“Crack!”
Electric arcs frantically surged through the air, lightning instantly ionizing the surrounding atmosphere.
The blindingly harsh light made nearby pirates unable to keep their eyes open, and someone screamed on the spot from the piercing glare.
“Ah!
My eyes!”
“Kaido, you bastard, if you want to court death, don’t drag us down with you!”
The pirates near the port watched the thunderclouds continuously gathering in the sky, fleeing desperately in all directions.
Each of them mustered every ounce of strength they had, terrified that being even a step too slow would draw them into the vortex.
The thunderclouds in the sky twisted incessantly, lightning frantically converging within six gigantic lightning vortexes.
“Meteor God Ring!”
“Crack!!!”
Six thick thunder spears directly tore through the air, crashing down like six massive mountains.
The moment the thunder spears flew out, they connected with one another, condensing into a gigantic ring of lightning that smashed toward the port.
Scorching heat waves, surging currents, and steaming sea mist rushed toward them.
The water vapor and dust within the range of the ring were instantly evaporated, and the air even showed visible distortions to the naked eye.
The pirates who ran too slowly instantly turned into charcoal the moment they touched the lightning ring, while those slightly stronger were left with only a breath left, collapsing onto the ground and twitching continuously.
“Hurry and dodge!”
“Rector!
This is your base camp!”
“Bastard!
Which idiot in the world angered this lunatic?!”
Hearing the surrounding screams, Rocks’s deep black eyes suddenly narrowed.
Looking at the lightning ring descending from the sky, a malevolent smile filled with ferocity surfaced on his twisted face.
“Hey, brat, this is my territory.”
“Clang—”
Rocks drew eclipse from his waist, deep black Haki covering the blade like a tide, and a terrifying oppressive aura instantly enveloped the entire port.
The wooden boards of the port creaked.
Standing in place, he swung his sword with a single arm, and the air in front of him instantly exploded.
The flying slash that should have been sharp smashed out like a cannonball at this moment.
The slash carrying violent power shot straight into the clouds, and the impact crashed fiercely into the lightning ring in mid-air like a black tsunami.
The moment the two attacks collided, cracks split open on the ground beneath their feet, water walls dozens of meters high were blasted from the sea surface, and the entire port was covered in a blinding white light.
“Crackling!
Crack, crack, crack!”
The divine ring of lightning shattered on the spot, fine lightning arcs splashing in all directions, and the remaining might smashed into the sea, condensing a gigantic lightning net upon the ocean surface.
The seawater was boiled by the high temperature, and one Sea King after another floated to the surface with their bellies up.
The ground of the port was shaken into dense cobweb-like cracks, with gravel and wood chips flying everywhere.
Within the entire port, the only one still standing steadily was Rocks holding his sword with a single arm.
The watching pirates in the distance all had weak legs; someone’s legs directly gave out, causing them to kneel and sit on the ground, muttering to themselves.
“Th-this brat…
is he really human?”
“Only Captain Rocks is still able to stand…”
Rector hovered in mid-air, lightning slithering around him like spirit snakes.
His silver-white long hair was gently lifted by the currents, fluttering wildly in the sea breeze.
Faint lightning flickered around his body, and his entire person seemed to have merged into one with the thunderclouds overhead.
“Clang!”
Rocks sheathed eclipse back into its scabbard, his solemn gaze firmly locked onto Rector in mid-air.
The lightning illuminated his ferocious profile, and the purple electrical pattern on his left cheek twitched slightly, making his expression look even more sinister.
The two of them stared at each other from afar across mid-air.
At this moment, the waves crashing against the shore seemed to have stopped, and even the earth beneath their feet ceased its tremor.
“Hahaha!!”
“Good brat, decent strength!
You are Big Mom’s son?”
“Join my Rocks Pirates!
I’ll take you to see the scenery at the peak of the world!”
Rocks spread his arms, his laughter filled with undisguised excitement, issuing the invitation right in front of all the pirates in the port.
The surrounding watching pirates were so shocked that their jaws nearly dropped to the ground, unable to believe their ears.
“B-but Captain Rocks!
He just killed…”
A pirate mustered up the courage to speak, but meeting Rocks’s sweeping gaze, his voice instantly stuck in his throat.
The color on his face drained completely in an instant, and his legs went weak as he knelt straight down.
“Thud!
Thud!
Thud!”
“Captain Rocks!
I was wrong!
Spare me!”
The pirate lay flat on the ground, kowtowing incessantly, and blood quickly formed on his forehead.
Rector in the high altitude watched this scene, his throat moving slightly.
With just a single look, someone was scared like this—is this the deterrent force of the world’s most evil pirate?
A bitter smile welled up in Rector’s heart.
His right hand hidden behind his back kept switching between a solid form and lightning, yet it consistently failed to condense!
Hachinosu, inside the skull banquet hall.
The air floated with the aroma of strong liquor and sweet, cloying cake.
Big Mom, who had just finished giving birth, completely recovered in just three days.
She leaned against the bar counter, while opposite her, Rocks was holding a wine glass, drinking away his sorrows cup after cup.
“Rocks!
You actually got rejected!
He even said your strength is too weak!”
Floating in the air nearby, Golden Lion Shiki laughed so hard he slapped his thighs, tears almost coming out.
As the Captain of the Rocks Pirates, taking the initiative to invite the child of a pirate under his command to join, only to be rejected.
Not only that, the other party also said to his face that his strength was insufficient, yet Rocks neither got angry nor went to settle accounts with Rector.
What was even stranger was that Rector pulled Rocks into a secret room that day, and Rocks stayed inside for a whole day.
After coming out, he only focused on drinking without saying a single word.
“Shut up, Shiki!”
Whitebeard shouted to stop Shiki in a deep voice.
He carried a bottle of sherry and sat next to Rocks, staring at Rocks’s expressionless face.
“What on earth did you and that brat talk about?”
Whitebeard’s voice reverberated in the hall like muffled thunder, but Rocks did not answer, only frowning as if thinking about something.
That day in the secret room, Rector said only three sentences to him.
“As a person of the Davy Clan, do not underestimate the World Government, and even less underestimate the man sitting on the Empty Throne.”
“Quickly relocate your family away from God Valley.
With your current strength, you still cannot defeat Imu.”
“Beware of Imu’s Black Turn Domination.”
These three sentences directly hit Rocks’s deepest-hidden secret—his hometown, his family, which he had never mentioned to anyone.
When he pursued the source of the information, Rector blocked his questions with a single sentence: “I can foresee the future.”
Rector gave Rocks a feeling that was far too mysterious; even the secrets of his family were known to him.
This matter must absolutely not be let known to anyone.
What did the Black Turn Domination mentioned in the last sentence mean?
Was it a Devil Fruit ability?
Or Imu’s special ability?
…
Zeus sped across the sky above the Red Line, heading in the direction away from Hachinosu.
He had already told Rocks all the information he should say, but Rocks’s plan was doomed to fail from the very beginning.
Harald would never eat the Nidhogg fruit, for their convictions ran counter to each other from the start.
Harald wholeheartedly wanted Elbaf to become a member nation of the World Government.
After Rocks died, Harald directly swore an oath at Marineford that even if he became a slave, he would make Elbaf a World member nation.
If the King of Giants truly became a slave of the Celestial Dragons, the Giant Race would become the laughingstock of the entire world.
Even if it came to this, he would spare nothing; Harald’s goal was for the Giant Race to shake off the label of barbarism and integrate into the world.
If Rocks wanted to persuade Harald to challenge the World Government with him, he could only invite him before Harald met Ida.
The other legendary Devil Fruit that Rocks was looking for still had not a shred of news to this day.
Whether it was the Nika fruit, the Dark-Dark Fruit, or the common people fruit, they would not appear until thirty-seven years later.
By the time Rocks found the fruit he needed, he would already be seventy-three years old; how much strength could he possibly have left?
With the increase in age, physical strength, body defense, and endurance would all decline.
Even Rocks at his peak would not be able to defeat Imu if they met.
Let alone Loki of the new era, whose strength surpassed that of a young Rocks, not to mention an elderly and frail Rocks.
Moreover, forty-three years later, it would no longer be the era of pirates, but the era of the Four Gods—the God of Forests, the God of Rain, the God of Earth, and the Sun God.