"Well, what do you say, do you want to come under the Rocks Pirates as an apprentice?"
Damien narrowed his eyes at the smoking woman.
Shakuyaku and Kaido.
Both had deep connections to the huddle of power in the New World, though currently, they both were simply weapons of Rocks D. Xebec.
Such an invitation could be considered signing one's own death certificate, but to Damien, it was a calling.
'Rocks is due to fall in a few years,' the young pirate thought to himself. 'The flourish way to survive in this hellish era would be in the den of danger.'
Damien could feel that his small clash with Kaido had already shaped his Haki quite a bit, reflected in the notification that had come.
[Armament Haki mastery has reached the Intermediate stage.]
Such a boost in strength begged the question: just what height could he reach by being around such monsters?
A smile appeared on the young pirate's face as he resolutely answered: "Alright, I'll join."
"Hehe, I look forward to your growth, Damien-chan~" Shakky returned a smile.
She then walked to the docks, caring little of the mess they left behind.
"Let's go then, we need to leave before some nuisances arrive."
Kaido roared out a laugh, "WORORORO! We'll finish our fight later!"
'Pull up Kaido's stats,' Damien ordered.
After a duel, it was enough to quantify the future Emperor's current power.
>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-==-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=-----
Damien was slightly annoyed by the vast difference in the numbers.
The only reason the gap existed was due to Damien's disappearance from the world news while Kaido had been rampaging his way through the seas over the past two years.
"What the hell is up with that epithet? What sin did I commit?" he said with a confused look.
Kaido, who was gobbling a huge piece of meat, grinned, "WORORORO! Our Captain is called 'The Abyssal Sin', looks like the Navy sees you as his little toy!"
The revelation left Damien befuddled.
Though seeing Kaido's condescending look made him shoot back, "I guess they see me as a graver threat than you, just wait till I leave you in the dust."
*Crunch*
A huge chunk of the table was ripped off by the hulking pirate as he heard Damien's reply.
…
The people nearby chose against picking a fight as they just watched the two young monsters arguing amongst one another, while simultaneously devouring enough food to fuel a small village.
*Burp!*
Kaido let out a ground-shaking burp as he gurgled down a huge barrel of alcohol.
Damien just shook his head at the scolding to come, and it came fast.
A slender woman appeared from the side with a stern face, "You shouldn't be drinking at your age, Kaido-chan, it'll mess with your growth."
Even though her size was dwarfed by the hulking young pirate, she carried a certain air of hidden power.
Kaido harrumphed at the scolding, "Something that tastes good can't be bad for you, stop pestering me, woman!"
Shakky squinted her eyes in return, "Don't test my patience, young man."
The giant teenager just growled as he threw the saké to the side, exploding into an aromatic spectacle.
Damien couldn't help but laugh out loud as he saw the future Emperor being reprimanded like a child.
Even the spectators were baffled but chose not to display their amusement and stifled their laugh from the fear of the 6-foot-tall woman.
A man gulped as he waved another bounty poster around, ensuring no one nearby was dumb enough to make problems:
[A Few Hours Later]
Shakky had finished some shopping and resupplying, alongside repairing the ship enough to sail for another few months.
Kaido was napping away as Damien made his way to the small room inside the cabin.
It was the same room Shakky was in. The female pirate had called him for something of grave importance.
He took a deep breath, knowing what was waiting for him once he entered.
*Creak*
The wooden door opened as the red-eyed youth walked in.
He saw the small room that was lightly lit, a normal bed and furniture in place.
Damien glanced at the short-haired woman sitting by the table, a transponder snail set in front of her.
The snail emulated the face of the person on the other side of the call.
Wild hair set in spiky dreads, feral expression plastered to the scarred face, a wide grin etched on.
.
Shakky nodded at Damien in silence and turned her attention back to the snail.
"He's here now, Captain."
She then gestured for Damien to take the snail's receiver and moved out of the way.
Damien saw the snail break out in a wider grin as it broke out a deep and hoarse voice: "Einar D.," It said. "A familiar name…"
Damien took a deep breath and replied in an unshaken voice: "Rocks D. Xebec."
"..."
The snail's scarred and savage appearance warped into deep intrigue.
"Xahahaha!" he laughed in a low tone. "You're the interesting kid that left West Blue in shambles a few years ago."
The voice continued, "Shakuyaku told me that you want to come under my flag as an apprentice, good, very good, I always welcome you ambitious brats."
His voice then grew frighteningly low, "Just remember this, kid, you can betray me whenever you want but just be prepared for the hell that will follow…"
A solemn expression appeared on the young pirate's face as he heard the menacing voice.
Damien wasn't surprised at the man's words, if anything, he admired Xebec's power to make so many powerful forces subservient to him.
He vied for that power too.
.
The snail then addressed the woman standing by the side.
"Shakuyaku, you've brought some heat on yourself by picking up that kid, you head to Sabaody while the new kid will go to Yozora Island to get the ore."
Rocks went on to say, "I'll send someone to bring you to the New World from there in a month."
The snail didn't wait for a reply and simply hung up with a: "Katcha~"
Shakky put away the snail and then glanced at Damien, "You heard the boss. I'll give you the Eternal Pose to Yozora Island and a ship, your mission is to retrieve the 'Eternal Ore' that is kept there."
She then warned Damien, "That place is also called the 'Island of Darkness', according to the captain he read a Poneglyph that said the people at Yozura Island await for someone to come and retrieve that very ore."
Damien noted down the fact that Xebec was able to decipher Poneglyphs somehow and then proceeded to ask, "What exactly is the ore for?"
The woman shrugged, "Captain said it can absorb and spread out forces it's subjected to in some magical way, let's just say that Adam's Oak is not enough for a ship to carry the monsters under the Rocks' Flag."
.
The two then walk out to the main deck of the ship.
"Take these and buy a small ship, you have a month to rendezvous with us at Sabaody, I'll wait for you there."
Damien grabbed the items the woman gave him: some money to buy a ship, an Eternal Pose to Yozora Island, a Vivre Card with Shakky's name on it, and some food.
She then pulled out a small red pouch and raised her pistol.
*Bang!* *Bang!*
The bullets hit the outside of the pouch and seemed to enchant it with some purple void-like energy.
"This pouch will store the ore, better than you carrying it back overseas, no?"
Damien nodded, though he could make do without the pouch with his Inventory, he naturally didn't want to expose it.
He graciously took all the items and walked to the edge of the ship.
"See you in a month then, Shakky-nee."
He hopped off using Moonwalk and made his way to the shipyard of Uruguana.
Shakky gave out a small laugh, "What an odd kid~"
To Be Continued…
Author's Corner.
So Shakky took a certain other woman's place on the Rocks Pirates. I hope you like my interpretation of Xebec from what little that was given.
In the original version of this fic, I gave him the epithet of "The Great Sin". Now changed to "The Abyssal Sin".
Quite ironic that the chapter detailing the 'Devil' of the story is the 13th installment of the fanfic.
Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q