The next day we were in front of Archbishop Méndez to receive the seal of sainthood on the document that will release Arthur.
After yesterday's battle, I took Gerald, tied him up, gagged him, and handed him over to the guards, along with all the evidence pointing to him as the leader of the thieves' guild. We also handed over the woman he was with when she was captured by Trini and Sulli. We also handed over the three men who were tortured, and I mean, treated very humanely by us.
By morning, things were a bit chaotic. The guild members were very restless and disorganized, so it was easy to catch some of them. With that, we learned where their base was, and they were robbed. The good thing about that was that we managed to recover 60,000 beri of ours; the rest of the money had already been used or simply vanished.
Returning to the present, after the archbishop thanked us, he gave us the stamp. And with that, we had four of the five stamps. Only the Pope's was missing, which is in the kingdom's capital, the center of the country.
Without wasting time, we headed to the capital. With our ticket, we would arrive at night, and with the money returned, there would be no problem finding a place to stay.
There were no problems along the way, so we quickly reached the capital. Once in the city, we decided to go directly to the Pope's residence. But upon arrival, only his secretary greeted us, saying he was unavailable as he was preparing for a mass, which he holds every week, and that this one, carefully, is tomorrow. So we returned empty-handed, although with an invitation for this one.
Trini: "We're not going to those brainwashing centers, are we?" she said as she sat down on the couch. She had already arrived at the cabin where we were staying, now with single rooms.
Dante: "I think we'll have to go. I don't want to harbor ill will toward any of them now that we're so close to finishing this." I'm not very religious, but this is the place where I was raised for the second time, a place where believing in yourself as a god was a daily occurrence.
Sulli: "It'll only be once, and it won't be all day, so it should be quick."
Trini: "But I don't want to get up at 8 in the morning."
Dante: "Get up at 9 then, mass is at 9:30."
Trini: "I won't have time to clean up, change, put on makeup, of ... ." That's when I stopped listening to her. That's Trini's thing. When she gets like this, it's best to ignore her, and if she gets violent, lock yourself in your room or the bathroom, the nearest thing.
*The next day*
Wearing somewhat formal clothes, we didn't move to the place where the mass would be held, an incredibly gigantic cathedral. But knowing that more than 80% of the city were followers of the church, it was normal that they would need such a large place. The other 20% were nobles or people who didn't follow the faith, such as the members of the now incomplete thieves' guild.
Once inside, a nun greeted us and guided us to a place that could be described as a church suite, with fairly comfortable seats and a view from which you could see almost the entire place.
Trini: "I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment with these seats."
Dante: "There are two of us."
Sulli: "Three."
After waiting a while, some of the conclaves began to arrive, and from far behind, a hooded figure emerged. It wasn't clear, but I can infer it might be the Pope. Once the figure was in front of everyone, he began to speak.
???: "Thank the Lord."
Everyone: "Thank the Lord," his followers shouted.
???: "Brothers and sisters, I come to offer my deepest condolences for the people who were punished by the hand of God." I don't like what he says very much, "God's punishment." "But don't feel sorry for them, for the Lord is a kind being. Right now they should be in paradise, defending the gates of heaven from demons."
At that moment, he took off his hood. I was expecting someone old. He had blue hair, black eyes, and was about 6'11". He looked like he was in his twenties, going on thirties.
???: "So all my friends, families, loved ones, can rest assured, they're fine," he spread his arms out to the sides, "since God told me they are," and at that moment he began to levitate upwards. "I AM THE MESSENGER OF GOD. I SPEAK THE WORDS OF THE LORD. HIS WORDS ARE LAW, THEREFORE MINE ARE LAW TOO."
I was in shock. If I remember correctly, Shiki was imprisoned in Impel Down by Sengoku and Garp not long ago. Maybe he has God's will, but I immediately eliminated those thoughts.
Dante: "It must be a Devil Fruit, but what could it be?"
Sulli: "One that can do that and isn't Shiki's norm must be complicated."
Trini: "I have an idea, but I have no idea if it exists."
Dante: "Which one?"
Trini: "The one that allows you to fly? If it isn't that one, then it's a telepath or something." I hadn't taken the first thing he said seriously, but the second one did.
I remember seeing something like that before. I checked the Devil Fruits in the system store, and they were all listed, both consumed and unconsumed, and I landed on one in particular. The Telekinesis Fruit, status: consumed.
The rest of the mass was pure nonsense from the Pope. Once it was over, we returned to the Pope's headquarters to meet with him. This time, he received us, still in his ceremonial robes, reading and signing some papers.
???: "I see you've finally arrived." He stood up and approached us to extend his hand. "I'm the Pope of the Church, Johnny Blade. Nice to meet you." I greeted him.
Dante: "Nice to meet you."
Johnny: "I hope you enjoyed the Mass," he said with a smile.
Trini: "Or maybe you enjoyed it a lot." He was slightly sarcastic. He mentioned that he slept through most of the Mass.
Johnny: "I see you don't like it either."
Dante: "That's not what Your Holiness believes." He didn't let me finish.
Johnny: "Oh, don't worry, I understand. I don't like it either. I only do it so that we don't lose faith and everything that I and my ancestors have created doesn't collapse." After that, he sat down and indicated that we should sit down. "So tell me, how is Gaia?"
Dante: "Gaia?"
Sulli: "The archbishop of the last city we visited," he reminded me.
Dante: "She's fine. Why do you ask? I thought you'd know how her people are."
Johnny: "Believe it or not, she's my sister. My real name is Johnny Méndez. When I became a father, I had to change my last name to that of my first father, which was Blade. It's a tradition. And, regarding your question, she's not very communicative about her health. In other words, she barely tells me anything."
Now I understand why she might have given him that mission. She must have a certain level of trust, given that they're brothers. We talked for a while until the most important thing came.
Johnny: "The seal, if you pass me the document." I handed him the paper with a little hesitation. I watched as he took out the seal and stamped it. That's all five seals.
Dante: "May I ask why you didn't ask us for anything?" I asked as I received the paper.
Johnny: "Why should I ask you for anything? Even if I know your identity and if you were a nobody, I wouldn't ask you for anything. If I needed something or had a problem, I still have both hands and feet to solve it. I don't need anything from anyone. I'm not going to ask someone to solve my problems or do my job."
I like this guy. He's very sensible, and with this, we can release Arthur.
Dante: "Thank you very much. With this, we say goodbye, and have a nice day."
Johnny: "Likewise," he said, waving us off as he turned to look at the documents on his desk.
*A few hours later*
I didn't sense a shred of malice on her part, and Trini didn't sense anything either. So either she was very good at hiding her intentions or she was a good person. I'd like to think it's the former, but I still remember what Gerald said.
So I asked Trini and Sulli to go free Arthur and bring him back to the capital. I'd stay and investigate a bit. If the journalists weren't attacked by the Thieves' Guild, there are only two options left: the Church or the country's nobility, and neither option is good.
From what I understand, this kingdom has a king, along with a royal family and all that, but the one who has real power among the people is the Church, especially since they have the country's military might.
And if we ever get into a conflict, I don't know what kind of power we'll be up against. All I know is that Johnny, the current Pope, has a Devil Fruit. If anyone else has one, I'll have no idea. It's also worth noting that they might have haki, something we're not well-versed in using.
At that moment, I saw a carriage heading toward one of the few churches in the city. The carriage looked very real, almost royal. So I decided to follow it secretly.
Once they stopped, I saw a young woman get out. She looked about 13 or 14 years old, with brown hair and light blue eyes, wearing a noble lady's dress, and about 1.63 meters tall.
Once inside, I hid and silently followed her movements. I saw her talking and laughing with an equally young nun, about 2 or 3 years older than her. After a long conversation and some numb feet from the position I was in, we moved again.
We arrived at another chapel, where the lady entered alone, unaccompanied. My curiosity was killing me, so I entered through a window on the roof. There she was, alone, praying. I saw that she was praying very hard, as if she wanted whatever she was praying to be fulfilled.
I decided to approach her, keeping a safe distance and began to speak.
Dante: "If you pray so intensely, maybe even the demons can hear you," I said jokingly, since they also believe in demons, based on what I heard at Mass.
She was startled, stopped praying, stood up, and looked at me.
???: "Who are you?" Her voice sounded timid and a little scared.
Dante: "I'm Dante, a hobby hero." I hope my identity as a hero will calm her down a little. I saw her eyes light up.
???: "Are you the hero everyone's been talking about?"
Dante: "Maybe, miss."
???: "Excuse me, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Isis Pentecostal, daughter of the current king of the kingdom of Welliston." So she's a princess. I couldn't finish my thoughts when she approached me. "Could you save me?"
Dante: "Save you from what?" This gave me a bad feeling.
Isis: "From my future marriage." I saw how she was about to fall apart.
Dante: "Why would I have to?"
Isis: "Because my future husband is a bad man."
Dante: "Can you tell me who he is?"
Isis: "He is..." I was hesitating to speak. "A celestial dragon." And that was why I had a bad feeling.
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I realized that I have so many chapters left because I write very little, but honestly I don't have much time to write more than 2500 words, maybe I'll try to increase the amount, but as I said, I'll try, it's not a certainty