"There's no shortage of would-be kings on these seas…"
"Real power has never belonged to those merely born brawny, quick, or clever. It belongs to the ones who will do anything to grow stronger."
Rocks hadn't talked this much to a "newcomer" in a long time. He moved among people, yet felt apart from them a loneliness that never quite left his chest.
To him, Charlotte Linlin was the perfect example. Her talent eclipsed almost everyone's, yet she wasn't the strongest under his flag.
He uncorked a bottle, wet his throat, and glanced at Tengetsu Ares, who was listening like a man starved. "Drink?"
Ares didn't stand on ceremony. He pinched a bottle between two fingers and downed it in one go. "Captain, do you think I can really forge my body beyond Supreme Grade blades?"
"Don't start doubting yourself. If you deny that dream in your own heart, you'll never reach it." Rocks smiled. "Hesitation is defeat."
Wild confidence curled his lips. "That's why I never hesitate."
"Now back to what you care most about. Conqueror's Haki. Haki is spirit and presence made force. If you want it to hit, you'll need Armament Haki to guide it."
"Armament Haki?" Ares frowned. The leap wasn't obvious: what did Conqueror's have to do with Armament?
Rocks laid it out. "Conqueror's is formless pure will. Armament is the body's power. You bind the formless with the tangible, then release it. That's Conqueror's coating."
He raised his forearm. Black-and-crimson lightning snarled to life around it an elemental pressure that made the air itself flinch.
"Use outward Armament to leash your Conqueror's then let it go when you strike."
He extended his index finger toward a bottle on the table. When it was still a few inches away
Pop.
The bottle burst like it had been smashed with a mallet.
"Spirit is chaotic like this lightning: irregular, unruly. Your job is to corral those scattered currents until they move as one until they're as easy to wield as your own arm."
Ares nodded, half-understanding and fully fascinated. He'd have to wrestle that instability into obedience himself.
"Thank you, Captain," he said, and meant it.
Rocks chuckled. "That's about all I can tell you. The rest, you'll have to earn."
Most of his strongest officers had never had teachers. They'd carved power out of battle, insight by insight, scar by scar.
"All right. I've said my piece off you go."
"Understood. Thanks, Captain." Ares bowed his head once more and left.
Rocks tipped the bottle back, his throat working; in a few seconds it was empty.
"With Ares aboard, I've got a touch more backbone against the World Government." He smiled to himself. He knew too well how massive that enemy was centuries of rule didn't happen by accident.
But he'd already tasted the gold, the beauty, the status, the fame.
Now he wanted to try for something else.
After her fight with Ares, Linlin's face was thunderous. "Damn that Ares always spoiling Mama's fun. This isn't over."
"Let it go, Linlin," said Streusen (Long Bread), all patience and worry. "Ares is your equal now and he's Newgate's and Shiki's pupil. You can't take on all three."
Ares' display had shaken even him. And the last thing he wanted was to draw the wrath of Whitebeard and the Golden Lion. Better to keep Linlin from stoking the fire.
Linlin ground her teeth; the muscles in her jaw stood out like iron. "No chance now doesn't mean no chance ever."
"Mama's going to get stronger!"
He stole her Devil Fruit; then he "stole" her man and now he'd stepped on her pride to climb into a cadre's seat.
Suddenly she stopped, looked down at the short, wiry cook beside her, and spoke with a hard, settled light in her eyes. "Streusen teach me every cut you know. All of it. Mama will make Ares swallow the words he spat today. Double."
"Linlin…" Streusen froze.
He had never seen her this serious about training. Whenever he'd offered lessons before, she'd brushed him aside.
But now she was asking him to teach her swordplay?
"…Good!" Joy cracked his face wide. He'd heard it himself Ares telling her, "If we're talking blades, I'm stronger than you by far."
"I'll teach you everything I've got."
His mind rushed ahead to a rosy future. With Linlin's monstrous talent, if she also trained…
She'd surpass Shiki, Newgate even Ares and stand second only to Rocks himself. And when that day came, the benefits to Streusen would be… considerable.
No one knew Linlin's potential better than he did. He'd watched a six-year-old Linlin erase a giant village. Skin like steel. Strength you had to see to believe.
He'd watched her grow, too rise to the top tier of pirates on talent and battle alone, to a Rocks cadre without ever really learning.
So what would a Linlin who studied become?
How far could she climb?
The thought set his blood humming. His life, it seemed, was about to enjoy a "second spring."
Linlin's grin split wide. "Mamama… Once Mama's strong enough, anyone Mama wants is going to give Mama children!"
She'd found clarity: with absolute strength, the rest would follow.
Shiki, Newgate, Ares, Kaido they'd all be "tools" for Mama's dream.
A single thought smoothed a thousand knots. And it didn't even conflict with her original dream.
"Streusen start now!"
Fired up to her core, Linlin launched her plan to grow stronger.
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