Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, and Celestia, meet Bartholomew Kuma...”
Kuma looked at the creatures before him, but rather than seeing anything similar to a human or even a Draconequus like Discord, he saw a group of multicolored animals, obviously equine in nature. There were seven in total, each with a unique marking upon their flanks. They also seemed to be divided into different species. There were two that had wings, or pegasi, two with horns in the center of their foreheads, obviously unicorns, two that had neither wings nor a horn, and the final one had both wings and a horn. Said creature was much larger than all the others, and was sporting a crown, which lead Kuma to believe that it was a leader of sorts.
As Kuma was deep in thought and did not look as though he was going to say anything soon, Celestia decided to break the ice. “Hello, Mr. Kuma. I’m Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and princess of the sun. We are pleased to make your acquaintance.”
This introduction elicited no reaction from Kuma, other than him turning his attention to Celestia. Rather than speaking in response, he only seemed to delve deeper into thought. Even though he had his memory restored, and been flung across dimensions(both by a creature that was a mashup of different animals.), he was still rather surprised to hear a horse-like creature with a horn and wings speak to him. However, his facial expression showed no signs of this, not shifting from it’s usual, flat expression.
Celestia, noticing his lack of response, continued, “Would you like to explain some more about yourself, Mr. Kuma?”. Kuma glanced at the rest of the group assembled there, only to see that they were staring at him with mixed expressions, with some being surprised, some afraid, and others… elated? Deciding that they were not going to say anything anytime soon, if they had the ability of speech at all that was, he decided to say something.
“I suppose,” he began in an even tone, “As you now know, I am Bartholomew Kuma. I am a current member of the Shichibukai and an ex-commander of the Revolutionary army, as well as a beta subject in the Pacifista project. I am also the possessor of the abilities of the Nikyu-Nikyu no mi, a Devil fruit. Prior to my becoming a Shichibukai, I was a pirate known as ‘The Tyrant’, due to my previously violent nature. Before being frozen, my bounty was close to 300,000,000 berries. As you all seem to be surprised by my appearance, i believe i should tell you that I am a human from a different dimension. I suppose you do not understand some, if not most of the concepts I am bringing up, so I shall answer your respective questions. ” he finished flatly.
Rather than anyone there saying anything, they all looked at Kuma with shocked, confused expressions. Just as Kuma was wondering if they spoke the same language, if they spoke at all, Pinkie suddenly jumped up and said, “You were a pirate, that’s soooo cool!! Oh, I also have a question. Why are you so huge? What’s the revolutionary army? What’s a Devil fruit? What does Shichu… Chishi… Shris… whatever you said mean? What’s a Pacifista? How much is a berry worth? Why do you use berry’s as money? That’s really silly. That reminds me of a time when I made some cupcakes with berries in them, or were they muffins? Oh, which do you prefer, muffins or cupcakes? I like cupcakes better, but I also like regular cake. What’s your favorite flavor of cake? Is it chocolate or red velvet or mmph..” She was cut off as Twilight put her hoof in Pinkies mouth, but that didn’t cease the onslaught of random questions and facts. Pinkie just continued to talk into Twilight’s hoof, making what she was saying incomprehensible.
“Pinkie.” Twilight said in a slightly shaken voice.
“Mph?”
“I don’t think that Mr. Kuma can follow all of your questions. Do you mind… slowing down?”
“Mmm!”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Twilight replied. She then removed her hoof from Pinkie’s mouth, and surprisingly enough, she stayed quiet. Satisfied with this, Twilight then turned to Kuma and said, “Could you please explain a bit more about what you said about being called ‘The Tyrant’? ”
Kuma looked at Twilight silently for a moment, contemplating the best way to answer without eliciting fear. He then decided to say, “During my revolutionary years, I, along with many others including my leader, Monkey D. Dragon, fought against the World Government’s reign. I was one of their most powerful members, which gave me the bounty. About the title ‘The Tyrant’,” he paused for a moment, before continuing, “I would rather not speak of that.”
“Oh… okay.” Twilight said, paling slightly and becoming silent for some time. Kuma, noticing her reaction, then said, “However, my previously violent nature is no longer an issue. I am not a cold blooded killer, as my previous title entails.”
“Oh,” Twilight said, relaxing slightly. She then frowned slightly, as a thought came to her. “Mr. Kuma, you said that the Revolutionary army fought your World’s Government. Why is that, is the government evil?”
“I would not say ‘evil’, but they are not entirely set upon keeping my world in order. While, to the untrained eye, it may seem that the World Government is perfect, it is actually very corrupt. Their actions are highly questionable and rash at some times. For instance, They will attempt to eliminate any target they deem a danger, including the Revolutionary army. They also keep many events hidden from the eyes of the public, often intending to erase the event from history.”
“Wow,” Twilight said, awestruck, “That sounds terrible. You’re telling me that almost nopony knows about what those people do?”
“...Nopony?”
“Twilight,” Celestia began, “I believe Kuma is not accustomed to the differences in our respective vocabularies. However, before this conversation is to continue, we have urgent business to attend to. Also, I believe any of you have yet to introduce yourselves”
“Oh… right,” she said sheepishly, looking back at her friends as if just remembering that they were there. “Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle, student of the princess, and these are my friends.” She then turned and gestured for them to introduce themselves.
“Well,” began Rainbow, “ I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria.”
“Ah’m Applejack, and Ah work on mah family's apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres.”
“ I’m Rarity, and I own the Carousel Boutique, where I create many different lines of clothing. Speaking of which, I rather like your attire. While rather unusual, the colors fit you perfectly.”
“Umm..” Fluttershy said meekly, “M-my names F-f-fluttershy…”
“And I’m Pinkie Pie. Well, my name is really Pinkamena Diane Pie, but just call me Pinkie. I bake cakes and muffins and cupcakes and stuff like that at Sugar Cube corner. Enough about me, you still haven’t answered some of my questions, like why do you use berry’s as money, or what your favorite flavor of cake is, or why you’re so big or mffm mmph…” she was cut off again as Twilight, once again, covered her mouth with a hoof.
“Pinkie, remember you said you’d slow down.”
“Yes Pinkie, we do not have much time to socialize.” Celestia said, “You may ask one more question, alright?”
“Mhm.” Pinkie said against Twilight’s hoof.
“Okay then.” Twilight said as she slowly moved her hoof from Pinkies mouth. Pinkie was silent for a moment, contemplating what she would ask. Suddenly her face lit up and she said, “ Oh I got it. What’s a devil fruit?”
“Devil fruits? That will be quite easy and interesting to explain.” said Discord before Kuma could react.
Kuma looked at Discord for a moment before saying, “You can explain Devil fruits?”
“Quite easily. Just watch.” Discord replied. He then turned towards Twilight and her friends and began explaining.
“A ‘Devil Fruit’ is a special food that gives whoever or whatever eats it a special ability. There are hundreds of different abilities that the fruits can bestow, but they fall in three categories, created by the people of Kuma’s world. The categories are Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia. While some fruits give amazing powers to those who consume them, it does not come without a catch. All devil fruit users lose the ability to swim, and if they are immersed in water, they lose the ability to control their powers” He then snapped his claws and a large bubble-like sphere appeared, hovering next to him.
“Lets begin with the smallest class; Logia. Logia Devil Fruits are the rarest, and are considered to be the most powerful class of devil fruits. A Logia user has the ability to turn into, and create an unlimited amount of a certain natural substance, whether it be a force of nature or an element. By transforming into their respective elements, they become entirely intangible, turning unharmable unless they are caught off-guard”
As he was talking, the sphere next to him was showing multiple images of people doing remarkable things. There was an image of a man with white hair bursting into smoke as a sword passed through him, another of a man with long, black hair and a scar stretching across his face, and a large golden hook in place of his left hand getting his head cut off. There was a collective gasp from everypony present, other than Kuma and Discord. However, the man’s head was quickly re-constructed from… sand? There was another of a large man who was laying on the ground cut in half, but where his body was separated seemed to be glowing. Suddenly, his legs stood up on their own, then his torso suddenly burst into beams of light, reconstructing itself on top of his legs seamlessly.
“As well as being able to control and create elements, depending on what their ability is, they can alter things with their powers” Discord continued. The bubble image changed back to the man who had his head lopped off, but this time, he was on top of a large building in a desert. As they watched, he touched the floor beneath him, and it began to shrivel and crumble until it was reduced to sand. The image then shifted to a man with blonde hair, incredibly stretched earlobes, and seemed to have a set of drums extending from his back. The golden staff he held suddenly began arcing with electricity and grew red, then began to morph until it changed into a trident.
“While the Logia class is deemed the most powerful class, most elements have specific weaknesses. If the devil fruit users come in contact with their weakness, their ability to disperse and their intangibility become unusable. Also, some logia’s have natural superiority over others making the weaker intangibility useless.” The bubble shifted one last time to a rather shocking image.
A man with medium-length black hair who was covered in fire had a giant fist going through his chest. However, the fist seemed to be made of some red, viscous fluid. Magma. The fist’s owner was a very tall man whose entire right arm was composed of red hot magma. Even though the smaller man was clearly a logia user, he looked as though he was in extreme pain. “As you can see, Ace,” he indicated the one with the magma fist through the chest, “is engulfed in flames. That is because his logia ability, to produce and control fire. However, since Sakazuki’s magma abilities are of a different tier of superiority, Ace’s fire can not protect him.
“Now, let’s move onto the next class; Zoan. Zoan fruit users have the ability to transform into a different species. There are usually three forms for a Zoan user, their natural forms, hybrid form, and full animal form. Depending on the animal they transform into can alter their strength and ferocity.” The bubble showed an image of a man with long, curly black hair who appeared to be part human and part leapord. There was another image of a very large man who was part bison who had many large arrows embedded in him.
“However, there are also transformations beyond that of normal animals.” The bubble shifted to a small, blue nosed creature with horns and a hot. As they watched, it grew to a normal looking deer, then to the form of a massive, muscular man. There was also a muscular man with an afro who grew to incredible size, beyond that of even Kuma, and seemed to turn gold. Finally, a man with scruffy yellow hair and a blue tattoo on his chest became engulfed in flames and seemed to take the form of a bird, but made entirely of blue flames.
“While this class is somewhat diverse, it is rather simple, mainly sticking to transformations. And now, for the final class; Paramecia. The paramecia class is by far the largest and undoubtedly the most diverse. In fact, it is too complex to properly explain, so I’ll let the images do all the explaining.”
They all turned to the bubble and watched as many dozen images flashed across it. There was a man with a large red nose and face makeup who seemed to be separated into multiple pieces. There was a woman who seemed to be sprouting arms from many surfaces around her, including other people. There was a young man with spiky red hair who was drawing numerous metallic objects towards him. There was an incredibly large man with horns and wings who was sprouting numerous purple, liquid creatures from his body, which looked suspiciously like hydras. There was another enormous man with a curved white moustache who seemed to be cracking the air around him like glass. A man with incredibly long arms seemed to be playing his teeth like a piano.
However, towards the end, there was a particular image that surprised all of them. In the image was Kuma, and he seemed to have pads of some sort on his hands. In the image, he was standing up against a boy who had a straw hat. The boy in the image seemed to be shouting at kuma, and suddenly, the boy’s body began steaming and purple streaks appeared on his skin. Suddenly, his arm shot forward at Kuma, stretching far beyond that of which was possible. Kuma held up his hand and the punch reflected off of one of his paw pads.
“Hmm,” Discord began, “ We seem to have a familiar face present in this demonstration. Anywho, Paramecia users are considered to be the weakest and easiest to fight. Some abilities are incredibly powerful, while some are weak and considered useless. Even so, if you learn how to utilize your power, even the weakest devil fruit user can be a considerable threat. Here is one prime example,” he said, as he gestured toward the bubble.
The image this time was of the boy who faced off against Kuma. He was fighting a man with thick lips and hair in the shape of bull horns. They seemed to be talking, and suddenly, the boy took a strange stance, with his knees bent and his right fist on the ground. Suddenly, his legs seemed to slightly inflate around his ankle, and it pushed up towards his upper body. Suddenly, his body once again began to steam and change color. He then raised his left hand and seemed to be aiming at the other man. Without warning, his hand shot forward at an incredible speed.
“People and ponies, I’d like you to meet Monkey D. Luffy. He has eaten the Gomu Gomu no mi, or the Gum Gum fruit. As the name entails, it gives him a rubber body. While this does not seem very intimidating, it is a somewhat powerful fruit. It absorbs all blunt attacks allows the user to stretch any part of their body. This young man, however, has discovered many other abilities for the fruit, such as what you see here. This is known as Gear Second, where he forces his blood to pump faster through his body by pushing his blood up from his legs to his upper body, and back again. This increases his heart rate and blood flow, which makes him faster and much more powerful. However, this uses up much of his energy, so it can not be used too often.
“While the Gear second ability seems remarkable, take a look at this,” as he said this, the image shifted to Luffy facing off against the man they saw earlier who was half leopard. Luffy stuck his thumb into his mouth, and bit down. Then he began to blow hard into the hole he made in his skin, and suddenly, his arm began to grow to massive size. “This is Gear third, which he activates by biting his thumb, going all the way to his bone. He then blows air into the punctured bone, and being made of rubber, it can inflate to massive size. This size increase raises the power of his attacks incredibly, with no side effects.” In the bubble, Luffy launched the leopard/man through a wall easily with his now massive fist. Suddenly, the fist began deflating, and Luffy shrank down to the size of a small child. “Well.. almost no side effects.
“This is just scratching the surface of the abilities that Devil fruits bestow, but I think you get the idea,” Discord concluded, “So, are there any questions?”
Surprisingly, it was Kuma who responded first, “I have a question.”
“Oh, and what might that be?”
“How is it that you know of the Devil Fruits and their abilities so well, despite them being from a different dimension?” Kuma asked.
“Well, I would know a lot about Devil Fruits, seeing as I am their creator...”