"Marshal Bennidict, thank you for waiting."
The door was slowly pushed open, and Toki entered with a plate of fruit.
Seeing Bennidict sitting in the courtyard, she walked forward with a smile.
"Thank you, Madam Toki."
Upon hearing this, Bennidict raised his hand, used Universal Pull to grab an apple, and smiled, "Now, may I hear about the story from eight hundred years ago?"
Toki sat opposite Bennidict, smiling and saying, "This is our promise."
"Speaking of which, the world of the past... it's rather nostalgic now."
"It's a pity that under the rule of the World Government, the current world has become dilapidated, and historical civilization has regressed by hundreds of years."
"Marshal Bennidict, please be careful when dealing with the World Government."
"The World Government possesses the weaponry of past civilizations."
...
The world eight hundred years ago.
It was a world where human civilization rapidly developed and reached the level of modern Earth civilization.
Even more so, the technological power displayed there surpassed that of modern civilization.
The Great Kingdom, the D clan.
The relationship between the two could perhaps be said to be that the D clan were the rulers at that time.
The D clan were not the Monkey family, nor the Marshall family, nor the Gol family, and so on.
The D clan were the rulers of the Great Kingdom, possessing the name 'D', and this 'D' had been imbued with a certain spiritual civilization and will.
The rulers at that time bestowed the name 'D' upon families loyal to them.
These families included humans, giants, and Minkmen, among others.
This also shows that the Great Kingdom of that era was a nation that embraced all races.
And the historical and technological civilization that the Great Kingdom possessed further indicated its power at the time.
The Golden City on Skypiea was one of the important spiritual civilizations of the Great Kingdom.
There were other ancient historical civilizations on the Grand Line, which were also important cities of the Great Kingdom.
They were spread across the four seas and the New World.
From this, one could also understand how vast the Great Kingdom of that era was.
However, with the invasion of external forces and internal rebellions, the Great Kingdom, possessing advanced civilization, was eventually dismantled when faced with a civilization of equal footing.
Those who continued the name 'D' also carried on its will.
From that time on, civilization in this world, under the conspiracy of the World Government, rapidly regressed to the backward age of old civilization, and the advanced civilization of the past was almost destroyed.
This world was torn apart, with local regimes established, and conflicts were inevitable due to disputes over interests.
Pirates also began to appear on the seas from that time onwards, becoming the primary force plaguing this world.
And the World Government was the one that guided the emergence of pirates.
As pirates appeared and grew stronger, causing harm to the people, the people would then require saviors.
At this time, the World Government and the Celestial Dragons naturally became the saviors, naturally demanding protection fees, and naturally interfering with local regimes.
Naturally, those who inherited the will of 'D' would not continue to hide and fear to come out and fight the World Government for freedom, dreams, and peace.
It's just that each person with the will of 'D' had different methods.
Even over time, some members of the D clan had forgotten their historical mission.
"Is Im someone from above?" Bennidict looked up at the sky, recalling what Toki had just said about external forces coming from the sky, and said.
"Perhaps. This is all I know, and what I saw with my own eyes," Toki said, trying hard to recall, "They descended from the sky, piloting flying ships."
"Our town, in the face of their power, even with many strong individuals who were no less powerful than Admirals, only held on for half a day before being all killed."
"Of course, they also paid a heavy price for it."
Bennidict fell into a brief silence.
Could this Im truly be from an extraterrestrial civilization?
For a moment, Bennidict thought of the Moon again.
There were records of it on Skypiea.
On some Poneglyphs, there were also records of lunar civilization.
Unfortunately, although Toki had traveled from 800 years ago, she had left just as the Great Kingdom was about to be destroyed.
Therefore, she was not privy to the history after the destruction of the Great Kingdom.
Moreover, she did not know the specific details of the battle at that time.
However, if she had known, she probably wouldn't have had the chance to travel through time.
After all, according to the information on the Poneglyphs, this world was originally a vast continent, with land area exceeding seventy percent.
But what about now?
Compared to the sea, the planet's land area is less than forty percent.
And in many places, there are near-permanent changes caused by traces of man-made combat.
There are also numerous fragmented islands, which, even after hundreds of years of change, still feel unnatural.
"How much do you know about the strong individuals of that era?"
Bennidict immediately thought of Buggy and his Devil Fruit ability.
It was once speculated that the Great Kingdom had a King and three Great Generals.
Among these three Great Generals, one wielded the power of the Chop-Chop Fruit and was immensely terrifying.
The reason why the originally vast islands were now fragmented and scattered across the world was due to this General's battle with Im.
Therefore, Bennidict was incredibly curious about how many formidable fighters there were in the Great Kingdom of that era.
After all, Devil Fruits existed at that time, and they should have been developed even more thoroughly.
"Too many!"
"If you ask who was stronger, it would undoubtedly be the King."
"Below the King, there were noble families, and within those families were many experts. I cannot name them."
"But I can tell you a secret."
Toki smiled and said, "Do you know what Devil Fruits were created for?"
"Feel free to make a bold guess."
Bennidict pondered for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "To build technological civilization?"
Toki's eyes widened slightly as she looked at Bennidict, exclaiming, "Marshal Bennidict, you are truly astonishing."
"You are correct. Devil Fruit abilities vary, and their effects differ accordingly."
"Under the rule of the kingdom at that time, Devil Fruit abilities were more extensively used in the construction of technological civilization, making it faster and more convenient."
"As various problems arose, the abilities of Devil Fruit users were also developed and applied through bold imagination and conjecture, leading to even greater power."
"Therefore, some awakened Devil Fruit users, you have no idea how strong they are, because there were no wars to test their combat power."
"The limited tests that did occur were mostly kept secret."
"I don't remember."