50 History of the Blackflame Family (1/2)

Luffy, Ezio and the old fox were eating together. At this moment the old fox looked at Ezio and his face turned serious.

Ezio only saw this face once in his life. It was at the time when the old man gave him his devil fruit.

„Ezio, I have to tell you something about the history of our family. It's time that you know about it”

The old fox stood up and looked at the sky.

„The World Government was established 800 years ago. That was the time when the ancestor of our family left his kingdom and became a Celestial Dragon on the Red Line. This ancestor was the one who ate the same devil fruit you ate. He was the one who named us Blackflame, and he was the one who brought our family to the top of this world”

Ezio frowned. It was the first time the old man told him about the history.

„Our ancestor had two sons. One of the sons should lead the family and live in the Holy Land, the other son became the King of our previous kingdom. This kingdom is a secluded land in the New World and the world doesn't know about it. It is the home of the Blackflame family and there all our secrets are hidden. The strongest of the two sons was the leader of the family who lived in Mary Geoise, and the weaker one became the King of our homeland”

„So we are descendants of the son who was stronger?”, asked Ezio.

„No, we are the children of the other one. Our ancestor lost to his big brother and became the king of our homeland”

Now Ezio was confused.

„There is a rule in our family. Each descendent of the new generation would fight each other, and the strongest one would be the leader of our family. The loser would become the king of our kingdom, the winner would lead the family and reside in the Holy Land. This fight continued for 800 years with each new generation”

„But… You told me that I was the heir of the family since the first time you saw me! Why did you do that?”

„Well… I wanted that my grandson would have the right mindset. To tell you the truth, at that time I didn't have hope that you would become the new leader of our family. The other branch of our family had a little girl and she was… how should I say? A monstrous genius…”

Ezio frowned. Why didn't the old man told him this earlier?

„Since 800 years ago, we Blackflame's had two branches. Each branch would watch the other, and they were always rivals. Though we had this situation, our relationship was always good. We always act as one family. You have to think about it, our last connection by blood was 800 years ago. So after all this generations, you can't call us close relatives anymore. But after all these years, each new generation of each branch would always fight and rival each other, and they would call the descendant of the other branch a brother or sister. So maybe our connection with our blood isn't as strong as it was in the past, but we all see us as one family even until now”

„So, you… you won against the one from the other branch?”

„Yes. I was a little bit stronger than the old woman from the other branch. It was only a little bit… I was really lucky that I won at that time. To tell you the truth… Our branch was really miserable until I won against that old woman. For generations, the leader of our family came from the other branch… It wasn't often that our branch could win against these monsters”

Ezio took a deep breath. Why did the old man told him this so late? Ezio knew how troublesome his family was! And now there was a new branch who was after him!

„Then I'm not the heir of our family? I first have to beat up the one from the other branch?”