[One Piece Short Story Collection] Species Invade the New World

This story isn't about power levels! Ancient beings who use magic invade a low-magic OP world, and their combat strengths aren't even on the same scale, so this is purely a sweet romance. Romance takes up more space than the plot, so I should make that clear in advance!

The heroines are all sorts of wondrous long-lived beings from other worlds, hundreds or thousands of years old, such as dragons, elves, demon kings, and snow women. The heroes are Marco, Shanks, and Ace. The other short stories feature Beckman and Sanji. Each is a quick, one-shot read.

This sounds like it'll be so satisfying. If you're okay with that, open wide and enjoy the feast!!!

[First World: The Hero and the Demon King's Castle of the Departed] Hehe, inspired by watching Frieren.

Part 1: Can a phoenix and an elf be pen pals?

The elven top mage and backbone of the Savior Hero's party, Ariella, meets Marco.

Born with the name "Eye of the Stars" bestowed upon her by an oracle, the elf Ariella is, according to prophecy, a miracle capable of ending the Demon King's rule of tens of thousands of years.

She has a pen pal she's been writing to for three thousand years.

Year after year, month after month, day after day, night after night, without fail.

"He's clearly human, but says he's a phoenix... Is that some sort of interesting custom or belief where he's from?" Ariella thought with a smile, completely unaware that he was making a similar guess about her.

"An elf? She must be a Devil Fruit user living in seclusion, working on some grand fantasy novel." Marco, who got to read several chapters every day about "magic," "monsters," and the "Demon King's army," thought that she was artistically transforming the troubles of her real life.

An uncanny thoughtfulness kept them from exposing each other's stories. Instead, they indulged each other and played along, calling one another Miss Elf and Mr. Phoenix.

Time flowed at different rates in their two worlds. The difference between three thousand years and thirty years was considerable, but the proportion was the same. They had truly accompanied each other through incredibly long stretches of time.

Whether in the middle of studying magic or amid the ruins just after a battle with monsters, whenever Ariella received a letter, she would find a quiet corner at once and read every word slowly, line by line. It had become a habit she couldn't give up.

The elders of her people were always warning her not to form deep bonds with short-lived races. But the young elf looked at the mountain of letters piled up in her treehouse and stubbornly shook her head.

She thought that one day, when she'd mastered spatial magic to its utmost limits, she would go and meet Mr. Phoenix.

But then came the Summit War, the battle at the Demon King's castle... The shadows of both worlds descended almost simultaneously. The battle between the pirate crew and the full force of Marine Headquarters was sure to be a fight to the death, while the Demon King's darkness might kill the immortal elf.

They both sensed that this might be their last letter, and left behind their final words in time.

At last, the Demon King's castle collapsed. The human hero burned up his soul and life to die alongside the Demon King. The hero's party pushed past their limits again and again, paying a terrible price, but they won. Amid the devastation, Ariella read the wish that had crossed the boundaries of time and space.

"We're about to fight a tough battle. I hope I can bring my brother back. Ariella, if... if there really are miracles in this world, I hope one happens today."

A miracle...

The elf who had mastered spatial magic and was herself called a "miracle" raised her staff, unable to hide her worry.

"You wanted a miracle, didn't you, Marco?" She softly chanted a spell. A vast, intricate magic circle blotted out the sky, connecting the worlds. "...All right."

Please don't die, Mr. Phoenix.

A few minutes later, a silver-haired, silver-eyed elf stood at Marineford, staring in shock at Marco in his phoenix form. He stared back, bewildered by her pointed ears and the magic circle.

The two extraordinary beings, pen pals meeting for the first time, looked at each other. Their thoughts were nearly in sync:

"Ah... so... you really meant it?!"

Part 2: Huh? You mean my big sister is the Demon King who'll destroy the world?

The leader of the Demon King's army, the greatest villain bent on destroying the world, the Demon King Ilia Lan, meets Ace.

After twenty-five years of serialization and an epic spanning thousands of years, The Age of Elves, a fantasy novel about the elven mage Ariella, delivered by the Moby Dick to the World Economy News Paper, reached its grand finale after the miraculous arrival at the Summit War.

...So the "Eye of the Stars" really exists...

Good grief, so it wasn't a fantasy novel, but nonfiction...

Ace, who'd grown up listening to The Age of Elves, stared in shock at the very real, very large elf as she told him about the battle at the Demon King's castle.

Those monsters... had no feelings, only the instinct to survive... born for no apparent reason... rejected by the world...

None of them had a choice. They couldn't choose the circumstances they were born into or the original sin they were saddled with.

The boy, whom his brothers called a "villain fanatic" because he empathized with them, abruptly looked up. "Then... what about the Demon King? Born as an embodiment of evil, born to be hunted by every living thing... Do you think she might feel that living like this is pointless?"

He wanted to know what the Demon King looked like before she died: a master of every kind of magic, terrifyingly able to freeze time, the world's strongest being, a villainous boss so overpowered that every appearance filled you with despair.

Ariella stared at Ace, sensing the dark aura emanating from him, the kind that made elves feel sick.

This human... he...

Ace received a moving image from Miss Elf and stared in shock at the pale, lazy, weary Demon King onscreen, not understanding why her face looked so familiar.

Her... Isn't that Ilia Lan?!

Wasn't she the one who called herself a "Shadow Devil Fruit user," who'd grown up by his side, combing his hair with her fingers, letting him lie across her lap and patiently telling him bedtime stories... his most important... big sister?!!

After Ace repeated her name again and again, making her head ache, Ilia Lan, or rather, the Demon King, finally appeared slowly from the shadow beneath his feet.

Heh. So now you're willing to call for me? What happened to the stubborn idiot who wouldn't even ask for help at Marineford?

Tch. Honestly... I just can't win against him.

Everyone aboard the Moby Dick fell silent. The legendary Demon King yawned and lazily flicked Ace on the forehead. "What is it now, kid? You're so noisy. Didn't we already get our happy ending?"

"...So it really is you. Are you playing house? Toying with human emotions? How despicable." Ariella sneered and stepped in front of Marco, raising her staff. "You used time-reversal magic on him, and even added an effect to remove pain? Were you afraid he'd feel pain before he died? Did you want him to keep all his memories when he was reborn at some crucial point?"

"How considerate of you, Your Majesty the Demon King."

Ace listened in a daze as Ilia Lan's expression visibly chilled. The tenderness she showed only to one foolish little Fire Fist vanished completely, replaced by unmasked menace and bloodlust. "Do I have to explain myself to you, Elf?"

Ace, about to witness a second Demon King's castle showdown, live: "...Wait, you, Ilia Lan! Hold on!!"

So... she really is... the Demon King?! And that rebirth magic just now, what was that?!

Part 3: The Blasphemer Plucked the Moon Down with His Own Hands

Celestia, the blind elven oracle, the most treasured being of the elves, meets Shanks.

The Oracle, who could see the future and guide her people, could never see her own fate, or the fate of Shanks from another world.

Unable to see, Sera was bewildered when Shanks took her hand and helped her steady herself. She carefully felt the calluses on the man's hands from wielding a sword.

Why? This was the first time she couldn't see anything at all... How strange. Who was this human?

Shanks took it in stride when the beautiful elf maiden touched and examined him the very first time they met. He watched her pointed ears twitch slightly now and then as she concentrated, and thought she looked rather cute.

What a spacey elf. She was way too easy to fool.

It was only after seeing the might of her star magic that he learned this was the all-knowing sage from The Age of Elves, a terrifying being who'd lived for tens of thousands of years and was practically a god.

But humans are curious creatures. Their first impressions often last a very long time, and later labels can never completely overwrite them.

Stripped of all those awe-inspiring titles, Sera was just an innocent, sheltered, easygoing, beautiful elf in Shanks's eyes.

He swore that at first, he really only wanted to be her friend and keep bad people with ulterior motives away from her. Really.

...But later, ahem, he became the "bad guy" who wanted to blaspheme against a god.

As her only and best friend, Shanks earnestly taught her.

"Friends can hug." She hugged him.

"Friends can hold hands." She held his hand.

"Friends can kiss."... She kissed him.

"Friends can also..." Yes, that's right, she did that too.

Sera learned everything earnestly and did it all without reservation.

For an elf accustomed to knowing everything and being all-powerful, the unknown was the most fascinating thing in the world. Shanks was the only "blank" in her view. She couldn't see him, calculate anything about him, or predict his future. So she was forever curious about him, forever looking forward to seeing him, forever delighted.

She never resisted. She did whatever he asked, and would even tilt her head up slightly, the markings beneath her eyelids glimmering, silently asking, "Best friend, what should we do next?"

Who could resist an invitation like that? Shanks certainly couldn't. He was honestly thrilled by it.

In the name of friendship, they did every intimate thing imaginable. Even when the elven elders and her favorite student Ariella tried to stop them through gritted teeth, Sera remained unfazed.

With the bright moon in his arms, the elf honestly told her best friend, "It's okay. I like it when Shanks does that."

Aaaaaah, Lady Oracle! Please come to your senses! He backed off so you'd make the first move! Friends don't go all the way to bed together!!!

After she took the initiative and kissed him, Shanks gave an innocent smile to the pointed ears glaring at him. "See? She did it willingly."

Sera nodded and calmly agreed. "Mm. I did it willingly."

Ariella: "..."

The elves: "..."

The elves had never seen a human so cunning and despicable. They were about to lose their minds.

[Second World: The Odd Ones]

Part 1: Can a phoenix and a dragon be pen pals?

The wood dragon Trist, who was frigid before meeting him and became a carnivore afterward, meets Marco.

Marco later wondered countless times how he had ended up in this situation, step by step.

At first, they really were just pen pals: a scale that suddenly appeared, a woman who called herself a "dragon." She drew her dragon's lair and her dragon friends, while he drew his home, the Moby Dick. She sent him glowing leaves, and he sent her tasty fruits he'd collected. When they couldn't understand each other's language, they used clumsy doodles. Later, they started using broken common speech. She learned quickly, going from jumbled short sentences to fluent long letters in only a few exchanges.

They shared the details of their daily lives across time and space, without any pressure.

Later, they started chatting using Tone Dials and phonograph stones. She taught him dragon language, and he taught her common speech. Her pronunciation always had a strange accent. Through a phonograph stone, Marco heard Trist say his name for the first time.

"Mar-co."

Her voice was slow, with drawn-out syllables and rising notes at the end, a little rhotic, with an unusual rhythm.

He held the stone to his ear and listened to it countless times. Only belatedly did he realize he was grinning like an idiot. Sachi asked him what it was. He said it was a friend. Sachi grinned meaningfully and asked when he was going to introduce his "friend" to everyone. He pretended not to notice.

To be honest, Marco didn't know what his pen pal looked like. He only knew she was a dragon, could use magic, and was currently studying spatial magic. She'd told him with a smile that when they met, she'd make sure Mr. Phoenix got a good look at her dragon form.

That night came without warning.

An ambush, betrayal, death, blood. Sachi lay in a pool of blood, his heart stopped. Marco knelt there, pressing down on his brother's chest in a mechanical rhythm. Tears fell, landing on Sachi's face and mixing with the blood.

And then... the dragon really did arrive.

She emerged from the pale moonlight. Dark green hair, jade-colored slit pupils, taller than he'd imagined, even more... Through his tears, he looked at her, still mechanically pressing on Sachi's chest.

Then she placed her hand over his.

"Marco... that's enough. Don't be afraid. Leave it to me."

Trist's hand was warm, her grip steady. Magic capable of creating miracles poured forth, and Sachi's heartbeat returned. She wiped the blood and tears from Marco's face, from his forehead to his cheeks, from his nose to his chin.

"It's all right now." Finally, she gently brushed the back of her hand against his face. Her soothing voice was very, very soft. "Look, he's alive again. It's all right now, Marco."

Marco opened his mouth, but couldn't make a sound.

At that moment, there was only one thought in his mind: She came. She really came.

He should have realized something was wrong.

The way Trist looked at him, that overly focused, lingering gaze, the undisguised pain and tenderness... But he told himself it was a difference between species. Dragons expressed themselves differently from humans. It was normal.

Their long embraces, hand-holding under various pretexts, the pineapple she fed him with her own hands, and the book she never let out of her hands, supposedly written by a friend of hers and about humans.

Humans. She really did need to learn about them, since this was her first time in this world. Marco kept telling himself that.

Moonlight shone through the collapsed roof. She pinned him down in the ruins, lowered her head and took him into her mouth. After he couldn't take any more and embarrassingly gave in, the phoenix's mind went blank, and he received a kiss.

He tasted himself.

"Is it because you like eating pineapple?" the woman who'd devoured him again and again teased, pressing her lips against his again and again. "...Marco, you're sweet."

Something exploded in Marco's brain. "Y-you learned that... where...?"

That book... those things about "humans," all that history and culture... It was about the weak points of human men!

How long had she been studying it? When had she started? Was that why she'd taken notes while watching him? Was it all for this moment?!

The insatiable dragon admitted it without hesitation. "Mm, I wanted to learn more."

Learn about what?

About him.

From the moment she met him, Trist, who had for the first time learned the feeling of falling for someone, wiped away her beloved's tears and realized that she wanted to be the one who could wipe away every tear he shed for the rest of his life.

As she devoured him completely once again, Marco finally remembered.

He'd never been dealing with a steady, gentle pen pal from another world.

He'd gotten involved with a dragon.

A dragon who'd lived for who knew how many years, wielded immense power, and was so devoted and patient that she knew how to make sure the partner she'd chosen only had eyes for her...

Damn it, how had he forgotten that?

Part 2: The Shapeshifter and the Playboy

The fun-loving, carnivorous shapeshifter Esilia meets Beckman.

Esilia was a shapeshifter.

Shapeshifters had no fixed form. They could look like anything or be any species. Her people used this ability to disguise themselves, steal, and infiltrate. She was the best at it among them. But she had no interest in any of that. What was fun about stealing information? She'd rather find something entertaining.

She loved interesting people and things most of all.

So, following the coordinates her friend Trist had left behind, the shapeshifter, regarded as an odd one among her people, tore open a rift in space and came to this world.

She'd heard there were things called Devil Fruits here, and eating one turned you into a terrible swimmer. They tasted awful, but just how awful? It sounded so interesting. She was terribly curious.

At a tavern on some island, two pirate crews were having a noisy get-together. Esilia sat in a corner, watching the lovestruck wood dragon cling to her partner with a smile, and thought it was almost too embarrassing to watch.

Then she noticed a human.

A red-haired first mate, with silver-gray hair, a scar on his face, and a cigarette in his mouth. Her gaze instinctively drifted downward. Trist, who was always bragging about how delicious and nice her partner's waist was to touch, had influenced her. All she could think about was waists, waists, waists. She had to admit, this man looked pretty sturdy.

The man named Beckman noticed her staring almost immediately.

Realizing that in this world, that counted as a certain kind of unspoken invitation between adults, Esilia nonchalantly looked away.

A little later, the man walked over.

"Anyone sitting here?"

"...No."

Beckman sat down and smiled as he ordered her a drink. "Getting bored? They can get a little rowdy when they start arguing."

Unexpectedly gentlemanly, and good at reading the room. Esilia thought lazily as they chatted about nothing in particular until late into the night, talking their way from their seats to the bed.

They slept together.

It was just a casual fling. Neither of them thought anything of it. Leaning against her friend, she lazily remarked, "Not bad, but too hasty. A common short-lived-race problem."

Aboard the pirate ship across from them, Beckman heard every word. He raised an eyebrow and remembered this rather novel review.

A little over half a month later, in a tavern on another island, she saw him again, this time wearing a different face. Same opening line, same question. Did this guy use the same lines on every woman? What a clichéd human.

They slept together again.

The next morning, as he held her in his arms, he suddenly asked, "What score do I get this time?"

Esilia was stunned that a human with no magic had recognized her.

His answer had completely piqued her curiosity. So there was a third time, a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth. He recognized her every time, and it took less and less time.

Why? Unable to figure it out, Esilia didn't want to leave.

"Want to keep playing, Miss Long-Lived?"

"Sure," she said with a grin at Beckman. "It's rare to meet such an interesting human. Why wouldn't I?"

Part 3: The Snow Woman and the Fire Fist Kid

The warmhearted, innocent, happy puppy, the snow woman Greishil, meets Ace.

Greishil was the youngest genius of the snow women.

Her world was full of snow and ice, white and quiet, so cold that even time seemed frozen. Her people were taciturn. They each guarded their own territory, never approaching one another or speaking to one another.

The little girl loved to laugh and talk, and had been different from the others since childhood. They thought she was too noisy and didn't fit in. So she had no friends.

After watching the aurora alone for 137 years, Greishil finally met Trist.

The dragon from the Dragon Realm was as gentle as a spring breeze. She crouched on the ice and asked curiously, "What are you doing?"

Greishil raised her head and stared into those slit pupils that didn't belong to this world. She immediately broke into a smile. From that day on, she had her first friend.

Later, Trist told her she'd found a partner and was settling down in a low-magic world, and invited her to visit. The ship was called the Moby Dick, and everyone aboard was friendly and warm, so different from her people.

They didn't speak the same language, but smiles were universal. The cheerful snow woman soon made lots of friends.

Trist's partner had a troublesome little brother named Ace.

She fell from the sky and knocked away the fish Ace had just grilled. Confused, she apologized softly in the language of the snow women, saying, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Please don't be mad. I can make it up to you."

He couldn't understand her, but could probably tell what she was saying from her expression. Ace paused, his anger fading, then helplessly grilled more fish. She ate ten in one sitting.

The look in the Fire Fist's eyes went from "Is this girl here to cause trouble?" to "Was this girl born starving?"

Ace, who was fire itself, was so, so warm. Greishil crouched beside him and gave him an ice sculpture of himself grilling a fish, then smiled and said, "I like you."

That was the phrase she'd learned most fluently.

Huh? Why? Ace's face and ears turned red. Was he about to set himself on fire?

They traveled to many places together, ice and fire constantly clashing. Greishil didn't understand all the twists and turns of human relationships. If she liked him, she said so. If she wanted to get closer, she did. If she wanted to hold his hand, she did. Her affection was pure, clear as ice.

Ace blushed from head to toe because of her, but never backed away.

"She doesn't know anything." He buried his face in her snow-white hair and heard himself sigh. "But I do."

He knew what it meant to have his heartbeat falter like that, to cross the line with his actions, and what such a long hug meant in the human world. He saw it all clearly.

Part 4: The Mermaid and the Redhead

As a princess of the merfolk, Alulu could do anything: fight, spin thread, play the harp, and smack away everything with her tail. The one thing she couldn't do was sing.

She accidentally wandered into a time-space vortex while going to visit a friend in a low-magic world, and landed in East Blue more than twenty years in the past.

The mermaid sat on a reef, playing her harp to calm the vortex. She was as beautiful as a legend, but when she opened her mouth, her off-key singing struck the entire Red Hair Pirates like lightning. Musician Binji covered his ears and cried out in despair, "This can't be real. I must be having a nightmare...!"

Shanks stood at the bow, listening to the whole song in a daze. He laughed until he cried and nearly fell overboard.

He had the ship pull alongside because he really wanted to meet this tone-deaf mermaid. "My name's Shanks. What's yours?"

"...Alulu."

Shanks was probably the first person to think she sang beautifully.

Or maybe he just thought she looked beautiful when she sang. Her tail swished back and forth, her brows were tightly furrowed, and she sang so earnestly, so wholeheartedly.

"Alulu, sing us another one!" The young red-haired captain called for an encore, despite his crewmates' expressions of utter horror and inability to watch.

Alulu: "..."

She glared at him, her tail swishing rapidly. She decided to smack the kid once, then go find her friend.

That was how they met.

Alulu made a human friend with a strange sense of humor and went on adventures with him for an entire year before leaving with Trist's magic.

The laws of time and space erased every trace. Shanks forgot her, only vaguely remembering that he seemed to be looking for something: a mermaid who hurt when she smacked people with her tail, and sang unbelievably badly. He couldn't explain the details, but searched for many years.

When he met Alulu again and she jumped up to smack him with her tail, Shanks immediately realized that she was the person he'd been looking for: the mermaid.

She said he had a low threshold for laughter, and he said she was cute. They bickered and refused to admit they were falling for each other first. In the end, the mermaid princess couldn't take it anymore. Looking at her reflection and her bright red face, she finally said, "You're so damn screwed. You've fallen in love."

She spoke through gritted teeth, her tail swishing with a loud slap. She looked so, so cute. Shanks, who had meant to pretend he hadn't heard, couldn't help smiling.

He was a man who'd weathered countless storms, not some green boy. He knew when to play dumb and give them both some room. In her current state, standing there and cursing at herself over the sea, she clearly needed some time to process it.

But he really couldn't help himself. Smiling, he picked up the conversation. "Hm? Who? You?"

Alulu was stunned that someone was eavesdropping in the middle of the night. Her expression was so funny, so funny.

"I think I heard someone say..."

"No, you didn't."

"Someone said..."

"No!"

"They said..."

"Aaaaaah, shut the hell up!!"

Dodging the powerful tail swipe meant to make him forget everything, Shanks laughed until he cried again.

What an idiot.

She'd spent all day thinking about it, just for this?

...Wasn't it obvious?

[Third World: She's a Dragon]

Part 1: Can a redhead and a little fire dragon be pen pals?

Part 2: Ace has a dragon too!

Theme: Beings from other worlds arrive!!!