Chapter 156

The Straw Hats meet Mr. 2.

Okama Weather

Five days after leaving Drum Island, the stock of food is shrinking. While crossing a smoke steam made by undersea volcanoes, Luffy and Usopp find an okama dressed like a swan. After saving him from drowning, he reveals that he ate a Devil Fruit. Making a show with his ability to imitate anybody he touches, the Okama strikes up an immediate friendship with the trio of Usopp, Chopper and Luffy. However, their encounter is cut short when the Okama's crew arrives to retrieve their captain. Leaving the Merry, he makes a promise of eternal friendship but, as his men greet him, his name is revealed to be Mr. 2 Bon Kurei. Understanding that they have met with an enemy, now able to usurp their identity, the Straw Hats decide to take countermeasure.

Mission 103

With Anya now on her school holiday, she becomes indolent, lying aimlessly on the couch and refusing to assist Yor with chores. When Loid arrives home and spots her lazing around, he quickly gets her to study. The two then see the TV with news of Belle, a Nordic seal that has recently appeared in Berlint at the Eber River, and citizens have flocked to the area to get a look at her.

Before Anya can even ask to see the seal, Loid immediately shuts her down. Anya throws a tantrum, compares Belle's appearance to Bond, and says she will do her animal research project on the seal so they can go see her. Loid remains adamant against it and tries changing the channels, but is astounded that they are all covering Belle, and Yor tells him that it shows how peaceful the world is now. Agreeing with Yor and seeing that he is free from other duties, Loid relents and decides to take the family on an outing to see Belle for Anya's project.

The Forgers arrive at the Eber River, where they run into Becky, who is also there to see Belle and is accompanied by Martha and Wiesel. As Loid greets the ladies, Becky quickly squeals at the sight of him, but holds herself back from plotting to steal him away to be a "grown-up" like Martha, who reminds her to return the greeting. Seeing a newscaster nearby, Becky invites Anya to go closer to them to be on TV, but Loid turns down the offer, reasoning that Eden Academy is strict about students making media appearances while thinking about his and Anya's dubious backgrounds. Anya, reading his mind, declines Becky's offer, much to her disappointment. Time passes, but Belle never appears. Becky grows annoyed and loudly threatens to send a submarine into the river for Belle. Becky gets held back by Martha, then decides to return home.

Anya gets bored waiting for the seal and runs off to play with Bond until then, so Loid and Yor sit on the grass to rest. Loid admits to also being restless, so Yor tells him to stop worrying for a bit and relax. As they do, the couple reminisce about how they did this before, shortly after their marriage, and Yor teases Loid for always having wrinkles in his brow. The Forgers then get a moment of tranquility as Loid and Yor take in the view of the landscape while Anya and Bond play together.

Their break gets cut short when Loid spots Anya and Bond heading to the riverbank, so he follows after them with Yor. At the riverbank, Anya and Bond are surprised to find Belle, who becomes startled by their appearance. Anya tries to call Belle over but is quickly grabbed by Loid, who then notices the seal. As the family wonders why Belle is here, Anya hears her thoughts expressing fear toward humans for chasing her. Anya notes this aloud, so Loid suggests leaving her be while watching quietly.

The Forgers watch Belle play in the water and comment on her appearance. After observing that she is alone, Loid surmises that Belle got separated from her herd, so Yor points Belle in the ocean's direction. In response, Belle disappears into the water and surprises the family by emerging in front of them with a crawfish before swimming away. As Yor wonders if that was Belle's thanks to them, Loid thinks about the seal's intelligence and remembers his conversation with Sylvia about Project Apple's research teams still in operation. However, after watching Bond get his nose pinched by the crawfish, Loid believes he may be overthinking things. The Forgers head to their car to return home, and Loid and Anya talk about working on her research project as they drive off.

Act 2

Later on, Act 2 begins by showing SpongeBob in his house, having given up on his dream. He begins to dry his "hair," then he receives an insulting phone call from a "fan" of the "Birdman," namely, "Joe Momma." SpongeBob puts the hairdryer in his pants while he talks, and the dryer inflates his pants, giving him the ability to fly. He goes around helping people, earning their admiration, and becoming a local celebrity of sorts. However, the lazy citizens continue to ask increasingly unnecessary favors of him, particularly those which do not require flight, leaving him no time to fly with the jellyfish. When he tries to escape to Jellyfish Fields, the people form a mob and chase him, but are unable to catch him. However, Cannonball Jenkins blasts SpongeBob, destroying the pants and sending him plummeting to the ground. The people seem as though they are mourning SpongeBob's death, but they are really mourning the inflatable pants.

After they take his pants and leave, SpongeBob is about to go home, but suddenly, the jellyfish help him fly. They take him home as he sings an intentionally corny song about how all one needs to fly is friendship. As he says goodbye to the jellyfish, Patrick greets SpongeBob and offers him a trip to the pizza house. SpongeBob declines and leaves it up to the jellyfish for flying. Patrick then flies off as a superhero does, with his regular, uninflated pants. A confused SpongeBob wonders if Patrick just flew, only for him to doubt it because of how silly and impossible that seems. The episode ends as he looks after Patrick out of curiosity.

After the episode, Patchy attempts to play it again at Potty’s suggestion. At first he does not know where the remote is, but then it comes flying through the window and thanks Mrs. Johnson for her help before she speeds off. Patchy tries to work the remote, but he does not know how to rewind it to the beginning. He and Potty press a lot of buttons on the remote while fighting, resulting in a mariachi band appearing and causing the VCR to malfunction and unravel the tape reel (in a squeaking sound) which entangles Patchy. Thus, the lost episode is lost forever and the scene changes to an exterior shot of Patchy's house, but now at nighttime, the narrator assures the audience that whether or not the lost episode will remain lost, as long as there are stars in the sky, SpongeBob will live on in fans' hearts and minds. As the stars form a constellation of SpongeBob, the narrator tells the viewers to get lost, thus ending the episode from there.

Sargeras and the Betrayal

To combat the demonic entities that made their way into the Titans’ worlds from the Twisting Nether, the Pantheon elected their greatest warrior, Sargeras, to act as their first line of defense. Sargeras, a noble giant of molten bronze, carried out his duties for countless millennia, seeking out and destroying the demons wherever he could find them. Over the eons, Sargeras encountered two powerful demonic races, both of which were bent on gaining power and dominance over the physical universe.

The Eredar, an insidious race of devilish sorcerers, used their warlock magics to enslave a number of worlds that they had invaded. The indigenous races of those worlds were mutated by the Eredar’s chaotic powers and turned into demons themselves. Though Sargeras’ nearly limitless powers were more than enough to defeat the vile Eredar, he was greatly troubled by the creatures’ corruption and all-consuming evil. Unable to fathom such depravity and spite, the great Titan slipped into a brooding depression. Despite his growing unease, Sargeras sought to rid the universe of the warlocks for all time, by trapping them within a vacuous corner of the Twisting Nether.

As his confusion and depression deepened, Sargeras was forced to contend with another group intent on disrupting the Titans’ order. The Nathrezim, a dark race of vampiric demons (also known as Dread Lords) set out to conquer a populated world by possessing its inhabitants and turning them to the shadow. The nefarious, scheming Dread Lords had turned whole nations against one another by manipulating them through unthinking hatred and mistrust. Though Sargeras defeated the Nathrezim easily, their corruption affected him deeply.

The noble Sargeras, unable to process the raging doubt and despair that overwhelmed his senses, lost all faith in not only his mission, but the Titans’ vision of an ordered universe, as well. Sargeras began to believe that the concept of order itself was folly – and that chaos and depravity were the only absolutes within the dark, lonely universe. Though his fellow Titans tried to persuade him of his error and console his raging emotions, he disregarded their theories as delusional. Storming from their ranks forever, Sargeras set out to find his own place in the universe. Though the Pantheon was sorrowful for his departure, they would never believe just how far their lost brother would go.

As Sargeras’ madness consumed the last vestiges of his noble spirit, he began to rationalize that the Titans were truly responsible for creation’s failure. Deciding, at last, to undo their works throughout the universe, he set out to form an unstoppable army that would set the physical universe to the flame.

Even Sargeras’ titanic form distorted from the corruption that plagued his once noble heart. His eyes, hair and beard erupted in flames and his bronze, metallic skin split open to reveal an endless furnace of hate and flame.

In his madness, Sargeras shattered the prisons of the Eredar and the Nathrezim and set the vile demons free. The cunning demons, bowing before the dark Titan’s vast rage and power, offered themselves to him and swore to serve him in whatever malicious way they could. From the ranks of the powerful Eredar, Sargeras chose two champions to lead his demonic army of destruction.

Kil'jaeden the Deceiver was chosen to seek out the darkest races in the universe and lure them to Sargeras’ shadow. The second champion, Archimonde the Defiler, was chosen to lead Sargeras’ vast armies into battle against any who would stand against the dark Titan’s will.

Kil’jaeden’s first move was to enslave the vampiric Dread Lords under his terrible power. The Dread Lords, serving as his elite guard and agents throughout the universe, took pleasure in their work by locating primitive races for their master to corrupt and bring into the fold. First amongst the Dread Lords was Tichondrius the Darkener. Tichondrius served Kil’jaeden as the perfect soldier and agreed to promote Sargeras’ burning will to all the dark corners of the universe.

The mighty Archimonde also empowered agents of his own. Calling upon the malefic Pit Lords and their barbarous leader, Mannoroth, he hoped to forge a fighting elite that would scour creation of all life.

Sargeras, seeing that his armies were amassed and ready to follow his every command, launched his raging forces into the vastness of the Great Dark. He referred to his growing army as the Burning Legion. To this date, it is still unclear as to how many worlds they consumed and burned on their unholy crusade across the universe.

Oda Eiichiro

I'm a bit late with this but, good job on all the hard work of your serial comic Mr. KIYU. You might be a Jump-published serial manga author but that won't stop me from asking for your help around here; looking forward to working with you

遅くなりましたがキユ氏連載おつかれさまでした。ジャンプ連載作家とはいえ容赦なく助っ人に呼ぶのでまたよろしくね。

Chapter 157