World of Hearts: Linked as One (Book 1)

1-5: Relics

Son Gohan was standing in front of a shrine that had several pedestals standing. On each of the pedestals were the supposed relics that were to be collected. He felt a little uneasy with how quiet and peaceful this place is. There no Grimm to be seen or any kind of monsters for that matter. There were other people here, some of them got here on their own and some of them came in groups. Some of them had grabbed their relics and were leaving. He walked over to the shrine to examine the relics in question.

Most of these supposed relics were just random stuff. Chess pieces, action figures, cards, antique items you'd find in a pawn shop, bracelets and a bunch of other things. Gohan couldn't help but feel a little let down that there were no actual relics from some ancient civilization or anything, but it is what it is.

He took a card from one of the pedestals and looked at it. He flipped it over to see that it was a two of spades.

'A Two of Spades...' Gohan thought. 'I guess all that's left is to make it to the goal. Still... I can't shake the feeling that something feels wrong...'

"What's wrong, Gohan?"

Gohan turned around to see a young man with a straw hat on his head. He looked at Gohan with a straight face. Standing next to the young man was a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes with what looked like whiskers on his cheeks. He too was looking at Gohan with a straight face.

"Yeah, what's up?" The blond kid asked.

"Well... it's probably nothing, but something about this seems off," Gohan said. "It's too quiet, and I have this feeling that I can't seem to shrug off..."

"Are you hungry?" The straw hat asked.

"What? No, I just ate before the exams began," Gohan said. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm Monkey D. Luffy," Luffy said, "And I wish I had something to eat right now..."

"Now that you mention it, my stomach's feeling empty already..." the blond kid said. "I hope they have food at the goal..."

"W-We'll get some food after we grab our relic and just leave..." Gohan said.

He saw a group of applicants arrived at the place. Among them was the brown haired person called Yoh. Him and his friends made it here unscathed.

'So they made it here as well...' Gohan thought. 'I wonder how that Kizuna kid is doing. Did he get that Senzu bean I gave to Yoh?'

-1-

Kizuna saw various applicants at the site and went around exploring the place, hoping to find a relic for his team. Ruby, Madoka, Izuku, and Yoh followed him. Upon seeing the relics before him, he...

He...

He felt disappointed and let down.

It was all a bunch of junk you'd find at a garage sale coming from your next door neighbor.

Playing cards, chess pieces, glasses, some old phone, and so much more worthless junk.

"This is a joke, right?" Kizuna asked.

"If it is, I don't feel like laughing..." Ruby said.

"W-Well, I just hope there aren't any booby traps..." Madoka said. "Trying to change the mood of the conversation."

"A booby trap? With all this stuff here? I highly doubt it," Yoh said.

"Though it wouldn't be too far fetched if they did plant a booby trap with stuff like this..." Izuku said. "Some of them are actually antiques..."