“Do you know why I gave you the name Rocks?”
“So the World Government and the Marines would treat me as an enemy?”
“Wrong!
It was so you could inherit the will of Rocks, become a true great pirate, and finish what Rocks once started — his goals, his dreams!”
“If you want me dead, just say so.
No need to dress it up.
That’s not a name ordinary people can just throw around.”
“You have the talent for it.
I trust my own judgment on that.”
“…”
Somewhere on an island, beside a campfire.
A black-haired boy tore into a roasted bear paw with savage enthusiasm, chewing and swallowing, then glanced at the old man in front of him and muttered under his breath:
“No system and he’s talking about talent.
What a load of crap.”
Web novels had lied to him.
Every transmigrator was supposed to get a system — some big dramatic ding the moment they arrived.
So where was his?
“Born with awakened Observation Haki, the natural bearing of a Conqueror’s Haki user, and on top of that a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit…”
The old man, white-haired and puffing steadily on a pipe, hadn’t caught the boy’s muttering.
He went on talking, more to himself than anything:
“Your starting point is exceptionally high.
You’re the most gifted person I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“Your future is on the Grand Line, in the New World — not rotting away in the weakest of the Four Blues.
The East Blue is too small.
Shallow waters don’t breed strong fighters.”
He exhaled a long stream of smoke, carrying himself like someone who had weathered a lifetime of storms.
Then, his voice rising with encouragement, he looked at the black-haired boy.
“Rocks!
Set sail!
The Grand Line, the New World — that’s your stage!”
“Let the name Rocks ring across the seas once more!”
“I think you’re messing with me.”
The boy named Rocks kept eating his roasted meat, thoroughly unimpressed.
“I know you’re Rocks D.
Xebec’s number-one fanboy.
But throwing me into that kind of fire — you’re worried nobody’s going to look after you in your old age, aren’t you?”
The old man’s name was Dick.
He was Rocks’s foster father.
Once a member of the Rocks Pirates.
Also the single most devoted fanboy of Rocks D.
Xebec, the man who had once ruled the seas — and always trying to get the boy to inherit his idol’s will.
“We can talk about my retirement later.”
Dick watched the boy demolish a roasted black bear the size of a grown man in the span of a few short exchanges, and his heart trembled.
“All I know is, if you don’t set sail soon, I genuinely won’t have a single Berry left for retirement…”
This kid ate way too much.
Dick had already been eaten into poverty.
That was his life savings — gone.
He couldn’t afford to keep feeding this kid anymore.
“So that’s what this is really about?
Old man Dick, you’ve got some nerve.”
Rocks looked thoroughly annoyed.
“I’ve been taking care of my own food for the past year, haven’t I?
When exactly have I spent your Berries?”
Unbelievable.
So his appetite was a little large.
So what?
The way Dick talked, you’d think he was some kind of wasteful spendthrift.
Besides, ever since Rocks had developed any real strength, he’d been handling his own meals entirely.
So how exactly had he spent the old man’s money?
Shameless.
Though honestly, it was his inner Hollow that was really to blame.
The thing was genuinely awful to deal with — it needed a constant supply of energy fed to it just to stay quiet.
If it didn’t get enough, it would start devouring his soul and his life force, then take over his body entirely, reducing him to nothing more than a mindless beast of destruction.
That was why Rocks needed to eat so much.
That was the real reason behind his enormous appetite.
“What was I supposed to do about it?”
Dick looked at least a little sheepish and hid behind his pipe.
He blew a smoke ring before finally admitting, a bit awkwardly:
“Who told you to eat so much?
Even Kaido of the Beasts never ate like you.
The money running out is the least of it — the real problem is you’ve nearly wiped out every animal and plant on this island.
The locals are furious.”
“And you’re already seventeen.
You’re old enough to set sail.
That sea is your stage.
Let the name Rocks once again—”
“Stop.
You’ve said that too many times.
I’m sick of hearing it.”
Rocks cut his foster father off with undisguised contempt.
“I’m not looking to be Rocks the Second.
I’m me — Dick Rocks.”
He’d been hearing that line since he was ten.
The old man had real skill when it came to getting inside your head.
Any ordinary kid probably would have been thoroughly brainwashed by now.
Lucky for Rocks, he was a transmigrator.
He wasn’t buying it.
Rocks swallowed the last piece of roasted bear and said:
“Honestly, I’d be setting sail even if you never said a word.
I’ve already made a promise to someone, and I have my own reasons.”
He did have reasons.
Just not that garbage about inheriting Rocks D.
Xebec’s will.
He had zero interest in that.
His reasons were about dealing with a threat.
Thinking about that threat put him in a dark mood.
Never mind how he’d ended up transmigrating into the world of One Piece in the first place — just the fact that he’d arrived without a system was exhausting enough on its own.
Still, even without a system, Rocks hadn’t arrived empty-handed.
He did have a cheat ability.
It just happened to be a rather difficult one.
The Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Black-Winged Hollow Demon.
That’s right.
A Hollow from the world of Bleach had appeared in this world in the form of a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit.
That was Rocks’s cheat ability.
From the moment he had transmigrated, the Devil Fruit had appeared right beside him, as if it had crossed over with him.
It might have had something to do with the fact that he’d been watching Ichigo’s battle with Ulquiorra at the time.
Either way, Rocks had arrived under mysterious circumstances and ended up with this Mythical Zoan fruit under equally mysterious ones.
He’d become a Mythical Zoan user.
If other Devil Fruit users had a “demon” living inside them, then what Rocks had inside him was a Hollow.
Whether other users could actually see the demon inside themselves, Rocks didn’t know.
But he could see his own Hollow clearly.
From its appearance — its features, its form — Rocks had confirmed it: what lived inside him was Ulquiorra’s Black-Winged Hollow Demon.
Rocks was a user of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Black-Winged Hollow Demon.
He was a Jinchuriki with a Hollow as his tenant, and he was a man with that Hollow literally living inside him.
Anyone who had watched Naruto or Bleach knew exactly how dangerous it was to have a monster living inside you.
They always wanted to kill the host and claim their freedom.
Rocks’s inner Hollow was no different.
It wanted to devour his life force and soul, then take over his body.
Rocks could slow that process by eating — replenishing his energy and giving the Hollow something to consume.
But that wasn’t a sustainable solution.
Because the more energy the Hollow consumed, the stronger it was getting.
That growth cut both ways.
The upside: it let Rocks unlock and gradually master more Hollow abilities.
The downside: the stronger the Hollow grew, the more dangerous his situation became.
It was the sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
To remove the threat, Rocks needed to grow strong enough himself — strong enough to completely subjugate the Hollow inside him.
Maybe then its threat would finally disappear.
This was a matter of life and death.
Even if his foster father Dick had never wanted him to set sail, Rocks would have done it anyway.
To eat enough.
To stay alive.
He had no choice.
At the same time, Rocks genuinely yearned for the sea.
He’d already come this far.
A transmigrator wasn’t about to waste his life cooped up in a corner of the East Blue.
He wanted to see everything this world had to offer.
Dick’s eyes lit up when he heard this.
“You’ve already picked your crewmate?
Kuina, right?
Ha!
Good choice, good choice, that girl is no slouch in a fight, and she’s easy on the eyes too…”
“The two of you are going to do great things together.
Let the name Rocks ring across the world once more!”
“…”
Rocks’s expression darkened.
Hopeless fanboy, he thought.
But he was used to the old man by now.
Responding wasn’t worth the effort.
***
about the MC’s name, I’m also lil bit confused, Dick Rocks as in Japanese name order?
like Monkey D Luffy.
or does the MC name himself Dick?
, but ….Rocks Dick…hahahaahahahaa.
so it’s safe to assume it’s Dick Rocks, his name is Rocks, probably took the old man’s name as his surname.