Monkey D. Luffy and The Dreamland

Chapter 6: Your bitemark

Aratis is a large magical island composed of five dreamy realms.

Sylvan Land: A country primarily made up of forests and caves. The trees possess magical properties, and the name of this realm is derived from them. The inhabitants of Sylvan Land usually do not leave their villages and are self-sufficient.

Aetheris Land: This name evokes a sense of the ethereal and heavenly, perfectly encapsulating a mystical realm of clouds that surround the entire region. The inhabitants of this realm mostly have wings. Aetheris features colorful springs with various properties, and the clouds have a soft and pleasant texture.

Luffy and his new friends currently find themselves in the realm of Aetheris after successfully leaving Sylvan Land.

Can a sky-like realm transform into hell? Is it really a good idea to return to a populated village, knowing that the queen's guards are searching for them? Of course not. Fortunately, each realm has several villages, so they didn't have to return to the one from which they recently escaped, Cloud Village. Bean Village was definitely smaller and less populated, which was advantageous for them, and most importantly, they had an herbalist. This person knows all the fruits and plants in the area. Alice had been very interested in this topic when she lived with Alfredo, but each realm has its quirks, and each is unique in its own way. Even if she had knowledge about the vegetation in Sylvan Land, it meant little here.

"Everyone around knows that the Minamu fruit needs to be processed first. If you eat the whole fruit along with the skin, it alters hormonal states, and testosterone levels rise immediately, affecting the behavior of a young man like him," said the herbalist, pointing at Luffy and commenting on his condition.

"We didn't know that! Besides, he ate the fruit despite us warning him!" shouted Alice, pacing around the room in anger.

"It's obvious; you humans don't know many things. You're not the first ones to feel the consequences of ignorance."

"Alice..." began Luffy, who was tied to a wooden chair and writhing uncomfortably. If he could, he would have tried to grab Alice.

"Shut up, Luffy!" shouted Alice, standing in front of a large mirror. She had a white cream on her hands that she was applying to her neck and arms. After eating the fruit, Luffy had begun to act strangely and kept pushing against Alice. He hugged her and bit her on the arm and neck because, to him, she smelled good, like meat or some food.

The herbalist, known as Mr. Short. In reality, his name is Mr. Frank but the people from the village and the surrounding area gave him the nickname "Mr. Short" because he is a very short old deer without antlers. Deer are usually tall, but he is an exception.

"How did you end up so short?"

Luffy asked foolishly, without thinking, as if it were the most important question at the moment.

"I don't remember. It's always been like this," replied Mr. Short, checking to see if Luffy was securely fastened to his chair before approaching the shelf lined with injections, boxes, and jars filled with medications, herbs, and ointments.

"Don't you think that's strange?" said Mikey, who was comfortably seated in a chair that was more suited for customers. They themselves didn't know if they could be considered customers. Luffy was a patient lacking self-preservation skills, while they were his friends-essentially his poor caregivers, who could only shake their heads in disbelief every time Luffy did something reckless. "I also don't remember when I became what I am now," Mikey added sadly.

"Everyone here feels the same way, but why bother pondering it? Overthinking about it is a bad omen. The queen said that a long time ago, and she still repeats it." After a moment of reflection, he added, "And it's not that I believe in it, but in my opinion, it makes no sense to dwell on it."