1520 sea calendar~
West blue~
On the tranquil waters of West Blue, a Revolutionary Army ship drifted in quiet repose at the weathered port of a deserted island, where two figures stepped onto the weathered dock.
Koala glanced back at the ship, then at the overgrown ruins ahead. "Sabo… why'd we come here? Why is Dragon-san asking us to find the 'Crescent of A'? I don't get it."
Sabo kept walking, eyes fixed on the broken arch. "You will find out soon."
Koala frowned, kicking a loose stone off the dock. "Fine. Then at least tell me — what is this island called? And why is it full of ruins? Looks like nobody's lived here in decades."
Sabo stopped past the arch, past the ivy and cracked stone.
"This is Firenze," he said. "The Kingdom of Assassins. The place where the ruthless missionaries of freedom were born. Liberators, not rulers. This is the land of the Creed."
Koala swept her eyes over the ruins — trees growing through collapsed towers, streets turned to moss. "The Creed? Never heard of it. But… why is it like this? It's almost a forest now."
Sabo walked forward, his boot kicking up dust from a marble tile. "Because 22 years ago the Celestial Dragons decided to end it. Native Hunting Competition. They turned a kingdom into a graveyard for sport."
He stopped at the headless statue. "But before that? Firenze stood for 130 years. Altaïr built it. The World Government called him a terrorist, a monster. His people called him king. He didn't sit on a throne — he bled in the alleys with them. Forty-eight years he held this place together. In that time he made the Brotherhood. An army that didn't serve kings. They served freedom. The world named them Assassins and were called them the Creed."
Koala's pen scratched against paper. "So the Creed protected this place?"
"They _were_ this place," Sabo said. "After Altaïr came Connor Auditore. He was a wall. No pirate crew, no Yonko, not even the Marines tested these waters while he lived. He spat on every treaty the World Government sent. Said Firenze would never kneel to gods or kings. But he hated the crown too. Said it was a chain. So he gave it to his son — Edward."
"Edward," Koala repeated.
"The Quiet Blade," Sabo said, quieter now. "His enemies didn't get last words. Didn't even get to see the knife. He ruled the same way: stay in the dark, keep the people in the light. Three generations. Onehundred and thirty years. Then the Celestial Dragons came to prove no one stays free forever."
Wind moved through the dead city.
Koala shut her notebook. "So they didn't just kill a country. They tried to kill the idea that started it."
"Yeah." Sabo's voice went quiet. "Twenty-two years ago, it wasn't just the Native Hunting Competition. The Celestial Dragons didn't come alone. They brought Cipher Pol. Admirals. Buster Call ships. They didn't want a fight — they wanted extinction. Said the Creed was a disease."
He kicked a piece of rubble. Under it, charred black. "In Firenze they held a festival every year on December 10 — the Day the Kingdom Was Born and also known as day of justice. Every Assassin in the world would be in Firenze at this time. No one would be brave enough to come into Firenze looking for trouble on these dates, or this month of the year. It was a sure death for pirates or anyone else who came looking for trouble. So surveillance on the seas was weak at that time of year, and the World government knew it."
Sabo's jaw tightened. "So they called the military. 2 Admirals, 20 Vice Admirals, total of 10,000 or more Marines, with World Government CPs and God's Knights protecting the Celestials. When they got close enough to the sea and Edward found out the horror about to happen, he first told all the young people in the kingdom under 15 to be boarded to the ships."
"After that, the incapacitated. Others — those who can fight and want to fight — stay to fight. If you want to flee, you can. But you should drop your crest in this soil before going."
Sabo looked at the ruins. "No one did it. Because they're not slaves to fear. They yearned for freedom. If they die freeing a single soul, that's much better than dying being worthless."
"So he stayed?" Koala asked.
"So he stayed," Sabo confirmed. "Edward, with his father Connor who was 117 years old, killed the 6 God's Knights and over 24 Celestial Dragons. More than 8,000 Marines were dead. Only 20 Vice Admirals and the 2 Admirals and some Marines were alive from the Marine side. Even then, the Admirals were gravely wounded.This is the statics obtined from marine side from intersepting their signals and final report.They made them remember the name 'Auditore.' But you don't win against the whole world when it decides you shouldn't exist."
It didnt stop there.
"Even the ships carrying the young got traced and destroyed. Only one escaped the traps — the one led by Adéwalé. Tactically brilliant in naval warfare. He saved 15 kids and 3 non-combatants. But even they were hunted. In the end, only a total of 6 survived. Five of them are in the Revolution now."
Sabo paused. "But the one everyone in the world knows… that's the 6th person. Known in the seas as Cain 'Noblesbane'. His real name is Ezio Auditore. The last son of Edward Auditore. The last
. He was the one who told Dragon-san to come here and look for it."
Koala's eyes went wide and her notebook almost slipped from her hands. "What? There are people from here in the Revolutionary Army? And that hooded guy is a noble— whooooo— it's getting crazy. That guy should have killed more nobles and pirates than us by statistics. And you're saying he's the last heir for this kingdom and he is a noble? Wait, so it makes sense why he killed that Celestial Dragon when he saw him at Sabaody. Why he ran quickly too."
She looked back at the broken circle on the arch, breathing harder. "And the 'Crescent of A'… that's what he gave him?"
Sabo smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "No. The Crescent is how we find what he gave him."
sabo turned to the guys in the back listening attentively and looked back to koala "Follow me , and you guys scout the area we will come back after checking ahead and find a place to make a camp "
Everyone symultaniasly "ok sir "
"Hahahaha they are all good fellas . any way koala what do you know ezio or cain do you have any intelligence about him its been a year since i last so him"
"Nope,why would you think he is running he killed total of 4 celestial dragon in 11 months and even those cps couldn't track him and you want me to locat him common do you have a brain damage"
'Why does women's always so tasky to deal with'
"Anyway we have more work to do lets go"