Post by Duke Satan on Oct 19, 2019 1:37:24 GMT -8
A rather cramped boat was speeding through the illustrious oceans of the South. Small, rocky islands passed by in the horizon, birds foolishly tried to keep up with the speedboat before realizing that it was utterly pointless, and the scorching tropical sun was shining above. Usually, this type of boat is used for sports competitions or travelling across the sea for leisure - however, as the Duke has been made aware, its owner, a speed boat racing superstar, has gotten into serious debt recently and was thus trying to pay it off by carrying passengers across the islands. This is what happens, kids, when you overestimate your abilities and try to challenge someone who is able to use his ki to accelerate his boat to humongous speeds... and apparently, that doesn't count as cheating in these parts of the planet...
The poor racer overestimated how many people this boat would actually be able to carry, however. Therefore, it was chugging along with seven people in tow, not including the driver, who was forced to stand for this entire trip in order to make room. Four of these passengers were sitting around a small, rectangular table, somewhat awkwardly squeezed next to each other. All four of them were men.
One of them was, of course, our protagonist, Luciferius, the Duke of Satan, who seemed to be the least concerned of the entire quarter. The other three... not so much. One was a small, frail man in a lab coat, an another was clearly a construction worker, with a safety helmet and all, and the third was a fierce looking man in the costume of a military officer. Just their looks alone told a lot about what their stories might be - and, considering the Duke was almost completely naked save for shorts, slippers and sunglasses, the triple S, this applied to him as well. Still, however, after almost an hour of uncomfortable silence, the towering human chose to speak out:
"So, my friends, what brings you to travel to the Southern Islands?"
The frail man in a lab coat spoke first:
"Well... if we're going to be speaking clockwise, then I guess I'll explain myself first... I am in a mission to study the flora and fauna of several Southern Islands for a very important mission. I have been slowly crafting a scientific theory and I need to gather proof in order to present it to the scientific community."
The Duke was naturally a very curious man, and while this definitely was not his field of expertise, he chose to humor the man: "What kind of scientific theory, friend? Is it something groundbreaking, perhaps?"
The scientist pushed his glasses upwards, regaining his confidence. "Why, it sure is! You see... In my long years of study, I have began to see many patterns in the evolution of our species which leads to the likelihood that our Universe was fashioned by intelligent design. It might sound ridiculous, but bear with me - I believe that there can be a story of divine providence which can be cracked from the genetic code of all of Earth's species. If I can gather enough DNA data and figure out that the genetic code of all species analyzed has a very specific start date, then that will point towards the fact that there is a god or gods above which, in some form, are responsible for the fashioning of Earth's wildlife as well as the wildlife of many others."
"Alright, I'm completely unrelated to this loon, please don't associate me with him just because we sit on the same bench," the construction worker spoke up, seeing that it was his turn to speak. "Yeah, as you can tell, I've been hired by a construction company down south to oversee construction in one of the cities on Papaya Island - and this boat was the only method of travel I could find on the fly, so that's what I'm sitting here."
"Building what?" the Duke asked. "I've actually been interested in architecture and building something myself, this is really interesting!"
"Oh, it's nothing too out of the ordinary," the construction worker responded. "The government in Central City approved an investment package in the Southern regions last year, I heard it was because these places are turning into more and more of a swing region and thus getting their favor is necessary for the government to get reelected. So they're building parks, stadiums, and martial arts grounds too, which keep getting blown up, for obvious reasons. All those ki users blow things up willy nilly, but they never consider the fact that rebuilding all of them stuff is expensive, you know! Maybe that's why the South is getting all uppity..."
"And I'm going out there to make sure those two don't die by accident," the officer announced as soon as the construction worker finished, before the Duke could express his dismay. Instead, he looked at the man sitting next to him with confusion, speaking:
"What do you mean?"
"There's been trouble out there in the southern parts recently," the officer began to explain. "The situation is not exactly clear to me, because the info is coming slowly, but during my assignment, I was informed that the Earth Military bases were starting to turn really thin - there's some secratian violence between a few religious fanatics over how their lord and savior Son should be worshipped, a few really gruesome martial artist battles which left a lot of damage and need the military to maintain order after the fact, and I think monster sightings are turning more common there recently, too... Lots of really boring stuff which we can't do much about except maintain order and step back if the ki users turn too uppity. But hey, that's standard procedure for you."
"I see..."
The three men finally turned at the Duke. It was his turn to speak, wasn't it? He already knew his answer:
"I'm out there to see martial arts."
For some, life was a complicated web of diffoicult tasks, struggles, and intrigue. For others, it was as simple as just travelling to find and fight the greatest warriors which this planet can offer.
[1032]
The poor racer overestimated how many people this boat would actually be able to carry, however. Therefore, it was chugging along with seven people in tow, not including the driver, who was forced to stand for this entire trip in order to make room. Four of these passengers were sitting around a small, rectangular table, somewhat awkwardly squeezed next to each other. All four of them were men.
One of them was, of course, our protagonist, Luciferius, the Duke of Satan, who seemed to be the least concerned of the entire quarter. The other three... not so much. One was a small, frail man in a lab coat, an another was clearly a construction worker, with a safety helmet and all, and the third was a fierce looking man in the costume of a military officer. Just their looks alone told a lot about what their stories might be - and, considering the Duke was almost completely naked save for shorts, slippers and sunglasses, the triple S, this applied to him as well. Still, however, after almost an hour of uncomfortable silence, the towering human chose to speak out:
"So, my friends, what brings you to travel to the Southern Islands?"
The frail man in a lab coat spoke first:
"Well... if we're going to be speaking clockwise, then I guess I'll explain myself first... I am in a mission to study the flora and fauna of several Southern Islands for a very important mission. I have been slowly crafting a scientific theory and I need to gather proof in order to present it to the scientific community."
The Duke was naturally a very curious man, and while this definitely was not his field of expertise, he chose to humor the man: "What kind of scientific theory, friend? Is it something groundbreaking, perhaps?"
The scientist pushed his glasses upwards, regaining his confidence. "Why, it sure is! You see... In my long years of study, I have began to see many patterns in the evolution of our species which leads to the likelihood that our Universe was fashioned by intelligent design. It might sound ridiculous, but bear with me - I believe that there can be a story of divine providence which can be cracked from the genetic code of all of Earth's species. If I can gather enough DNA data and figure out that the genetic code of all species analyzed has a very specific start date, then that will point towards the fact that there is a god or gods above which, in some form, are responsible for the fashioning of Earth's wildlife as well as the wildlife of many others."
"Alright, I'm completely unrelated to this loon, please don't associate me with him just because we sit on the same bench," the construction worker spoke up, seeing that it was his turn to speak. "Yeah, as you can tell, I've been hired by a construction company down south to oversee construction in one of the cities on Papaya Island - and this boat was the only method of travel I could find on the fly, so that's what I'm sitting here."
"Building what?" the Duke asked. "I've actually been interested in architecture and building something myself, this is really interesting!"
"Oh, it's nothing too out of the ordinary," the construction worker responded. "The government in Central City approved an investment package in the Southern regions last year, I heard it was because these places are turning into more and more of a swing region and thus getting their favor is necessary for the government to get reelected. So they're building parks, stadiums, and martial arts grounds too, which keep getting blown up, for obvious reasons. All those ki users blow things up willy nilly, but they never consider the fact that rebuilding all of them stuff is expensive, you know! Maybe that's why the South is getting all uppity..."
"And I'm going out there to make sure those two don't die by accident," the officer announced as soon as the construction worker finished, before the Duke could express his dismay. Instead, he looked at the man sitting next to him with confusion, speaking:
"What do you mean?"
"There's been trouble out there in the southern parts recently," the officer began to explain. "The situation is not exactly clear to me, because the info is coming slowly, but during my assignment, I was informed that the Earth Military bases were starting to turn really thin - there's some secratian violence between a few religious fanatics over how their lord and savior Son should be worshipped, a few really gruesome martial artist battles which left a lot of damage and need the military to maintain order after the fact, and I think monster sightings are turning more common there recently, too... Lots of really boring stuff which we can't do much about except maintain order and step back if the ki users turn too uppity. But hey, that's standard procedure for you."
"I see..."
The three men finally turned at the Duke. It was his turn to speak, wasn't it? He already knew his answer:
"I'm out there to see martial arts."
For some, life was a complicated web of diffoicult tasks, struggles, and intrigue. For others, it was as simple as just travelling to find and fight the greatest warriors which this planet can offer.
[1032]