One Piece: Silent-Silent Fruit

Ten years had passed since the battle between the Gray Kingdom and the Marines. By now, it was already difficult to find any news of the Gray Kingdom on the seas. The once-glorious Gray Kingdom, which had once stood at the height of its power, had long since shattered and scattered.

It was said that after that battle, the Dragon King, Rosinante, vanished without a trace. The World Government publicly declared that Rosinante had already been executed.

No one knew whether that was truly the case, but one thing was certain: after that battle, there had indeed never been any news of Rosinante again.

At the same time, the Gray Kingdom completely splintered apart, and the Oathblood disappeared entirely, as if they had never existed.

Rumor had it that the Piercing Knight, Bins, had been captured while trying to save Rosinante, and was thrown into Impel Down.

The five great divisions split into five pirate crews and entered the New World.

As for the other two divisions, they remained in the Sky Islands. Since the Marines could not reach them, and they posed no immediate threat, they were ultimately left alone.

The Donquixote Family, however, remained active. They had even risen to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. After all, with Doflamingo's abilities, he could survive anywhere.

Meanwhile, Sleepless City was taken over by the World Government. It was said that if the government had not discovered that the other three great Emperors of the New World were beginning to stir, the remaining pirates of the Gray Kingdom would likely have all been wiped out in one fell swoop.

In the end, the World Government promised that the shares and profits belonging to the three great pirate crews would not be reduced, and only then were those three crews pacified.

But not long after, the three great pirate crews discovered that under the World Government's management, the profits of Sleepless City were shrinking more and more. Over this matter alone, the three pirate crews and the World Government had already clashed several times.

And just recently, a new Fourth Emperor had appeared in the New World.

It was Red-Haired Shanks.

With peerless Haki, he had ascended to the throne of the world's strongest. Even monsters like Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, and Kaido had no choice but to acknowledge his terrifying strength.

On an ordinary little island in the West Blue!

It was an island so ordinary that there was nothing remarkable about it at all. But the weather there was like spring all year round, making it an exceptionally comfortable place to live.

Inside one of the island's equally ordinary little houses, ten-year-old Elsa was curiously staring at the young man lying unconscious on the bed.

Her mother had told her that this man was her father, once a great hero who had roamed the seas and shaken the world.

But Elsa didn't know whether her father was really some great hero.

What she did know was that he was definitely a huge lazybones.

Otherwise, how could he have been sleeping on that bed, unconscious, for ten whole years without ever waking up?

His breathing was perfectly normal, and his body was warm. Having studied medicine from a young age, Elsa knew very well that her father's body was in completely normal condition. In fact, he was healthier than most ordinary people.

So why wouldn't he wake up?

Elsa often saw her mother lying on top of her father in the dead of night, quietly crying.

Sometimes Aunt Robin, who would come by and always doted on her dearly, would also stare at him with sorrow in her eyes.

At times, Elsa even hated her father a little.

Why did he have to make Mother and Auntie so sad?

At other times, she felt intensely jealous of him.

Compared to her, Mother and Aunt Robin seemed to love Father even more.

And more often than not, Elsa was simply curious.

Just what kind of existence was her father?

Why did he have a breathtaking beauty like Mother by his side, and also a confidante as extraordinary as Aunt Robin?

There were also those uncles who would only come secretly after she had fallen asleep. Every single one of them showed him immense respect.

Mother was in the kitchen cooking, and Elsa couldn't help but continue staring curiously at the father on the bed.

Then, at that very moment, she saw it.

A dazzling light suddenly burst from the body of the father who had never shown the slightest movement before.

"Ahhh~!" little Elsa cried out in shock.

Rosinante slowly opened his eyes.

He found himself lying on a comfortable bed, with a tube inserted into his arm as nutrient fluid steadily flowed into his body.

It was probably because of these nutrient drips that he had managed to survive until now.

Then he noticed a little girl, delicate like a porcelain doll, staring at him in astonishment.

Rosinante was full of questions.

Where was this place?

Who was this little girl?

The surroundings looked like an ordinary room, and that only made him even more shocked.

Back during that great battle, he had believed that after being struck by CP0's expulsion ability, his soul had been banished into the world of Naruto.

In other words, he had assumed he had lost.

Under those circumstances, even if his body hadn't died, it should have either been thrown into Impel Down... or taken away for research.

He had already prepared himself for a brutal fight the moment he woke up.

But seeing the situation now truly stunned him.

An ordinary little room.

A little girl.

Could it be... he hadn't returned to the world of pirates?

And yet this body was unmistakably his.

The origin of the Silent-Silent Fruit within him told him clearly that there was no mistake.

He had returned!

"E-Elsa, what happened?" At that moment, a voice came from outside the door. It was familiar... and yet somehow strangely unfamiliar too.

Clatter!

Shaxia walked in carrying a bowl of freshly prepared food.

The moment she saw Rosinante sitting up on the bed, disbelief instantly flooded her face.

The bowl in her hands slipped free and crashed onto the floor.

"Yo, long time no see," Rosinante said with a smile.

In that instant, Shaxia could no longer suppress her emotions.

She threw herself straight into Rosinante's arms and broke down in tears.

"Uh... th-that..." Rosinante panicked, completely at a loss.

In the end, all he could do was wrap his arms tightly around Shaxia, holding her close as he gently patted her back again and again, trying to comfort her.