it. Afterward we can kill them."
Wormblod, who was told by Quinn before landing on the shore to keep his cool, had his anger boil over and instantly lashed out when his limit was passed by a lot, directly sending out his punch to the one who wanted to get inside their ship.
In his mind, that one punch was a sure kill, yet the impact was similar to another normal person hitting another, which the guard, after crying out once in pain, returned the favor and ignited the fight in the sandy ground.
In this fight, Quinn also jumped in to help his friend, only to discover that his strength and abilities were nowhere to be found. While trying to muster his powers that he not too long could call his own, the guards sounded the alarm making the entire situation more chaotic for the two Yonkos.
Their fight started off rather awkward, not finding their balance, unable to muster their haki or devil fruit powers.
Even after a life of piracy and killing people on the Sea, terrorizing the weak, they managed to kill the initial group of guards with ease. However, soon they began getting overwhelmed by many Guards coming to apprehend them, leading to the bloodlust Sea Emperors who hit left and right with the intent of killing.
Nevertheless, in this weakened state, their end was certain.
Like they were madmen, the Ottomans pinned them down and started chaining them, where a certain individual watching everything not far away contemplated on what he saw and heard from those two Sea Emperors.
From the uniform of this individual, he seemed to be a Janissary Officer, and after ending his moment of contemplating, he decided to take Wormblod and Quinn to Sultan Mehmed where he could show him these new guests that denied being Greeks, yet knowing Turkish to perfection.
.
Their memory train was rough since getting inside the Ottoman Camp where they got interrogated for a brief time until Vlad and his men stormed the camp in an attempt of killing Sultan Mehmed, and by how the twists of fate had their ways for the two Sea Emperors.
They now landed in the hands of another dangerous person of this world they had no knowledge about.
Bouncing ideas as to why this vortex occurrence happened and if it ever happened in history, they couldn't find a single thing, not even in the memories about legends.
"Quite ironic that we, two Sea Emperors, standing at the pinnacle of our world have landed in the hands of some barbarian." remarked Wormblod, who felt insulted by this entire situation, finding death far more enjoyable than this treatment.
However, not even seconds after he said the word "ironic" a cold, emotionless voice resounded in the entire torture chamber and underground prison, followed by the heavy steps on the floor that echoed inside the surrounding area, that it froze the two foreigners.
"You could repeat that again."
Both Wormblod and Quinn turned quiet as Vlad made his appearance still wearing his black armor, while his hair was like a black veil that obstructed them from seeing him properly, but with a grab of his hair, Vlad pulled it back.
"Slaves, do you know what is ironic? The fact that weeks of planning, thousands of gold forints, thousands of lives were wasted and now you to say that word.
Before I relieve my anger, tell me everything you know about the Turks, who you are, and why you were inside their camp. The fact you can speak my language in this way, means you are from my lands."
The two guys remained silent, observing this middle-aged man that looked more imposing then the legendary Rocks they met in their early years of young pirates. The way this man talked to them, the macabre air about him, gave them chills on their backs even though they experienced so many things in their lives. Their hands are also not innocent, spilling the blood of the innocent.
Yet compared to this man in front of them, they were only babies when it came to atrocious acts.
"Are you mutes now? I heard you speak Latin. Go on, tell me before I start breaking your bones."
"..."
His anger spilled for a bit, punching both in their faces, afterward grabbing their faces and remarking like a psychopath.
"If you don't talk, my anger will spill up like now. It is in your interest you talk. You are the ones who messed up my entire plans. Give me a reason not to kill you."
"TALK!"
"Lord, we don't know what we should tell you. We were captured by the ones you call the Turks after our ship touched the shore, and immediately we got taken to see their leader, the one they called Sultan." replied Quinn trying to act calm, seeing that Vlad's face changed a bit once he started talking, his anger being repressed.
"Ohh, so you know Turkish too? Then the reason you got captured?"
"We fought back against those bastards that tried to take all our possessions and treasure, about 300.000.000 Berries."
Vlad looked at the man with a confused expression as if he tried to make sense of what he said and to make sure he asked them.
"You mean, ducats, right?"
"... No, Lord, they are called berries."
"How much would that be converted into ducats?"
"We don't know." replied Quinn, acting as the spokesman from the two captured.
"They got your treasure?"
"I doubt we hid it on the beach after we killed the first guys to apprehend us. Still, sir, can you tell me where we are? Since we shipwrecked, we have no idea about where we landed."
"You don't even know where you are? Have you traveled on Dnieper and landed on the Black Sea, later losing your coordinates? Or you used the Don? Otherwise, I don't see how you could have reached the shores of the Black Sea since you would be required to pass the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean to get here, and all those routes go past the Marmara Sea.
Don't try to lie, I know this region well enough to not get lost."
"Sir, truthful to you, we have no idea about any of the places you mentioned."
Vlad still couldn't buy their response and looked coldly at the two bound guys before walking toward a table filled with torture devices, which made Wormblod to react when seeing the entire arsenal of torture devices this madman had under his fingers.
"Wait, what are you doing? We really have no idea where we are. There's no reason to torture us."
"Okay, then start singing. Go on with who both of you are." mentioned Vlad, who put down a heavy iron pincer that was unknown what was used for, turning his attention back on the slaves.
"I am Wormblod, while the guy next to me is Quinn. We are the Captains of the Scavengers. Emperors of the New World, where we had a vast number of territories under our name. Respected and feared by the pirates and the World Government alike." replied Wormblod, turning his comment arrogant that it rewarded him with another punch in the face from Vlad.
"Heh, Emperor? New World? World Government? I heard about this New World, from the letters I received from the Papal State, where both Portugal and the Spanish Crown found new land."
"Sir, I doubt that. We seem not to be from your world."
"Hahaha, that is an interesting notion. Look, you scum, do you take me for a fool? What do you mean in another world?"
"I don't know how to explain it to you, but we simply have no clue about anything you have mentioned, Portugal, Spain, Papal State. No Clue. We are simply victims of some anomaly."
"Poor guys. Guess what, slave? I am also in a big anomaly called the Ottoman Empire. Would you be able to give me the chance of taking Mehmeds head?"
.
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As he was recollecting his memories, he told the young king about all the strange things he heard from those guys.
From how their "so-called" world was structured, the manner it was mainly formed by islands, where two groups were in a power struggle for the world supremacy, Sea Emperors and the World Government as they told him.
"Such blatant lies, how could there be such places? God will punish us for even contemplating such information."
"Well, their stories weren't half bad, they tried to tell me everything they knew, about their friends, their enemies, some of those "secrets" not many people were aware, places they hid their treasures, worthy places to take over and start a Kingdom, and so on, only to escape torture and punishment."
"Later on in the month, since I had some extra time before Mehmed appeared on my walls, I extracted most of the information from those guys.
They told me they used to have mystical powers granted by some fruit, and also their bodies used to have another power called "Mana", but those slaves were only talk. They couldn't even break the chains I placed them on with those so-called mystic powers."
"I don't know what to believe, Uncle, either you went crazy or those people have bewitched you."
"Neither of them, do you see me believing their stories?"
"Half of them."
"Hmm, maybe. They really weren't lying. I could see it in their eyes. You can tell someone is lying by their body reactions, and the eyes are the window to the soul."
"Indeed, I know this. It will be something that will be with me until my death.
To end your story? What was your reason for not granting them freedom after they begged you for so long? Even telling you everything they knew, about themselves and the surroundings."
"Simple, I didn't trust them. Haven't you heard? They are pirates. Emperor of Pirates at that. Just like Frederick is the Emperor of HRE, haha." still having another word to add, his voice turned cold, giving the entire description of those guys "Spineless cowards." (A/N: HRE = Holy Roman Empire)
"Still, they could have been useful to you if you took them with you."
"So you could steal them and make good use of them? No thanks, their fate was decided when they appeared, destroying the entire plan I've pain-stackingly built.
I feel no remorse anyway. At least I managed to get my hands on an interesting story to scare children."
"Not really, but it was truly an interesting story."
"I guess it did its job. You are no longer acting like a sissy." remarked Vlad from where he was sitting looking at the young man in front of him that regained some of his pink colors in the skin, a visible change that came from him.