Return Of The Champion Part 2

The door cracked open from a seam that ran down the center that Jack had not even noticed before. Seeing this he once again marveled at the level of craftsmanship that went into building this place. Whoever did build it was a master as not only was it carved out of the stone of the cavern on was carved out in one piece. Jack wasn't even sure if such a thing was possible in his old world.

Pushing the two halves to huge door open took a bit of effort even for Jack's muscled form. Once the door was opened what met his eyes was a short hallway that seemed to lead to a large open room. Walking down the hallway and into what he could only describe as a Great Hall Jack could see the room stretched at least three hundred feet in length and maybe one hundred in width.

This room was completely empty, as if whoever made it didn't have time or just forgot to furnish it. It was also without any dust of any sort almost like the room was a sterile environment that was sealed to not allow in any foreign particles to contaminate it.

On the vast ceiling was painted in a way that seemed to play off the glowing roots that were running along the ceiling to light up the area was a beautiful motif of interwoven vines and stunning flowers of every color. Looking up at it seemed to ease the mind and give off a feeling of hope. Along the walls of the room were panels of carvings showing various scenes depicting what Jack thought to be the history of a nation.

Jack figured that perhaps the people shown in these carvings were the forefathers of those that built this place. The panels started with a seemingly primitive tribe living in grass huts with some people carrying some kind of beast that they hunted. The panels of carvings go on to show this tribe tilling a field with wooden houses being built in the background all the way up to a huge city being built at the center of the island with ships sailing around it.

Walking along while observing, Jack noted that there must have been many decades if not many centuries in between each panel judging by the advancement and appearance of the people and culture.

About midway was a panel that showed a prosperous and thriving city that stretched across the entirety of the island with a giant palace at its center. Depending on how big the island is and if the carving was actually to scale the palace could very well be the single largest man-made structure he was ever seen or heard of.

Further along the wall, Jack saw scenes depicting the people sailing advanced looking ships on the open seas and finding new islands with different peoples and levels of civilizations. Instead of conquering these new civilizations as Jack had expected based on the history of his old world, these people instead chose a different path.

Depictions of these people healing sick and injured and sharing various technology and ideas and even bringing some from the newly discovered islands back to their own were shone. The next showed a man wearing what seemed to be some type of ceremonial garb with a crown on his head and what Jack guessed to be, based on their clothing, representatives of the other civilizations that were visited standing behind him.

Jack took this to mean that the people that were helped by the advanced civilization chose to either join or ally with them. Seeing how this society of people were able to bring so many different peoples, with different cultures and civilizations of there own, together peacefully without any fighting truly impressed Jack and caused a kernel of respect to bloom in him.

Coming towards the far end of the room there started to be shown panels depicting these great people continuing to explore a new island. When they were welcomed by the rulers of the island with a feast and had their guard down it was shown that they were ambushed and killed with only a few escaping back to their ships.

It went on to show the treacherous people stealing the advanced belongings from the bodies of the people they killed. The panel directly after that showed the people of the great civilization returning in force to retrieve the bodies and belongings of their dead but finding the rulers of the island nowhere to be found. With the population hiding in their homes as if they were demons and not willing to indiscriminately slaughter the innocent, the people decided to leave.

Further Panels were split in half with part showing the people of the great society continuing to advance themselves while exploring new places. The other part showing how the treacherous people took what they stole and studied it using it to fuel their own advancement.

The treacherous people started to spread out as well and make connections of their own. But instead of helping the people they met they enslaved the weak and for those with enough strength they allied with giving slaves and riches from the natural resources of their island. The carving started to depict the higher cast of the treacherous people as demons with twisted faces wielding whips at their own people that were bound in chains and a slave collar.

These two vastly different peoples eventually started to clash with each other. At the end of the room, a depiction of a great battle was shone with vast armies battling against each other on either said of a large doorway that led out of the great hall was a line up of around twenty seeming commanders on either side starting each other down with raised weapons and above the doorway was two figures, one tall and skinny wielding a sword and another stout, muscular man wielding a spear charging at each other.

All in all the whole room was an artistic masterpiece that would no doubt become a museum to showcase to the public if it was found in his old world. Passing through the doorway at the end of the great hall Jack came to a smaller circular room that had dual staircases leading up on the left and right of the room. Between them were five closed doors that led to other areas that have yet to be explored.

Leaving the upper floors for later Jack instead chose one of the doors before him. Deciding to go from right to left he walked up and opened the unlocked door. Walking through it led him to a staircase that curved downward to the right, following it down to the bottom Jack found what he could immediately recognize as a training room.

Even if the equipment was designed in a way that was foreign to him it was still easy enough to tell the uses of most of it. Along one wall were dumbells made from a material that jack has not seen before, and trying to pick up one of the smaller ones found that they were surprisingly heavy for their size. These went from small sizes that looked to only weigh a few pounds to huge ones that could be mistaken for barbells and looked as if their weight was in the thousands of pounds.

A large raised circular platform was in the center of the room that jack presumed was used for sparring. On the other side of the room, opposite of the weights, was a row of wooden columns with various angled wood arms protruding from them. They looked similar to a Mu ren Zhuang that is used in training some Chinese martial arts but with slight differences. In the corner was a few of something that brought a smile to Jack's face when he spotted them.

Walking up to the large bags made of some sort of material rather then leather that was hanging from chains attached to the ceiling, Jack felt them before throwing a hard punch to confirm his guess as to what they were.

A smile split his face at all the memories flooding his mind of years spent working his techniques with heavy bags very similar to these. Even if it might look different then those found in his past life, it is still a gym and the familiarity of the surroundings brightened his mood.

Walking back up to the other doors, he goes to the next one and opens it to find a room lined with shelves and a long table in the center. Going up to one to get a better look Jack discovers that they hold books. Rows and rows of books fill this room, but instead of paper books that he is used to these are instead made with thin sheets of metallic-like material that are bound together on metal loops.

Taking a few down, he sees that they are written in the ancient language and seem to be a record of knowledge on various subjects. Reading some of the first pages for the couple books he took down Jack sees that they seem to be technical books aimed to teach the reader things about various trades and other subjects. Walking around and looking at different sections, this room seems to hold the combined technical knowledge of an entire civilization.

From farming to different forms of smithing, medical knowledge, cooking, engineering, architecture, manufacturing, ship construction, mining, animal breeding, and even various scientific knowledge on different subjects. Jack was stunned by the sheer amount of information here, as it was enough to take a society from the stone age all the way to the industrial revolution.

Continuing to browse the different books held in this library Jack came across a section that gave him pause. As he was looking over the books in this section he discovers that they were all on various combat arts. From styles and techniques centered around different weapons to various unarmed martial arts forms and concepts.

Seeing all these mad Jack ecstatic as there were styles he had never heard of before as well as techniques that seemed to utilize different principles to create mystical effects. He saw how some even allowed the practitioner to create vibrations in their attacks to penetrate the opponent's defense or to perform attacks that can affect targets at midrange using compressed air.

These attacks sounded mystical and farfetched and Jack had a hard time believing such things could be possible. Doubtful, he then remembers that this is no longer the earth he knew and perhaps the laws of this world work differently allowing for such things to be a reality.

Deciding to study all of these in-depth to see if there was anything worthy of being incorporated into his own fighting style. Putting all these on the table to go over later he then sees that on the top shelf of this section is a particularly thick book that was all by itself.

Reaching up and tacking it down Jack notes the title on the outside cover, 'Haki: The Three Forms'. Intrigued by what this haki could be that it was separated from the other combat themed books he reads the introduction page.

In simple terms, Haki is an ability that is found in every living being in the world. With two main techniques, the first being the ability to sense and predict spiritual energy named Observation Haki. The second allows one to use their life force to physically reinforce their bodies, it is named Armament Haki.

There exists a third type which the book claims to be unawakenable for all except for the rare "chosen ones". This technique is about overpowering an enemies' willpower with your own and is given the name Conqueror's Haki.

The book goes on to describe how to awaken and train in the first two techniques as well as develop the third if you are lucky enough to have it. Reading all this leaves Jack stunned at its implication. It seemed like a power that for the most part anyone could train and he wonders why Seagull never mentioned them.

Skimming over the book to get a better idea about the uses of haki and how it is trained. The more he reads the more he is amazed. It seems like even without a devil fruit people can gain special powers that make them invulnerable, see things even without having their eyes open, and knock people unconscious just by exerting their will over them.

Excited to use all of this to further his abilities Jack unwillingly leaves the library to continue his exploration. Coming to the middle door, he found that this room was a giant kitchen with rows of cooktops and ovens that seemed to use cole as he found a large supply of it in one of the pantries along with some wood kindling.

Happy that he won't have to worry about eating raw fish anymore since he had recently run out of wood to cook his meals with, he moved on to the next room as the kitchen didn't really require much exploration. Inside the fourth room seemed to be a large scientific lab of some sort.

Walking through he could see that this room seemed different compared to the rooms before. Where the others while big was still scaled for normal-sized people, but here everything looked like it was made for a giant.

There were tables glassware meant for containing different chemicals and such. Along one of the walls were archaic-looking machines that Jack could only guess at their use. At the back wall, sat a desk that he would need to jump to be able to reach and a chair that looked like it could fit three of him. There slumped on the ground was something that caused him to stop in his tracks.

A body... Well, a skeleton at least, and it was from by far the largest humanoid he has ever seen. You would think that after all the crazy stuff he has seen and done since coming to this world, that he would stop being amazed but Jack doubts that he will ever stop feeling wonder at all the fantastical things this world has to offer.

This was the only physical indication that someone actually stayed here after this place was built and it looked like this lab belonged to whoever this was. It seemed that they died somehow in the middle of working on something as there were still things spread all over the desk. Climbing up on the chair to get a better look, he could see tattered parchment that was crumbling in parts from the ravages of time.

What was written on the parchment was in the ancient script. It was hard to make out a lot of it and in some places, the writing had completely faded away. From what he could make out, the man was researching some kind of chemical compound. Not sure what to make of that, he continued carefully looking through the papers on the desk.

Gently moving some papers out of the way revealed a thin book made of the same parchment that was spread on the table but since the content was protected by the cover he hoped that what was written inside was still intact. Carefully opening it to the first page, Jack could see that it seemed to be handwritten like the rest of the papers there.

It looked like the person's journal, and there were only a handful of pages worth of entries. It seemed to be from the perspective of a man and began with him describing how his brother had betrayed and infected him with a deadly poison after an attempt to ruin what this person called their life's work. It didn't go into much detail about why his own brother would do something like that and Jack could only guess.

It went on to describe his efforts the cure his poisoning but based on the skeleton Jack though it was a safe bet that he failed and ultimately died here. On the last page, the man wrote an entry that sounded different from the ones before as this seemed to be written as if he meant it to be read by whoever found it.

It read, 'I am coming to the end of my time. I have failed to purge the toxin from my system. It is a truly insidious creation that little brother of mine created as it has even severed the connection to my spirit. It seemed that he has finally outdone me. It pains me to think of all those who relied on me now suffering under those bastards of the cabal but there is little I can do at this point.

I had already given instructions to the Kozuki in case the worst should happen. I almost didn't, as I thought such precautions not needed. I was truly nieve and full of arrogance. At least the fruit of the thousand-year eve tree is resistant to the curse that Teach released. That gives me some hope at that perhaps future generations can aquire it and fix the wrongs of my time.

Should the next bearer of the leviathan be reading this, please... learn from my failures, do not let power make you conceited and do all you can to help free the people from the Cabals tyranny. Many peoples will suffer terribly under their rule and my beloveds people are sure to be affected the worst. The thought of her fate fills me with rage and sorrow and thinking about the promise I once made to her that will now go unfulfilled breaks my heart.

To you whos reading this, if you wield the leviathan and are willing to help a weary soul rest in peace I ask that you fulfill my promise her and the people of Fish-man Island. Release them from the chains that bind them and take the ark and deliver them to their promised land. I know this is much to be putting in future generations.

To help with this endeavor I have left my weapon, that was created by the finest smiths in the world and made specifically to synergize with the powers of the leviathan, in the vault with my other treasures. With regard to mastering the powers of the leviathan, I have made an entry at the end of the Divine Spirit Fruit Listings. It details my experiences and experiments regarding its abilities, may it serve you well.'

Searching the rest of the desk Jack managed to find the so-called Divine Spirit Fruit Listings. It was another metal book much like the ones from the library. What he found that fascinated him was that it seemed to be more like an encyclopedia than just a simple list. Each entry had the name of the fruit, its type, and a short introduction to its abilities. There was also a small carving in the metal page showing what jack figured to be the appearance of each fruit. On top of all this, there were thousands of entries of various devil fruits and their descriptions.

This could be very helpful to Jack if he ever finds a devil fruit during his adventures so he could identify just what fruit it was that he found and if it was worth keeping or selling to make a profit. Going to the back of the book, he wants to see if his fruit is really on the list and what it says about it.

Seeing that the very last page was indeed an entry about the "Leviathan Mythical Zoan".

Besides the name and type that was self-evident the information listed below is what really drew Jack's eye. It stated the Mythos of the leviathan and gave a list of abilities that the man, he now knew to be the ancient genius that created the devil fruits, discovered during his time as its last user.

Most of it he had already figured out by himself but there were two that caused his eyes to go wide.

The first one was what he called "Aquatic Life Manipulation", this ability gave him to tame and command aquatic life, like fish and such.

It also enabled him to bestow, what was called in the book, a "blessing of power" upon the aquatic life that he had tamed. This makes them stronger and in special cases even allowed him to share an affinity for one of his abilities. This had him thinking back to the DC movies with Aquaman and his powers. Jack had to admit, the idea of riding a shark across the sea was pretty badass.

The second ability was equally impressive. In the entry, it was called "Maw Of The Abyss". This was a devouring skill that sucked up all that was before it, similar to a black hole, and sent it to his "personal void" that supposedly rested inside his stomach to be disintegrated. The entry even described experiments that the man did with this ability.

It stated that he wasn't able to devour anyone stronger than him and that what he devoured couldn't be a bigger size than the maw of his fully transformed leviathan. It also theorized that it could be possible to keep what he devoured from being destroyed by coating the items in Busoshoku Haki.

This would, in theory, turn his personal void into a storage system but the amount stored would be limited to that he could cover in haki. It also made sure to specify that it was only a theory and that the man never got the chance to test it as it was just before he was betrayed that he managed to get a hold of the information on haki techniques that his brother created.

Excited over the possibilities for these new abilities that he didn't even know he had Jack then turned to get down. Standing back on the ground he gave a solemn look to the body of this legend that lay before him. All the power that he has in this new life is thanks to this genius and what he brought into the world. After giving a small bow, a silent word of thanks, and a promise to get him a proper burial to lay his body to rest.

Going out of the lab Jack now faced the last door and from what the journal said he figured this to be the vault. Going through the door led him to a downward stairway that went for quite a while. Finally, after reaching the bottom, Jack became a bit annoyed as there in his way was another closed door and at its center was a familiar symbol. Hoping he was wrong, he went up to try and push it open. Just like he feared, it didn't budge.

With a disgruntled face and grumblings about why it had to be down such a long stairwell, he went up to gather the water necessary to unlock the door. After trudging all the way back, transforming to gather all the water he could, then trudging all the way back while managing said suspended water, jack was praying that whatever was in this damn vault was well worth it.

Using the water to unlock the door the same way he did before took a bit of time and when it finally opened his face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. The first thing that caught his eye was a huge sparkling mound of gold coins that were spread out in a large area and was pilled higher than he was tall. He remembered Seagull telling him that the world government established a common currency called belly and depending on the exchange rate this could very well be a huge fortune.

Looking away before the sparkling gold blinds him, he sees chests along the walls and opening a few find them to be filled with more gold in the form of jewelry along with different precious gems as well. Past the gold and the chests were alcoves with various things in them mostly exquisite weapons of various kinds. There were also some various miscellaneous items that whos use wasn't apparent at first glance.

Among these miscellaneous items was a very large shiny rolled-up scroll. Taking it from its place Jack unrolled it to see what it contained and was met with a beautifully detailed map of seemingly the whole world as all four seas and the grand line were shone along with the red line that separated them. This map showed many islands, their terrane, and features. To jack, this was a true treasure as he was now able to hopefully avoid getting lost when he left here.

Another item he checked a small gilded chest as he was curious as to what could be inside. Opening it up jack found five strange looking fruits that he immediately identified as devil fruits. This discovery pleased him as this would be able to bolster the strength of his comrades when he gets some. Putting them aside for now as he will have to go through the 'Tome Of Fruits' later to figure out what they do.

Walking to the end of the vault, he came to what he assumed to be the personal weapon of the great genius of antiquity. Seeing it Jack was amazed and agreed that this weapon lived up to the hype. It was a grand spear that looked to be the creation of a master and was designed for dealing nothing but death to its enemies.

The shaft was a deep emerald green so dark that it almost looked black when not in the light at the butt-end of the shaft was a golfball-sized emerald that was so dazzling that it almost seemed to be glowing. The gem was held into place by two bands that crisscrossed it and at the bottom of the jewel formed a cone-shaped point of shining black metal.

Moving up the shaft jack notes that there are three blades with a unique shape. There are two blades on the sides that look almost like two deadly butterfly wings formed of black metal with a white jagged hamon line running along its edges. Where the two side blades meet at the top of the spear was a long-bladed tip that looked like it had a long emerald embedded into the center of the blade.

(A/N: I Feel like a didn't describe this well as I couldn't come up with a good way to describe the shape of the blades and might have given the wrong idea about what it actually looks like so if you want a clear picture of what I had in mind then go to my DeviantArt page at https://www.deviantart.com/streek135 and I have a pic of the spear posted)

It was a magnificent weapon fit for an emperor. There was only one issue, it was close to thirty feet long! Not knowing how he was to wield such a monstrosity, Jack gives out a frustrated sigh. Reaching out to run his hands along that large spear shaft, suddenly he feels a foreign well enter and try to subvert his mind. Reminding him of when he first connected to his devil fruit Jack keeps calm and masters the full force of his will power to crush this invader to his mind.

It was over in a moment as this will was much weaker than that of the leviathan. As he dominated this will that encroached on his mind and was preparing to extricate it Jack felt the spear that he was still touching tremble beneath his hand.

Feeling this, he was quickly able to associate the foreign will with the spear before him and felt a deep glee and acceptance from it before the will receded of its own accord. As this happened, the giant spear before him started to shrink until it was the perfect size to be wielded with his current height.

Curious as to how this could be possible but with no answers to be had he decided to chalk it up to something he will hopefully find out when he reaches the last island. Taking the now shrunken spear in hand he can feel a connection with it much like he can the water.

In fact, in the spear itself, he can sense that the core of its shaft is hollow and filled with water. Thinking as to why that would be he tries reaching out to the water filling the shaft. He wills it up and there before his astonished eyes is a spear...

...floating midair.