Grandline: Ten Trials Arc

The Ten Trials Arc is the fourth Arc in Grandline's Roleplay Story. The Red Rebellion takes the fight straight to Jarilo and his Sky Knights, hoping to free the Skypiean natives from the opression of the Birkan Government, but first they will have to endure the Ten Trials of the Upper Yard.

Prologue
The Red Wing Pirates have arrived in White Sea and have joined with the Shandian Rebellion to form the Red Rebellion. The Red Rebellion hopes to challenge the rule of the dictatorship known as "New Birka", which used to be the peaceful White Sea Islands of Skypiea. They have clashed with several of the Birkan Sky Knights known as the Preists and ultimately failed in their first attempts to behead Jarilo's empire. Now they plan to take the fight into the heart of the Holy Ground, the Upper Yard.

The Preliminary Trials
Four weeks have passed since the destruction of Lovely Island and the Red Rebellion is ready. Ruri has been cured of his brainwashing and enlisted amongst the ranks of the rebels, Lyndis has been nursed to health and the Red Rebellion has organized itself into a militia fighting force. There are four divisions, he first division is led by Luna and Zaiel, the second Lyndis and Romeo, the third Gajeel, Mars and Ruri and finally the fourth is lead by Squall and Ramon. Luna debreifs the Red Rebellion, whom prepare to storm the Upper Yard. She tells them that the Upper Yard is protected by the ordeals known as the "Ten Trials" which are hosted by the five Birkan Preists.

The Rebellion heads out directly through a path to the Upper Yard, where they are met by an army of White Beret Enforcers. They wage an epic battle in the first trial, the Trial of Invasion which is said to have a 90% survival rate. The Red Rebellion completes the trial with a one hundred percent survival rate, defeating the White Berets without any casualties. Next they are confronted with a gigantic altar, which calls for a sacrifice. Romeo rushes to its top where he is struck by lightning, but in the moment he is struck by lightning, four portals appear. Zaiel deducts that a sacrifice must endure lightning bolts in order for the portals to the next eight trials to be opened. Gajeel decides to to be the sacrifice, feeling that his iron body is the only body that could endure the trial. Gajeel steps atop the altar and is struck by lightning, allowing everyone to move on ahead.

After Gajeel's noble sacrifice, the Red Rebellion presses on deeper into the Upper Yard, choosing between the four portals which would lead them to unknown trials. Each division goes through a portal resulting in them coming face to face with different Trials.Romeo and Lyndis arrive in a strange area where the enviroment has been altered, trees appear to be made of rubber and mikly roads run throughout the area. White Berets arrive to stop their division but the rebels make short work of the enforcers despite their enviroment, passing the Trial of Texture. Mars and Pantherlily arrive in the Trial of Perception, where one of their senses has been stripped from them. The White Berets arrive on the battlefield but it seems they are facing the same trial, Mars leads the division to defeat the enforcers by combining their senses by working as a single unit. By defeating the Whtie Berets, Mars and Ruri complete the Trial of Perception.

After completing their Trials, new portals open that bring them face to face with Preists. Whilst Romeo and Lyndis recongize their foe, Preist Trance, Mars and Ruri are faced with a new Sky Knight; Preist Nobu. Nobu is Ruri's replacement as a Sky Knight and is a cat just like Ruri, having eaten a Cat Cat Fruit model as well.Nobu claims that his intelligence and fighting strength is far supperior to former preist Ruri's. He activates the trial and the enviromet changes as many trees are scattered into pieces of paper that surround the battlefield.

Confused, Ruri hastily begins inspecting the papers to find that they are marked with certain symbols. Before he can gather two many, Nobu makes his move and shifts into battle mode which is another trait the two cats share. Mars takes over inspecting the papers while Ruri holds off Nobu, but Ruri is unable to gain any leverage in the battle. Nobu is able to predict Ruri's every attack before he even attempts it and eventually be exhausts the cat back into his normal chibi form. Figuring out that the Preist is using Mantra to predict their attacks, Mars activates a Mantra of his own. Mars explains to Ruri that Mantra is a special ability within the Sky People that allows them to manifest their willpower or "spritual energy" into special abilities. Nobu's ability allows him to predict the actions of his oppoenents, while Mars manifests his willpower into dark energy which he shapes into the form of a panther.

Ready to take on the Preist, the Shandian warrior posses with his fingers towards him which commences the battle. Ruri collects the papers and deduces that the symbols represent the different Trials in Birkan Text. Ruri is unable to deduce which Preist is with each Trial and figures that Nobu must have the answers in his book. Mars struggles against the Preist as even with his own Mantra, his attacks become useless. Nobu eventually defeats Mars by punching him into a tree and swarming him with papers folded into paper airplanes which pin him to the tree. Ruri takes up his battle form again and fiercly attacks the Preist to no avail. Out of anger and without thinking, Mars spits at the Preist which lands on his glasses. Nobu hastily cleans them and his sucker-punched by Ruri, revealing the Preists secret. Ruri and Mars deduce that the Preist's glasses are increasing the power of his Mantra.

While panicking, Nobu's glasses are stolen by Ruri and Mars sends out one last attack with his Mantra to send the knight flying into the sky. The two collect the symbols and arrange them according to Nobu's book, completing the trial. Mars tells Ruri to go on without him as he is too injured to be of any use, but Ruri supports him up and tells him they are a team. Mars is shocked by Ruri's attitude due to the fact that he was once Birkan, but he agrees and the two move on to the next Trial.

Romeo and Lyndis enter the Trial of Tangibility hosted by Trance, whom in the past had greviously injured Lyndis. The two quickly attack Trance but he uses his trial to his advantage, using an assortment of dials to alter the enviroment and change every situation. He slides down milky roads and sets a clock in which the two must defeat him by in order to pass the Triial. Using cloud dials to constantly change direction of the milky roads, and explosive dials to knock his opponents off course, the rebels have trouble capturing Trance. The Shandian warriors aid the two pirates as they try and create cloud roads that intersect and connect with Trance's milky roads, making the blue sea people capable of catching him. When the two finally catch up to the Preist he uses his Birkan wings to fly past them and fight of the Shandian warriors. After the warriors are cut down, he resumes his old strategy of creating confusing roads and using his sword to liquify tree's. Romeo trys to catch up but gets trapped within one of the liquefied trees, holding him inside its glue like texture.

Lyndis  fights one on one with the Preist, the two trade blows after the pirate challenges the Trance's birkan pride. Trance continuesly gloats that he is a Birkan and will not lose to savages and lower beings. While fighting, Lyndis' sword is nearly liquified for the second time by Trance's soft sword, but she is aided by one of Romeo's glows, which guards Lyndis but is liquified. Trance flee's once again but thanks to Romeo's help she is able to see a path through the trees that Trance has already liquified. Lyndis reveals her new Haikyoku technique which surges her blade with electricity and allows her to strike and resheath at the speed of lightning. She cuts through several tree's right at the Preist who trys to defend but his sword and armor is shattered. Trance falls out of the sky defeated, completing the Trial. Lyndis allows Trance to live, his defeat is death to his Birkan Pride and thats all she needs to defeat him. Romeo free's himself and the two move on through the next portal. .

The Three Trials of Terror!
Six of the Ten Trials have now been completed by the Red Rebellion. Romeo, Lyndis, Mars and Ruri have all completed atleast two trials each, but Squall, Zaiel, Luna and Ramon have been driven directly into the toughest trials after passing through the first four portals. The next three trials are known as the Trieals of Terror and are hosted by the strongest trio of Preists. The first division is met by Anya and her Trial of Angels, but these two trials are nothing compared to the fourth division who are faced with the strongest preist; Dante and his Trial of Destruction. The second and third divisions are now headed into the Trial of Persona's, having already been exausted from the previous two trials.

Squall enters an area of the Upper Yard where the temperature and humidity is much higher then the average he has experienced thus far. After shedding his jacket, he and Ramon are met face to face by Dante who ignites flames that engulf Squall and Ramon's shandians subbordinates, incinerating them. Dante welcomes the two to hell and explains that the Trial of Tangibility had a thirty-nine percent survival rate, Calculations had a forty-one percent survival rate, Persona's has a nine percent survival rate, Angels has a three percent survival rate, and his own trials has a zero percent survival rate.

Dante begins the Trial and transforms himself into "Iblis", causing his skin to turn red, his mass to expand gorwing claws and fangs while spreading wings of fire. Dante explains his power comes from his Hellfire Ring, which is the opposite of Squall's Halo ring. Ramon takes the first chance to attack, transforming into his monsterous form but is quickly dispatched by a magma infused punch from Dante, which punctures the gatekeepers chest, gravely injuring him. Ramon collapses back to his human form and Squall watches in shock that Ramon was downed so easily. Squall prepares to attack but is beaten to the punch by Dante. Dante claims that his Hellfire Ring is the polar opposite of Squall's Halo ring, and also boasts that it is far stronger.

An infuriated Squall fights back against Dante using the powers of light, but is hardly able to land a blow on the Preist. Dante toys with Squall, showing off the powers of his hellfire ring. Squall struggles to survive the furious onslaught of attacks while Dante simply wishes to show them the difference in their power. Hoping to see the potential of Squall's strength, Dante leaves an opening to be attacked. Squall uses that chance to strike him with a rain of light. This seemingly injures Dante, but infact he isn't even slowed by the attack and strikes the Halo fighter, blinding him momentarilly in one eye. Dante figures that Squall has already peaked and decides to finish him, sending the Pirate underground, plunging into a pit of fire. While seemingly burning to death, Squall is transferred into his own psyche and his met by Tenshi. Tenshi explains that before most of his own soul passed on, he left pieces of it within each of the people who he passed his will onto.

Tenshi has travelled deep within Squall's soul and has found that his true strength has been completely untapped, and his potential can be unlocked with Tenshi's help. The source of all strength is the bonds that one makes with the ones they care about, Squall strength comes from his bonds with his crewmates and his love Lyndis. Tenshi brings these bonds to light and increases Squall's power ten fold, he then bids the Pirate farewell and that piece of his soul fades. Squall returns to reality and free's himself from the pit of Fire. Shocked, Dante questions Squall's survival but his even more surprised when Squall unleashes a flurry of attacks which injure the strongest of preists. Squall's speed and strength has clearly increased to the point where Dante is forced into using more advanced techniques. Before Squall is hit he activates his secret techniques, which have been unlocked by Tenshi. His Tenjutsu renders Dante's attacks useless, and the Preist questions how his Hellfire ring is being bested by Squall's holy light.

Squall explains that it is not the weapon that makes the fighter, it is the strength of their allies and conviction that fuel their strength. The bonds that he has developed with not only the Red Wing Pirates but with all of the Shandian and Skypieans are like a thousand hands that protect him. Those thousand hands take form in Squall's Tenjutsu finishing technique, which thrust one thousand palms a dozen times each into Dante, beating him to a pulp. Squall is the first to successfully complete a trial of terror, beating the odds of a survival rate of zero and has beaten the strongest preist.

Meanwhile, the second and third divisions meet up in the Trial of Personas. They are immediately attacked by Earl's Draco formation, which incapacitates several Shandians and Mars. This leaves only Ruri, Romeo and Lyndis, but their allies rise again under the control of Earl. His trial takes over the mind of the incapacitated and makes them fight against their friends until they are all under his control. Mars strikes down Ruri who is immediately taken over by Earl. Romeo fights unwillingly against Ruri and ends up freezing him as a solution to their fight. While under Earl's control, Mars pins down Lyndis and allows himself to be struck by the Draco formation so Lyndis is hit as well. This sacrifices Mars' body but allows Earl to gain control of the Swordswomen. Romeo then stands alone against all of his fallen allies.

Romeo struggles to fight his allies without inujuring them and figures he can freeze them in order to immobilize them. But then Romeo must deal with Lyndis and Earl's puppets who are much more antagonizing then the other fighters. Eventually Lyndis and the Puppets get the best of Romeo and the puppets pin him down onto the ground. Hoping to show Romeo the difference in their strength, Earl threatens to kill him rather then take control of him. Before Romeo is struck down by Lyndis, he enters his own physque and is met gracefully by Tenshi, who unlocks a power within Romeo that he has never known. Tenshi's blessing unlocked a glow within Romeo, a green glow that allowed him to maniplate the earth. Able to manipulate stone, Romeo gained the upperhand in battle and was even able to locate Earl's true location. With that, a close range battle was the end of their struggle. Earl forfeitted the Trial and surrended before he was injured and true to his word he released everyone from his control and allowed Romeo to move on.

Zaiel and Luna go through their portal straight into a land they know very well, the city of gold; Shandora! Anya appears, claiming she chose Shandora as the site of her trial because she wished to slaughter the two rebels on their home court. Deeply offended, Luna challenges Anya but is overwhelmed by her "Angels" and is captured. It is then that Zaiel decides to challenge Anya and her angels alone.

Zaiel fights against Anya but struggles against her three Angels, one having incredible strength with its hammer, a shapeshifter and one with immense mass and invulnerability. Zaiel is eventually overwhlemed by the three and Anya pins him down. Luna frees herself from the Angels grip and saves Zaiel, only to be greviously injured by Anya's spear. This enrages Zaiel who strikes in a fit of his wrath only be struck down by all three angels. Zaiel is unable to challenge Anya with his Staves and his Mantra was sealed away before he was exiled.

Zaiel enters his own unconcious phsyche where he meets his old friend Tenshi, who split his soul and merged it with Zaiels. The two have a heartfelt reunion that is short lived as Tenshi only has time to pass on his blessing, unlocking Zaiel's mantra. Zaiel returns to reality and quickly dispatches the three angels with the use of his Celestial Mantra, the strongest Mantra known in Skypiea. Quaking in fere, Anya trys to flee but is caught by Zaiel and subsiquently defeated in one blow, fatally injuring the Preist. Zaiel then rushes to Luna's side, pleading for her life. Only to find that she is infact alive and well, Zaiel sheds tears of joy as he prepares to move on to complete the trials.

The God of Skypiea
Although ten trials have now been completed, there is one final portal that Romeo and Lyndis go through. Squall is awakened and transported alongside them where they meet with Zaiel in the center of Shandora. They gaze upon a gigantic bean stalk which reaches to a jovian planet like sphere where Jarilo decends from. He is impressed and annoyed that histrials were completed but also finds it amusing that out of the rebellion only 4 have made it to him. Ready to showcase his power, Jarilo announces the eleventh and final trial is defeating him for the freedom of Skypiea.

Calling himself "God" Jarilo showcases his otherworldly powers bestowed upon him by his Goro Goro no Mi Devil Fruit. Jarilo transforms into a bolt of lightning which contasntly strikes the group, only Squall is able to catch him by using his "Ankou" technique. Despite his speed, Squall is still suffering from injuries sustained in his battle with Dante, and is quickly dispatched by Jarilo as a result. Romeo and Lyndis follow suit, quickly knocked unconcious by the Birkan Lord. This only leaves Zaiel to challenge Jarilo with his Mantra, Zaiel is able to hold is own but finds himself backed into a corner, already fatigued by battle whilst Jarilo is fresh.

The Lightning God prepares to bestow judgement on Zaiel by striking him witha bolt of lightning that would likely kill the Skypiean Knight. The bolt of lightning is luckily redirected suddenly and absorbed into Gajeel, who makes a dramatic appearance. Returning to battle, Gajeel reveals that is the one thousandth time he had been struck by lightning during his time in Skypiea, and he is more then capable of enduring ten thousand more. The two banter back and forth, ready to challenge their other worldly powers against one another. Gajeel attacks repeatedly but struggles to land a hit as he cannot physically touch Jarilo in his lightning form. Gajeel figures that he must conduct him in his lightning form and uses his iron scales to do such. His tactic works for only a moment as Jarilo simply uses his speed and supperior strength to overpower Gajeel.

Before it gets too out of hand, Zaiel steps back into the battle and holds of Jarilo while Gajeel prepares his next move. Gajeel focus' and transforms the battlefield's soil into iron powder, nicknamed "Iron Sand". By using this, Gajeel can manipulate magnetism and control the iron sand from far range while attacking and defending Jarilo. Jarilo struggles to escape the iron sand due to its magnetic abilities, and its automatically attracted to Jarilo's lightning. Gajeel is able to capture him and bury the "God" underneath several meters of Iron Sand.

Exausted, Gajeel and Zaiel decide to awake their allies in order to aid them before Jarilo escapes his unqiue prison. Romeo, Lyndis and Squall awake to the surprise return of Gajeel, and before long Jarilo activates his Protection mantra which extends his muscle mass and size tremendously. He brutalizes his way out of his prison and attacks the group. Gajeel trys to resubmerge the God but is simply overpowered. Jarilo easily takes the upper hand over the group and prepares to finish them off with a giant torrent of lightning. Just as the heroes are about to be vaporized, the lightning is literally disassmbled due to the arrival of Red Hair Clive. Clive immediately clashes with Jarilo, and for the first time showcases his true strength in front of his crew. Deathly serious, Clive overwhelms Jarilo with his Devil Fruit powers which allow him to physically shatter Jarilo's lightning. Although clearly outmatched, the God refuses to back down and fights with Clive. As the two duel, Jarilo asks where Clive has been hiding during all of these events.

Clive tells Jarilo (and those watching the battle) that he had been doing heavy reconnaissance, and it took him a while but he finnally discovered an old Skypiean secret. Tenshi's soul had given hints inside of Clive's mind that lead him to the "Tenojinn". An ancient temple that fortells the origins of Skypiea and all of its history, including what was recorded by Tenshi's dying body. In the temple he found Tenshi's original body, a skeleton holding a book that has recorded the truth of the "New Birkans". It tells the story of an Angel whom stole the remains of "God and gave them to subjects who then would become Angels and Gods. The truth behind this story is that Tsubasa, leader of the White Wing Pirates was a large part of a tower that would reach to Heaven, a plan by the World Government to reach Skypiea. Slaves were illegally gathered and used to build this tower, and amongst these slaves were the Preists of New Birka as Children.

The children selected from the hundreds of slaves were implanted with the cells of God Enel, whos remains had been discovered by Tsubasa. By combinding his remains with a special type of Dial known as a Soul Dial, the Enel's birkan power was transferred directly into Mel's test subjects. Their memories were then tampered with, and they were brainwashed into believing they were an opprossed Empire waiting to rise against Skypiea. Then they were all strategically placed by Mel, and they successfully took over Skypiea, creating their current government.

This truth is only proven by Jarilo's reaction, remembering the times of the tower and even his experimentation. Jarilo is enraged through his denial and plans to use hiss ultimate Mantra to completely destroy Skypiea. Clive leaves Romeo to counter the attack, who is empowered by Tenshi's final wishes, and enters his Rainbow form which was first used against Gajeel. Romeo unveils his "Secret Glowing Technique: Teniro" which creates a flurry of hundreds of glows that impact and defeat Jarilo once and for all.

The New Birkan Government finally collapses at the seams, leaving Zaiel and Luna to reform Skypiea. They thanks the Red Wings and they all take a moment to celebrate and remember the life of Tenshi, for without his sacrifice, peace of this would have been possible. Zaiel is named the new God of Skypiea, a righteous King alonside his Queen Luna, who plan to lead their people to peace and the White Sea Tenshi yearned for.