===Magnus stands up, and takes a good look at Atazard. ===
Magnus: Is this... True? Is this really you?
Atazard: Wasn't that Low enough to prove it?
Magnus laughs.
Magnus: My leg says you have a valid argument.
Atazard turns around, and starts walking towards a rock. He also removes his other glove, and stores it inside a pocket in his cloak.
Atazard: As always.
He takes off his cloak, since it was getting kinda hot inside the forest, and sits on the rock. He looks at his right fist, and he admires the green crystal on his ring. This light...he hasn't seen it in many years.
Magnus: I suppose that my idea for the rings was really helpful after all...
Atazard: True.
Inside a room, we see seven people, seated around a table. One of them, with long black hair, and a black poukamise, is wearing his ring on his finger already. That man just gave the others their own rings which corresponded to their personal roles...
Amongst these men, we see a very younger Atazard. He's seated to Jason's left and he's holding his ring, with a determined look on his face...
Magnus: Those rings aren't just symbols. They are my own, stylish version of what is commonly known as a Vivre Card. Basically, I've crafted those rings to give you a gift, and at the same time, a tool. Put them on, see what happens.
The men wear the rings, and as soon as their fingers slide through, light illuminates the colored crystal. The table gets covered by all the lights of the rainbow, and everyone present witnesses this wonderful spectacle.
Magnus: All of your rings are linked to mine, in the same way that all the pieces of a Vivre Card paper are linked to one another. The light in these rings will never fade away, as long as I am alive. However, the closer you get to me and my ring, the brighter the light will be. So...
He stands up, and starts pacing around the table.
Magnus: No matter what happens... Have that ring with you! It will be our connection.
Magnus: I've been dying to ask you... What happened? How did you survive?
Atazard: *He sighs.* I think you should be the one to answer that question first...
Magnus: I guess... That fateful night, when the World Government ordered the destruction of the last remaining city of our civilization, my dad protected me. I'm pretty sure you remember how strong he was.
Atazard: How could I forget?
Magnus: Well, what we saw was just a small fraction of his powers...Only his ten percent. Let me tell you something about this world. There were originally only two devil fruits... The one belonging to God and the one that Satan consumed. Of course, those two were human beings to begin with. It's been a thousand years after that fateful day... To please his sadistic needs, Satan created the Devil Fruits to spread chaos to the human world. However, God simply choose to create fourteen fruits, that represent basic values and aspects of this world...
Magnus thinks about his dad, as he was when he last saw him... Injured, lying on his bed, healing from his injuries.
Magnus: My dad is the God of Time. He has a very important role, as the continuity of time rests on him... However, above all, he is a father. When he saw that everything was done for, that it was truly the end for us, he took what must have been the hardest decision of his life. He used his normal devil fruit, the key fruit, to literally lock my memories away... After that, I woke up, with only my swords and a purpose.
To live.
Atazard: I see... So, I suppose you got your memories back?
Magnus: Yeah. After a year of adventuring with the trusty crew I gathered, I managed to find the island that Orpheus-san told me I would find the man I was searching for... "The original Magnus.
Atazard: Orpheus? That Marine guy?
Magnus: Yeah...Using my swords as the only hints that I had, I managed to gather some Intel. That led me to him, who told me he was very fond of a pirate called Magnus. He used to chase him all the time, to arrest him... Little did I know how many details he skipped, when he told me that...
Magnus remembers the fight he had with Orpheus, so many years ago.
Magnus: By the way, he's the God of Dreams.
Atazard: Cool.
Magnus: I'll tell you the details later. What matters is that I found him, and I got my memories back...
"So... I think you should start talking now. What happened... To you and the rest?"
Atazard closes his eyes, and remembers everything that happened these past years.
Atazard: It happened when you went to the nearby town, because you and your dad had a clue regarding your mother's disappearance.
It was a cloudy day, and we all had this ominous feeling... We knew something was about to happen. Yet the Boss was nowhere to be seen.
It happened so quickly. Those bastards probably used some method of stealth, because the battleships appeared near the port almost instantly. Cannons started shooting at the city, and hell break loose. The government knew we weren't going down without a fight... They sent their most special task force, the CP0 for the job, along with a huge army. A war for survival begun for us... We all gathered at the training ground, and formulated our strategy...
We knew our survival depended on our strategy. We started fighting soon, and to be honest, after the first few fights, we were quite confident we could escape. We started running towards the mountain, in hopes of hiding. We managed to defeat, and even kill many of the soldiers... Even as we were advancing though, it was hell... We saw women, children, and of course men get slaughtered, killed in cold blood, just for being present. They were obviously trying to wipe us out completely.
After a few hours... We had our first loss. A group of twenty soldiers blocked our way, and attacked us. Amongst them, there were many fighters of unparalleled strength... It was becoming rather obvious that we could not survive.
Atazard's narration started becoming very vivid. He was reliving all the emotions, all that fatigue, all that anguish as he was talking to Magnus.
At that point, he decided that there was only one way out of this... Kingsman took the initiative, and he literally broke the building that was next to us... The rumble blocked the road, and we split up. That... was the last we saw of him. A few days later, we found out that he managed to take all twenty elite fighters out... Sacrificing himself to do so.
After that, we lost most of our friends and allies the upcoming fights... In the end, the only ones who managed to make it to the other side of the island were Evangrel, Artiend and me. Just as we were about to leave, thinking that we made it, we stumbled upon a man that introduced himself as a member of the CP0.
At that point, we were desperate. To make a long story short, Evangrel sacrificed himself to guard his last two remaining friends from a deadly strike, and soon after that, the man claimed that he was bored, and started fighting seriously... It was at this moment that Artiend pulled off something I couldn't even imagine would happen. We instantly appeared behind me, and thrust his arm through my chest. He then grabbed me, and through me in the sea...
That was the last I saw of him... When I woke up, on a beach of a nearby island, my wounds had healed completely. Unfortunately for me, the real trouble begun on that island. It was run by a tyrant with a huge military force. I had to forcefully enlist, and ensure that I would survive no matter what...
Because I have to make the government pay for what they did to us all.
Magnus is pretty much ready to throw up... His friends went through such a martyr, and met their end so untimely, and he didn't even know about it... Though he did think they were all dead.
Atazard: After that, I was living as a soldier for that tyrant. I even became his best soldier. With the downfall of Shir, to whom the tyrant pleaded allegiance, the Marines managed to overthrow him, and I was finally free.
Magnus: So you followed the light of the ring, and got here.
Atazard: Yeah. Speaking of which, where's your ring?
Magnus uses his telekinesis and picks up his swords. He then grabs the black sword, and opens the hilt, revealing a secret socket, that held the ring inside it.
Magnus: I made that to store the ring safely, but my dad, when he locked my memory, hid it there. I only discovered it when I installed the atomic shrinking devices on the hilts of my swords.
Atazard: Ok. So, what's happening now? I saw the fight you had with that man that looked like you... I had actually managed to locate you on that island, yet the action was so intense, I never got to butt in.
Magnus actually starts telling Atazard everything that's happened, since he woke up in that beach. He told him how he gathered his crew, he spoke of his rivalry with Marcus, he narrated all the adventures the Espadas had over the years...Everything up till now. Of course, he put heavy emphasis on his fight with Owari on Gnothi Safton, as well as the fights with Shir, Shiryu and the fight on Rafter with Marcus.
He finally explained everything that had happened ever since Owari first appeared, and then he stopped.
Meeting Atazard, wanting to learn about his old friends made him forget all his pain. Speaking of his past made him relieve all the glory days... However, just thinking about the events of the past few days made him feel sick again.
Atazard: Aha. So you literally got your ass handed to you by yourself, and now you sob because a guy died and your inhumanly overpowered Vice Captain is held captive.
Atazard stands up, walks up to Magnus and bitch-slaps him.
Atazard: Wake up you fool. *His tone gets heavier, and his voice louder* YOU FAILED TO PROTECT US BACK THEN. YOU LOST YOUR COOK TO SHIR. YOU FAILED TO PROTECT THAT YUSEI GUY. NOW STAND THE FUCK UP, AND FACE ME!
Atazard grins.
Or did that aneurism make you forget?
I am your shadow, Primo. What better way to train to defeat Owari, than to fight against your own left hand man, eh?
Magnus grins, and in Atazard, he finally sees the hope he needed to find.