Hua Ye the “Quincy” had become famous across Hachinosu.
By now, practically everyone on the island knew that a newcomer had appeared who could exchange blows with Rocks without immediately being overwhelmed.
Rocks might not have been particularly serious during their fight, but that alone was enough to shock people.
Hua Ye looked incredibly young, yet possessed astonishing strength, and the abilities he used were completely incomprehensible to the pirates who had witnessed them firsthand.
Most noteworthy of all, he had rejected Rocks’ invitation and refused to join the Rocks Pirates.
The Rocks Pirates themselves had originally been built through Davy Back Fights, an old game passed down among pirates.
Two pirate crews would compete in several events, gambling their crewmates and flags against one another in a cruel contest.
Any member of the losing crew chosen by the victors had to immediately become a subordinate of the winning captain.
Years ago, Rocks had repeatedly challenged different pirate crews through Davy Back Fights and used them to recruit a large number of powerful people.
From that alone, it was obvious how domineering Rocks could be.
Yet he had not tried to force Hua Ye into his crew.
He never explained why.
He merely called Hua Ye interesting.
To everyone else, however, it was clear that Rocks had taken a liking to what Hua Ye had shown him.
Hachinosu was enormous.
Its name evoked a beehive, and pirates truly did swarm into the island endlessly like bees—most of them vicious criminals with blood on their hands.
Even in a place like this, there was a food chain.
The Rocks Pirates stood unquestionably at the top.
Hachinosu had been packed with dangerous criminals even before Rocks arrived, but he and his crew had eventually taken control of the island by force.
And in a den filled entirely with villains, only overwhelming strength could make other villains tremble.
“Mercy…
Please, my lord!”
“Let us go!
We were just passing through!”
“We’ll submit!
We swear!”
A group of battered pirates lay sprawled across the ground, begging the figure standing before them for their lives.
Their captain’s cooling corpse lay not far away.
That was the reason they had surrendered so quickly.
Hua Ye looked down at them with only one thought in mind.
He needed to expand the scale of his power.
“Raise your heads.”
His voice was calm.
The pirates obeyed.
Several had faces covered in blood, and every pair of eyes looking up at Hua Ye was filled with terror.
Strictly speaking, they really hadn’t done anything to offend him.
They had actually just been passing by.
But Hua Ye hadn’t felt like wasting time explaining what he wanted, so he’d beaten them down first and decided to talk afterward.
“I will grant you the power to dominate these seas.”
Hua Ye produced a glass of liquor.
The dark red liquid rippled as he gently swirled it.
The pirates stared blankly, unable to understand what was happening.
A silver five-pointed star pendant appeared in Hua Ye’s hand.
He clenched it tightly in his palm.
Blood ran down the fine silver chain and dripped into the glass.
With another casual motion, he tossed more than a dozen small cups onto the ground, then divided the blood-laced liquor among them.
“Drink.”
His expression remained indifferent.
“And welcome your new lives.”
The dozen or so pirates exchanged uneasy looks.
Then they saw the expression on Hua Ye’s face—an expression that might as well have said, ‘Drink it or die.’
They didn’t have much of a choice.
Before long, each pirate held a tiny cup.
Normally, that amount of alcohol wouldn’t even wet their throats, yet now their hands trembled around the glass.
It felt as though they weren’t holding liquor at all, but some demon sealed inside the cup, staring back at them from beneath the dark surface.
Under Hua Ye’s gaze, they finally tipped their heads back and swallowed the liquor mixed with his blood.
Clatter!
Clatter!
Clatter!
Clatter!
Cups slipped from their hands and shattered across the ground.
The pirates froze in the exact postures they’d been drinking in, as if someone had paused a recording.
Hua Ye silently stepped back several paces.
The next instant, screams tore through the air.
The pirates clawed madly at their own faces until blood ran beneath their fingernails.
Their mouths stretched open as strangled noises escaped their throats, and their bodies convulsed as violently as if they were being electrocuted.
No one knew how long it lasted.
Eventually, the screams stopped.
The scene that looked more like some bizarre cult ritual finally came to an end.
“Th-This is…”
One pirate stared at his palm, clearly sensing that something inside his body had changed.
Another clutched his head with both hands, eyes bulging as he muttered under his breath like a man possessed.
“Quincy…”
At last, one of them spoke the name.
The transformation was complete.
Together, they raised their heads and stared at Hua Ye.
For a brief moment during the ritual, they had felt as though their souls were suspended in the narrow gap between life and death.
Then information had flooded into their minds like a tide.
Knowledge transmitted through the blood.
The fundamental nature of a being known as a Quincy.
And along with that knowledge, they now understood exactly what kind of existence the man before them represented.
“YOUR MAJESTY!!”
Every pirate dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead against the ground.
Something pulsed deep within their blood, making it impossible for them to summon even the slightest thought of rebellion toward Hua Ye.
By the time they raised their heads again, he was already gone.
Maybe he had left almost immediately.
Regardless, one fact had been engraved into all of them.
From this day forward, they were no longer merely pirates.
They had gained another identity.
“Quincy.”
One man slowly rose to his feet.
“This power is incredible…”
Another took several deep breaths, then instinctively stretched out one hand.
A blue bow of condensed Reishi materialized in his grasp.
That was only the beginning.
The others quickly followed his example, each forming a Reishi bow of his own.
The motion felt completely natural.
Their bodies seemed to know what to do before their minds had consciously decided anything.
More importantly, their senses could now clearly perceive a substance drifting throughout the surrounding atmosphere.
Something they had never known existed before, yet which had suddenly become intimately connected to them.
Its name was Reishi.
They could control these spiritual particles, shaping them into bows and arrows.
It was an entirely different form of power from anything they had ever known.
“Just who…
is that man?”
The pirates swallowed nervously as they stared at the bows in their hands.
One of them couldn’t resist trying his out immediately.
He hooked his fingers around the string.
The Reishi bow emitted a faint glow, and as he pulled back, a blue arrow slowly condensed into existence.
Reishi Gathering.
The ability to collect the Reishi in the surrounding atmosphere and draw it toward oneself.
It was among the most basic abilities of a Quincy.
The pirate continued pulling until the bowstring was fully drawn, then aimed at a wall off to his right.
Without hesitating, he released.
The newborn arrow vanished like a bolt of lightning.
Only a dark blue streak remained visible in the air before the Reishi arrow punched straight through the wall with astonishing force.
BOOM!
The load-bearing wall exploded.
The entire building shuddered violently before collapsing in on itself.
The Reishi arrow responsible had already dispersed back into the air.
The pirate stood frozen.
He lowered his gaze toward the bow in his hands, still unable to process what he had just done.
That was merely the most basic Quincy ability.
Create a bow and arrow from Reishi.
Then fire it.
Archery was the defining combat style of the Quincy.
“What the hell happened to this world?
What’s spiritual power?
Since when was there this stuff floating around in the air?” one pirate blurted out.
“Who cares?!
You can’t get power like this just by training!” another shouted, far more interested in the fact that he’d become stronger.
“Exactly!
Screw Haki.
I’m not training that anymore!”
They spent a long while experimenting with their new bows before finally tiring themselves out and dismissing them with satisfied expressions.
As each bow vanished, something cold and metallic appeared in its owner’s hand.
A silver chain resembling a necklace, with a gray-silver cross hanging from its end.
A circular ring connected the arms at the center.
A Quincy Cross.
Proof that they were Quincy.
It could be worn as an ornament, but it could also directly transform into a spirit bow for battle.
“Feels like there’s still a lot of stuff in my head, but it’s all fuzzy,” one pirate muttered, scratching his scalp.
“Where did our lord go?
He just left us here…
What are we supposed to do now?”
That question silenced the others.
Hua Ye hadn’t given them a single order.
He’d simply bestowed power upon them and walked away without caring what happened next.
Were they supposed to fend for themselves now?