The news of the Rocks Pirates' growing strength hit the seas like a massive boulder, its ripples lasting long after the initial impact.
But for the Oro Jackson, life seemed to return to its normal rhythm. Sailing, training, and partying formed their simple three-part routine.
On this particular day, the sea was calm and the sun gentle, as if even the ocean itself was taking a nap.
"Fleet spotted ahead!" Doringo suddenly sounded the alarm from the crow's nest.
The leisurely atmosphere on deck was instantly shattered as everyone immediately entered battle readiness.
Kyle squinted into the distance and saw a massive fleet cutting through the waves at the horizon's edge.
The ships were all different in design, but each one radiated a menacing aura. Flying from their masts was that sinister skull flag that had been making headlines lately.
The Rocks Pirates.
The fleet didn't surround them or open fire. Instead, the lead ship sailed straight toward them, stopping about a hundred meters away from the Oro Jackson.
Leading the group on deck was their old friend Golden Lion Shiki, standing beside a tall woman with long pink hair and a beautiful face who was impatiently shoving a massive cake into her mouth.
Next to them stood a man carrying a silver giant axe and wearing full armor, alongside another man dressed garishly with two swords at his waist.
Golden Lion Shiki, Charlotte Linlin, Silver Axe, Captain John... each one was a legend whose bounty poster could make the Marines flee in terror.
"Jihahaha! Roger, long time no see!" Shiki spread his arms with arrogant posture, as if he wasn't the one who had fled in disgrace last time. "Looks like your little boat hasn't fallen apart yet."
Roger shouldered his sword with a grin: "Shiki, your head still looks like a pineapple. What's the matter? Last time's lesson wasn't enough, so you brought backup to settle the score?"
"Mamamama..." Charlotte Linlin swallowed her last bite of cake and licked her lips, her greedy gaze sweeping over Roger's ship. "Enough chatter, Shiki!"
Shiki ignored her, fixing his gaze on Roger with condescending arrogance: "Roger, Rocks has taken a liking to you. He appreciates your strength and has decided to give you a chance to join us and become a cornerstone of his world domination!"
The entire deck fell silent.
"Pfft—" Roger looked like he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. He held it in at first, then burst into earth-shaking laughter.
"Gu ha ha ha! Serve under someone else? Me? What a joke! I didn't set sail to follow orders!"
The smile vanished from Shiki's face instantly, replaced by a dark expression: "So you're refusing?"
"What do you think?" Roger lifted his sword "Ace" from his shoulder, pointing the tip toward his opponent.
"Then you don't have a choice!"
Before he finished speaking, Shiki drew his twin swords "Oto" and "Kogarashi." The sea beneath his feet impossibly rose up into two massive lion heads that roared as they lunged toward the Oro Jackson.
"Want to fight? I'm all for it!"
Roger laughed loudly, his figure vanishing instantly and reappearing mid-air the next second. Ace, wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, slashed down fiercely to meet Shiki's blade!
"Divine Departure!"
BOOM!!!
Black-red lightning exploded in the air, and the terrifying shockwave pressed a massive crater into the sea's surface.
"Boys! Let's go!" Gaban hefted his battle axe and roared as he leaped toward the enemy ship, facing off against the silent "Silver Axe."
Rayleigh drew his sword and glided across the water's surface, precisely intercepting Captain John who was about to draw his twin blades. Their sword lights crossed so fast they became mere afterimages.
And standing before Kyle was the future Yonko, Charlotte Linlin.
"Mamamama, does a mere brat dare stand in my way?" Linlin ignited soul flames in her left hand while grasping a thunder cloud with her right.
Kyle looked at the woman before him – tall but still relatively proportioned – and though he was prepared, only one thought kept scrolling through his mind.
This is Charlotte Linlin? The future Big Mom who'll be as massive as that mountain demon?
Damn you, Oda!
"Brat, what are you spacing out for!" Seeing him distracted, Linlin flew into a rage. The flame in her left hand transformed into the fireball "Prometheus" and crashed toward him.
"Sorry, I was thinking about the difference between buses and private cars. Heat Wave Searing Breath!"
Kyle snapped back to attention, pointing his right hand at the fireball and releasing a focused ring of invisible infrared waves!
Two scorching forces collided mid-air, the heat waves distorting the surrounding air.
"Thunder Cloud: Divine Punishment!"
Linlin waved her right hand, and the thunder cloud "Zeus" sent down a massive bolt of lightning.
You think I'll avoid your attack? You don't understand physics!
Kyle didn't retreat but advanced, releasing powerful electromagnetic waves from his palm to directly counter the lightning.
The two energies intertwined with harsh crackling sounds before finally canceling each other out.
"Interesting!" Linlin grinned and drew her long sword Napoleon with its captain's hat, delivering a heavy horizontal slash.
Kyle neither dodged nor evaded. The moment the blade made contact, a ring-shaped sonic boom exploded violently, the massive recoil forcing both fighters back several steps.
The battle instantly entered white-hot intensity.
Roger and Shiki's Conqueror's Haki clash tore the sky apart, Rayleigh and John's sword duel stirred the seas, and Gaban's strength contest with Silver Axe made the ships groan continuously.
Kyle and Charlotte Linlin's battlefield became a clash of abilities. Prometheus spat flames that could melt steel, Zeus sent down lightning that could tear the sky, but Kyle's "Wave-Wave Fruit" always found ways to counter them.
However, with each collision, Kyle felt like he was crashing into a mountain wrapped in Haki.
Charlotte Linlin's defensive power was simply unreasonable. Her body seemed naturally built to absorb damage, and her Armament Haki was condensed to near-solid form.
Damn, this tankiness – how are you supposed to play against this without nerfs?
Kyle's "Shock Fist: Sonic Blast" hit her body and only made her take half a step back. The ring-shaped sonic boom couldn't even ruffle her arrogant pink hair.
"Mamamama... Kid, your abilities are quite varied, but it feels like you're just tickling me!" Linlin sneered, wielding her sword Napoleon. The blade was wreathed in thunder and fire, each slash carrying world-destroying momentum.
Kyle constantly used "Light Mirage" to dodge, his figure darting left and right across the deck, leaving trails of afterimages.
Did she grow up eating Sea Prism Stone? Fighting her head-on is just asking for broken bones.
Kyle's gaze swept across the chaotic battlefield. Roger and Shiki were causing havoc in the sky, black-red Conqueror's lightning occasionally exploding; Rayleigh and Captain John were engaged in the ultimate sword duel, their blade work too fast for the eye to follow.
On the other side, Gaban was having a real man's showdown with the guy called "Silver Axe."
Gaban's giant axe was tremendously powerful, each strike capable of splitting mountains and cracking stones, but Silver Axe was completely encased in heavy armor like an impenetrable iron can.
A flash of inspiration struck Kyle's mind, and a plan formed.
While desperately dodging Linlin's devastating "Ikoku," he shouted toward Gaban: "Gaban!"
Hearing his name while wrestling with the "tin can," Gaban looked back amid the chaos and saw Kyle being chased around by Linlin. He burst into laughter: "Ha! Kyle, you little punk, can't even handle one woman?"
His laughter was booming and full of undisguised mockery.
"Yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right," Kyle shot back defiantly. "Why don't you try it? Don't throw out your back!"
"Interesting! I'll take her on!" Gaban's fighting spirit was completely ignited. He forced Silver Axe back with one axe stroke and charged toward Charlotte Linlin like a cannonball.
"Mamamama... another one coming to die!" Seeing this, Linlin immediately shifted her target from Kyle, excitedly meeting Gaban's charge.
"BOOM!"
The giant axe and the thunder-fire-wrapped sword collided violently, creating an impact several times greater than anything Kyle had managed.
Gaban's explosively muscular frame grappled with Linlin's monstrous body, neither gaining the upper hand.
Not bad, Gaban-san!
Kyle took the opportunity to break free, using "Shock Step: Flash" to appear before Silver Axe. Looking at this opponent covered head to toe in armor, his face showed a devious smile.
"So you're the tin can?" Kyle flexed his wrists. "I love opening cans."
Silver Axe said nothing, only silently raised his silver giant axe, clearly not taking this skinny-looking kid seriously.
He took heavy steps forward, charging at Kyle and leaving deep footprints on the deck with each stride.
But Kyle didn't dodge or evade. He simply stood still, even closing his eyes as if listening to sounds in the wind.
An invisible, peculiar frequency spread out from his body.
Just as Silver Axe's giant axe was about to fall, Kyle slowly raised his hand, palm facing the charging tin can, and softly spoke the technique's name.
"Resonance: Collapse!"
There was no earth-shaking explosion, no dazzling light effects.
Only the teeth-grinding sound of "crack."
The charging Silver Axe suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked down in disbelief to see spider-web-like cracks appearing without warning on his proud, supposedly indestructible custom armor.
The cracks spread at visible speed, from chest plate to arm guards to leg armor, emitting pained "creaking" sounds.
"How... is this possible?" A hoarse, shocked voice emerged from beneath the helmet for the first time.
"Do you hear it?" Kyle opened his eyes, his golden pupils gleaming with mockery as he snapped his fingers. "...The melody of destruction."
As soon as he spoke—
"CRASH—"
Accompanied by a crisp, tremendous sound, Silver Axe's sturdy armor shattered like a broken eggshell, instantly crumbling and falling to the ground as countless fragments with a series of clanging sounds.
When the dust settled, it revealed the muscular, stern-faced man beneath the armor. His face was full of bewilderment and confusion, completely unable to understand how his strongest defense had crumbled so easily.
Kyle casually shook his hand as if he'd done something trivial, then crooked a finger at his stunned opponent.
"Come on, Mr. Tin Can. Let's play fair!"
...
This sudden encounter was more like a test between top-tier fighters.
"Jihahaha! Let's stop!" Shiki forced Roger back with one slash and withdrew first, floating in mid-air. "Interesting! Roger, you've got some decent guys on your ship!"
Golden Lion, it would be even better if you wiped the blood off your forehead before saying that.
Charlotte Linlin also recalled Prometheus and Zeus, licking her lips with lingering excitement.
Gaban and Rayleigh also ceased fighting and returned to the Oro Jackson.
"This time was just a greeting," Shiki looked down at the Roger Pirates from above. "Rocks is waiting for all the world's strongest at Hachinosu. Roger, think it over carefully – don't be hasty with your refusal. Next time we meet, it won't be this easy!"
With that, the Rocks Pirates' fleet turned and sailed away, as if they'd truly come just to exchange a few words and have a fight.
"Gu ha ha ha!" Roger sheathed his sword and laughed heartily. "What an interesting bunch!"