Ballard of the Stuart-Griffins—Prelude
X❖X
"…Gathering all the clues you left, it seems you really wanted Vera to love you. However, that's all in the past. She remains dead. Her husband remains dead. What I cannot understand is why do humans put so much stock into love. In the end, all that remains is the fact that you killed her, Krauss."
"Wh—What are you saying?! What nonsense are you spouting?! You're saying I ki—killed my brother? Why is nobody saying anything? Why is everybody so quiet?"
"Now, the gathering, the deduction is over, the culprit has been found. Now, NOW, NOW, NOW. The trial will begin and end with thirty-five words: The defendant will now be sentenced to death in the public square. He will suffer while pebbles rain down on his body while the crowd cheers, and then the tale of this town shall end."
"Wh—Why is nobody on my side?"
That was obvious Because he was the culprit who murdered two nobles of this simple kingdom. And the detective sent by the Government gave her judgment. By her side was a man who was considered to be powerful. He held the title of an Admiral. Now, who was important enough in the entire world to be lugging around an Admiral to her whims?
That woman wore an expensive dress, with folds and fold of cloth protecting every corner of her skin. The only parts left to see were her neck and head. On her head was short black hair made into an intricate side bun. Her face was symmetrical, pretty, but forgettable. An unremarkable beauty that does not move the heart by looks but by words. And finally, the only weird thing that called to attention and made people remember her for her looks were her eyes. The irises were pitch black, the corneas white. That wasn't what made her eyes remarkable. What really made her look extremely unsettling were her pupils. They were pure white instead of being black. Everyone knows that humans have black pupils. The reason is that light itself is absorbed by the retina and not reflected back.
If someone had white pupils, then what?
Did all light reflect from her eyes?
That was the only peculiar thing about her appearance. Otherwise, she would be just a pretty face you'd forget in a day. Passing her by would make no impression. However, speaking with her would overturn your life. That was the sort of existence and curse this woman brought to those who were unfortunate enough to hear her voice.
The royal family and the noble families all gathered could not disagree with her decision. Krauss would inevitably be executed for his crimes of slaughtering the couple. All because of a misguided love towards the bride. And thus, by her orders, the soldiers gathered up Krauss by the arms and led him to prison. The admiral next to her looked as though he was surprised she actually had the talent to find out the culprit. All the celestial dragons he met were arrogant enough to back up their own ego without any skill or intelligence. All in the hall were surprised by her deductive capabilities. But not as surprised by her willingness to make friends. Celestial Dragons were often too drunk on themselves to ever care to make friends.
And yet, the woman went towards the ladies of the party after that and invited them for afternoon tea. The admiral sighed. He would have to accompany this lady until she was bored of a tea party. It wasn't manly at all. The ladies raved about the murder case while criticizing Krauss's obsessive love. However, that was not what the Celestial Dragon wanted to hear about. Instead, she consumed every bit of stories and tales the other noble ladies had to tell her. These nobles were way below the Celestial Dragon lady, a World Noble. However, she still gleefully consumed their stories. No matter how small they were, she was an excellent listener.
A week passed for this kingdom in the South Blue.
He was just a boy in the village named Sera. A week ago, a very pretty noble lady arrived with a battleship. She walked in with a smile and solved the most significant murder case plaguing this land. Today there would be an execution. His mother told him to stay home. However, she was here in this sea of people that were watching the execution. The man who killed the noble couple was tied to a pole and suspended by the soldiers and he was strapped, he was in the air, primed to be executed. Up above in the balcony of the small castle were the usual nobles and royals. However, she was there as well, surrounded by an Admiral and three rear admirals. Mother told him she was a World Noble and had the power to own people. His mother called them slaves. However, there were no slaves near that woman, so he wondered what that was about. The World Noble did not wear any funny clothes, nor she used a bubble in her head. She lived in regular fancy clothes and breathed the same air as commoners. The boy wondered if she was even related to those cruel World Nobles.
He heard she was quite pleasant as a person. However, she had no mercy to those who committed murders that the boy could agree with. Murderers were the scum of the earth, taking lives as if they had the right to. People lived, people had dreams and emotions, for a murderer to take that from them made the boy angry. Then, the king's soldiers, wearing armor and swords, put carts in front of the populace, filled with small pebbles. It was death by stoning.
Then, the execution began. It began as the salvo of stones started. People of all walks of life, picking up rocks and throwing at the man, a lot of them missed, but some hit the mark, making dark bruises on the man's skin. Some of the women who were able to hit him looked shocked and horrified for a second. The boy felt that the man's death was justified. Lord Krauss was an evil man who killed two people because he was obsessed with love. The boy was barely thirteen, yet he went towards the cart and picked up a small grey stone. He stared at it and threw it. He threw at the man's forehead and hit the mark. The pebble cut the man's forehead, and a lot of blood leaked out.
The death by stoning continued for more than fifteen minutes, with everyone in the plaza making their attempt at hitting him.
He was hit by stones until he died.
The village felt united by a job well done.
The boy of thirteen looked at the world noble for signs of approval. And then, the worst thing happened, from those cold lips, an absolute truth came out, one that nobody wanted to hear.
"Now, those with the crimes of slaughtering another shall also die. DIE DIE DIE."
Her words were calm, and she was not yelling those words, and yet every time she said the word 'DIE,' it was almost as if that word was engraved in his soul.
And thus, with a flash of silver, everyone's heads or chests or stomachs were instantly pierced by chains, chains originating from five poker cards on the woman's hand.
The boy looked betrayed. He thought that finally, there was one good Celestial Dragon, one who did not have slaves and one who was glad to hear the common folk's stories and plights. And yet, he was murdered for bringing justice to another murderer. All he could feel were her chains inside of his body, chains that destroyed his soul.
Why? Why? Why?
Why did someone like her exist in the first place?
Everyone in the town square was killed, and thus the story of the town ended. It happened, just as the World Noble stated before.
The Admiral next to her made no motions to save any of them. The king, lords, and their noble families all watched with pale eyes as the 'detective' murdered most of this village's subjects in one blow. They made a call to the Government for a detective. To investigate the murder of the couple that would join both their noble families together. Usually, when the call is made, only marines would come, or sometimes an agent of the Government would come. However, the woman in the dress was neither of those parties.
Then what was she? Why was she here playing the detective?
That answer was simple, she was the arbiter of the world. She would often pick crime cases handled by the Government and go there instead of the usual delegation to play the 'detective' and 'judge.' She was only one person. She couldn't be everywhere there was a violent crime committed by citizens. Obviously, crimes committed by pirates and crimes committed by the revolutionary army were not on the scope of this woman's hobby. There was no mystery in those crimes. Thus they were not noteworthy in the slightest. She was just one person, and she often took only one or two cases per month to satisfy her need for mystery. Therefore it was a worldwide roulette. If a murder occurred in your village, town, city, or country, you called upon the World Government to send someone who could solve the murders and apprehend the criminal. If someone made that decision, there was a slight chance this cursed woman would select your request and bring with her curses and blessing.
She killed most citizens of an entire village for committing the 'sin of murder.' They threw stones at a man who could not defend himself and thus were judged to be killed. However, if you looked even deeper into the meaning of this incident, you would realize how much of an insane woman she was. She condemned the killer of the couple to death by stoning. The man was bound to a pole in the square, the citizens all threw stones relentlessly, and then she deigns them all to be murderers and kills them all herself.
If that wasn't the height of pure unadulterated cruelty and madness, then what?
"It seems you want to say something, Ryokugyu?"
The admiral laughed. "Wahahaha, well, I just realized this trip was just boring, is all, but why did you kill all these people?"
It seems the Admiral somewhat was disagreeable with her but made no motions to stop her when he could have done so. He didn't have the heart to do anything else but to bark at her instead of biting. The noble family, and the royal family of this place, dare not touch her. The guards who had families dared not touch her.
"It's natural. No human must bear the 'sin of murder.' I will personally make it so."
"Wahaha, then you oughta kill yourself right, now, it will be one less murderer in the world." The admiral finally bit back.
"Oh, that's quite rude. And it seems you have not listened to my previous words. 'No human must bear the sin of murder,' I am no human. Thus I can freely murder anyone. No matter how many I kill, no matter how many countries I destroy, my soul will remain pure and without sin because I am the arbiter. 'We' make the rules. No matter how many rebel, no matter how many struggle, 'we' can just wash everything away if 'we' so wish. Did that answer your question, Ryokugyu?"
The Admiral was surprised. People of her kind usually were quick to anger. However, she just responded to everything calmly while chastising him lightly for his rudeness. Yet she did not raise her hand against him, despite already committing the sin of murder as she so-called it.
"Don't worry, I am patient."
She said so serenely, and the hairs of his body stood at attention. It was like she could hear his thoughts.
She walked towards the ship, the battleship of Admiral Ryokugyu.
"I always thought your family would be 'don't waste my precious time' or something like that. But you are different than what I imagined, thought the insanity was quite what I expected from the reports."
"Those that say 'time is money' have limited time, and thus are quite hurried and impatient to get on with their lives and hobbies, not caring about the words of others. But to one whose time is immemorial, time wasted does not make sense. No matter how much a child cries in front of me, I will patiently say those words until they understand. No matter how much a soldier cries for his fallen wife, I will speak up my mind over and over again that she should not have picked up the pebble. 'I have no time to waste,' That's a lie in my case, I have all the time in the world, and I will dedicate my time to anyone who wants to discuss with me, I will answer all questions permitted, no matter how insignificant that human is. However, that courtesy doesn't apply to those I've sentenced to death. I hope that answers your curiosity, Ryokugyu. Now, let us return to Marie Geoise."
The Admiral was just an escort for this woman, so she wouldn't do something stupid in her hobbies of solving mysteries. And yet, when the time came, the Admiral did not even have the heart to stop her from doing something foolish and cruel. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki posted this mission for him, and yet, even if Borsalino or Issho were in his place, they would not have fared any better. Even if Sakazuki were present, would he have the heart to do anything?
Even if the Navy crumbled, even if the Government crumble, even if the Celestial Dragons crumbled, even if the Elder Stars crumbled. The Stuart-Griffin Family would still reign supreme over the world along with the vessel. The Celestial Dragons were the descendants of the Stuart-Griffin's allies of old. The Stuart-Griffin Family extended the favor towards their allies' children, grandchildren all the way up to modern times. The reason the Celestial Dragons enjoyed their lives right now was because of Stuart-Griffin's good graces. The Five Elder Stars were just slaves to the vessel. The Government and the Navy were just a byproduct of all of this.
Marie Geoise was built by the Stuart-Griffins and made for themselves and the vessel. The Celestial Dragons were just their friendly neighbors, neighbors they allowed to exist. Their power, money, and influence were created for the Celestial Dragons because of the Stuart-Griffins good graces. They were like hamsters, they were a pain to manage and stink badly, but they were allowed to live in the Stuart-Griffin's home because they were cute. The same for the Five Elder Stars, however instead of hamsters, they were cunning housecats, having their plans and manipulations, but allowed because they were cute.
Even if she killed an entire town's worth of people, it was all just a game to her.
If everything was gone, things would still remain the same.
Even if all forces of the world were to rebel, things would still remain the same. That's why even the all-powerful Admirals could voice their complaints but not act on them. There was only one marine who hit her in the past, and that was a novel experience, but he was not here. It was laughable. No matter how many people hit her, her body wouldn't suffer. Thus it was a meaningless effort all along. She found their fear of her quite entertaining because she did not consider violence against her to be a sin. Why would she fear little kittens trying to scratch a steel wall to be a sin? It was quite cute when she saw people challenging her. However, little kittens might hurt their little paws in doing so, so she usually dissuaded them with words before they would get hurt. The only sin worth punishing was the 'sin of murder.' Because she was the arbiter.
This family was at the top. The family represented justice, law, order, and progress.
Because this family produced invincible people, management of influence, the ability to kill, control of money, power of ambitions, anything of everything, they had it.
Even her mortal nephew was still roaming around. Last she heard, he was in Punk Hazard, she heard juicy news from her friend in CP0. It seemed her mortal nephew wanted revenge for her younger sister. It was quite an exciting tale. However, it yielded no mysteries, as one who knew the truth of it all, it was quite dull, it was fun when she didn't know anything about it, which was why she loved solving murder mysteries she had no personal stakes in. However, she wondered why now, of all times, that her nephew's blood had woken up? She always thought he would remain as a member of the Monkey family, having the 'Will of D.' in his name made it counterintuitive for the blood of the Stuart-Griffins to wake up since the blood of 'angels' and 'devils' do not mix well. That was quite the mystery itself, perhaps a riddle laid out by her late younger sister and her brother-in-law, Monkey D. Dragon?
Then perhaps it was a mystery worth solving, then?
Perhaps she should just go to her nephew, dismember all his limbs and ask gently?
Asking for the answers wasn't fun, not one bit, so she desisted on her plan.
Now, let the deceptions of the world start.
She tried making talk with the marines. However, her friends wouldn't respond to her. Perhaps they were quite touched by her executions and couldn't speak properly? The thing she hated most in the world was not having someone to talk or listen to, but she was patient. A speaking partner would soon come to listen to her stories or tell his or her own tales.
She chuckled silently as she watched the clouds without even being bored.
The Admiral by her side was enjoying the breeze as the ship roamed in the endless sea.
"Sakazuki really hates that you pick these murder cases at random. He says your presence makes people lose faith in the authorities, meaning him. If you continue playing around like this, you'll end up somewhere you regret, and Sakazuki might do something he would regret."
The Stuart-Griffin Family member asked a simple question about Akainu, the Fleet Admiral towards Ryokugyu, nicknamed Green Bull, one of the 'all-powerful' Admirals.
"Why should an 'angel' be concerned about an angry red chihuahua?"
Now, it was time to return to Marie Geoise. The Reverie was near. She would get to watch a bunch of tiny kittens trying their hardest to play politics. Perhaps she could make some friends with the princess of Alabasta, which her nephew had saved?
She would love to hear the stories of her nephew.