𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 25

On the other side of the ocean, a crimson-haired teenager was idly supervising the printing of papers.

"Dawn! We're ready," a familiar merchant shouted, a bright smile on his face.

Dawn sent a glance at the newspaper entitled 'Masked Truth', the logo a simple smiling mask. The front cover depicted a sinking Marine ship, and an angel looking down. In dark color, the title was striking and bold.

"Let them go," he ordered, a flicker of excitement brightening his face, as he watched the flurry of black butterflies set off in all directions. "The first ripple..." he mumbled with a smile as the group cheered on their successful beginning.

When Ko first approached him with the project, he adamantly refused, not willing to risk his life for such an absurd purpose.

"Dawn. There are two ways to overthrow an unfair government, do you know them?" She had asked, while he remained silent. "The first is by using violence, this is the way the Revolution chose, however, what started in blood will inevitably end in blood, violence is a vicious circle. There exists another way though. The only reason the government can continue its dirty little deeds till now is because the people aren't aware. They live in the perfect little world the Marine created for them, the good guys are the marine, the bad guys are the pirates. But just by stepping outside their little bubbles, they would realize that's not true."

She pointed at the map, showing isolated islands and key marine headquarters supervising everything. "We dig up what they try to keep hidden and we provide information to the people, we pull the blindfold away, pop their little bubbles, and we show them what is truly happening. Afterward, it is up to them to decide what they want to do. If they want to turn a blind eye or if they want to stand up against injustice."

Dawn shivered as the endless possibilities streamed in, "We will shake the very foundation of their so-called justice, if we can shake the people awake, we can truly begin to change things. This is a bet that will cost our lives if we lose..."

"We just have to win! It won't be easy nor quick, you can't change centuries worth of misinformation and lies generally accepted as universal truths. This is a fight of a lifetime. Slowly but surely, we will uncover the truth they tried to mask, avenge the fallen and honor their memories, they have to gain back their rightful places in History."

It was one of the first problems she saw when she started building Ko's persona, by digging up she found countless stories buried by the government because they went against their beliefs of 'absolute justice', countless unfairness done in the name of the dainty 'celestials', countless heroes buried because they choose the wrong title, being a pirate. It was a problem she hadn't encountered in her previous life as information was key to everyone, nothing was hidden for long, spies were everywhere, yet here, one main faction monopolized the knowledge. They controlled public opinion easily, too easily. It was obvious the only newspaper was under their control.

Masked Truth had two purposes, uncover History, and change people's minds on diverse subjects, from pirates to celestials, by delivering neutral news from all around the world.

On another side of the ocean, a pirate crew was feasting under the moonlight when a black butterfly came fluttering around.

"Oh, what a curious butterfly," the red-haired man sleepily admired the rare insect. "What do you think, old friend? Look it doesn't seem to be afraid of humans," he exclaimed seeing the dark insect land on his hand calmly.

Beside him, a dark-haired man examined the event, his honey eyes narrowing as the butterfly shimmered. "Careful," he warned, his hand reaching for his long cross sword, only to still as the insect abruptly transformed into a newspaper.

This had the effect of fully waking up Shanks who sat straighter, looking at the curious paper. His mouth dropped open as he read the title, 'How much is a celestial's life worth?', his head snapped to his friend, "Did I read that correctly, Mihawk?"

Mihawk stared intently at the cover, nodding as a sliver of disbelief slipped through his emotionless face.

"That-" Shanks shook his head, "that takes some guts." When he stared at the cover picture though, he started grinning before shoving the paper in Mihawk's face, "That's the one I talked to you about! The paper angel and Luffy's sister!"

"Seems like she has a new bounty," Shanks bounced on his feet as he turned the page. "Hey everyone! Konan is now at 500 million Beri!"

This news was accompanied by cheering and some whistles and the whole crew partied with more vigor now that they had a valid excuse to.

But Mihawk was more interested in the content of the 'Masked Truth' newspaper, his eyes rapidly scanning the content of it, before concluding, "Shanks. I want to meet this one, the Paper Angel." He grabbed his sword hilt, with a renewed desire to fight a new opponent.

Shanks apologized in his mind to Konan for sending this fight-thirsty demon after her, yet he couldn't help but look forward to their fight. He was a swordsman too, after all, he couldn't help but wonder how strong Konan was...

Meanwhile, Ko was trying to detach herself from her clingy brother, when she suppressed a shiver, a vague feeling of danger looming over her. Ace was still sleeping but Luffy was hungry so they came back to the cafeteria.

"Ko!" an energic voice called out to her as Robin came into view, sweating and a few bruises on her exposed skin, she had been training. "You're back!" She stopped a few feet away, looking curiously at the small boy glued to her savior before gawking at the exposed face of Ko, she had never seen her without her trademark silver mask.

"That's Luffy," Ko introduced the koala attached to her leg, "my brother."

Robin looked at Ko and Luffy a few times, trying to find her words, they looked nothing alike. Finally, she bent down to his eye level and with a warm smile, she introduced herself, kindly, afraid to scare off the tiny animal. She had to get on his good sides.

"Glad to meet you Luffy, I'm Robin."

Luffy slowly detached himself to look at her warm smile before he grinned himself, "Nice to meet ya too!" he offered a handshake which she gladly took. "Wanna be my crewmate?"

Robin stilled, caught off guard by the question. While Ko started seriously gauging Robin.

"I'm going to be the Pirate King!" He brightly announced for all to hear.

Dragon stared with mixed feelings at his son, clearly guessing the anger and frustration from Garp—one was leading the Revolution against the government while the other wanted to become the number one enemy of the Marine. Truly a golden trio. Not that they could ever beat the person who successfully made a place for herself in all three places—he glanced at a silent Ko.

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A majority voted for 'Masked Truth', so R.I.P. 'F News'...

And honorable mention to ZestEmeth for the idea "Paper Justice" I really liked it, might keep that idea in the back of my mind for something else, who knows. ;)

PS : I was happy to see usually silent readers manifest to help me choose names (人 •͈ᴗ•͈) Thank you everyone!