Living in the same world as Oda, having followed One Piece for years, and having read hundreds of millions of words of novels, he naturally understood that what he should do now was to familiarize himself with his own terrifying power and master it.
In his previous life, he was just an ordinary person, even if he had been trained as a killing tool since childhood, skillfully mastering the techniques of killing.
As an ordinary person, he didn't have much direct perception of the destructive power flowing in his bones now.
So he needed to adapt to his power as quickly as possible, not like now, where he couldn't even fully control the power he possessed.
On a deserted island in the Grand Line, verdant greenery covered the ground, fragrant flowers bloomed everywhere, and various plants were covered with flowers that never withered throughout the seasons; towering, lush giant trees were laden with abundant fruits.
The island was teeming with small animals that had never seen humans; without natural predators, they were very active, constantly chasing and playing.
In the sky, colorful birds preened their necks and claws, singing loudly.
Even a few Sea Kings, larger than the island itself, seemed to be infected by the tranquil atmosphere, lazily floating on the azure sea, basking in the sun; the entire island appeared exceptionally serene and leisurely.
However, this tranquil and peaceful atmosphere was shattered in the next instant.
"Rumble..."
The air in front of Rocks was shattered by his fist, and a substantial fist mark appeared. After the fist mark streaked through the air in a perfect straight line, the towering giant tree in front of Rocks, which was twenty meters tall, four people wide, deeply rooted in the earth, and lush with branches and leaves, broke off at its base.
This was not the end; even the force contained in Rocks's merely exploratory punch was not exhausted by the collapse of one giant tree. A small granite hill, over ten meters high, behind the giant tree, was violently blown apart the moment the towering giant tree snapped.
When Garp prepared to fight Chinjao, he could flatten eight mountains with his bare fists. The power unleashed by Rocks's body also shattered the giant tree and violently exploded this massive stone hill into a sky full of debris!
"Open up, you bastard!"
As the giant tree was pierced and the stone hill crumbled, sending debris flying everywhere.
Rocks's figure flickered, and he arrived at the spot where the towering giant tree was about to fall.
Then, Rocks propped it up with one hand, as if grabbing a wooden stick, catching and supporting the tens of tons of towering giant tree. He then roared, his fingers forming a claw and digging into the tree trunk, finally throwing the towering giant tree out of the island.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang..."
Even though a supersonic aircraft's fuselage conforms to aerodynamics, greatly reducing air resistance, when its engines ignite and propel it beyond the speed of sound, its fuselage still emits a loud bang from its friction with the air.
That is the legendary sonic boom.
At this moment, the towering giant tree in Rocks's hand, like a javelin, continuously broke through four sonic booms before it plunged into the outer sea with a loud crash.
After a while.
Another island appeared by the sea, which was the corpse of a giant Sea King from the near sea.
Yes, with just a casual throw, Rocks directly killed a giant Sea King from the near sea!!!
What terrifying power, Rocks stared at his palm, a few wood chips clinging to his fingertips.
But, this was not the most important thing.
The most important thing was that Rocks felt at this moment that the power of this strike, which killed the giant Sea King, had not yet fully unleashed the strength of this body!
Rocks raised an eyebrow. Although his body was far from its peak.
Even without swordsmanship or Haki, with just his physical strength, he could rival, or even surpass, Oars Jr., who was considered a giant even among giants....
"But, if it's just like this, it's still not strong enough!"
"System, when can I use the Haki, swordsmanship, and martial arts that Rocks originally possessed?"
Rocks asked the System. His goal was to become an absolute overlord of the sea, surpassing the Four Emperors and the Pirate King. To become an overlord in this turbulent pirate world, mere physical strength was not enough!
"The host already possesses them, they just haven't been unlocked yet."
A dry, grating mechanical friction sound echoed in Rocks's ears.
Although the System's prompt was dry and vague, Rocks understood it the moment the System's prompt sounded, perhaps due to their symbiosis.
"So, because I was originally just an ordinary person, the instincts deep within my soul are limiting my power, right?!"
"The host needs to break the mental shackles caused by hypnosis to utilize the power, Haki, and even further progress contained within Rocks's body. Accumulate enough negative value, and the System can restore this decaying body to its peak."
"Hypnosis, mental shackles?!"
A flicker of understanding passed through Rocks's eyes.
Having been trained as a killing tool, he had been subjected to 'the organization's' hypnosis since he could remember.
After more than a decade of hypnosis, his mind had long been bound by strong mental shackles that even a master hypnotist could not break in a short time.
However,
Now, these mental shackles, which prevented enemies from obtaining information if a mission failed, had become a hindrance to him unleashing his full combat power.
In the early morning, on the shore of the island, Rocks, with his eyes tightly closed, sat cross-legged on a large reef.
Suddenly!
Rocks's tightly closed eyes snapped open, and then, like a dragon entering the sea, he plunged into the ocean.
After contemplation, Rocks found the quickest way to break the mental shackles: using the immense pressure of the deep sea, and the mental agitation at the brink of death, to break through those solid shackles!
One minute... five minutes... ten minutes...
Submerged in the seabed, Rocks endured the high pressure of the deep sea.
He clearly perceived that as time passed, the oxygen remaining in his lungs had been completely consumed.
The only reason he could still hold on was his ambition to become an overlord of the sea and his determination not to live an ordinary life!!
Finally,
Just as his consciousness was almost blurred and he was about to give up, a trace of purple-gold lightning appeared between his eyebrows. The moment the lightning manifested, Rocks's mind exploded with a ringing like a great bell.
Rocks's blurred consciousness cleared.
Then he felt it, that familiar yet strange sensation. He had a premonition that this was the so-called Haki!
Standing on the carcass of a Sea King, Rocks spoke to the System while cutting off the tender meat from the back of the ox-shaped Sea King with the Haki Blade Heavy Country, one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Swords, whose blade was all that remained.
"System, bring up my physical condition."
As he spoke,
A translucent membrane, visible only to him, appeared before Rocks's eyes.
Name: Rocks D. Xebec
Race: Human
Strength: 80 (100+)
Speed: 78 (100)
Constitution: 30 (100)
Negative Value: 0
Health: After the host's near-death experience, his already poor physical condition has become even worse, urgently requiring negative value to restore his state (he could die at any moment).
Body: Decayed, Weak, Dying.
Swordsmanship: Great Swordsman Primary (World's Strongest Great Swordsman) (Unlocked)
Martial Arts: Marshal Primary (Off-rank) (Unlocked)
Armament Haki: Marshal Primary (Off-rank) (Unlocked)
Observation Haki: Admiral Peak (Off-rank) (Unlocked)
Haoshoku: Marshal Peak (Off-rank) (Unlocked)
Devil Fruit Ability: (None)
System Evaluation: Dying injuries and a decaying body have led to a significant decline in the host's swordsmanship, martial arts, and even Haki. The Devil Fruit has also not returned with the body's recovery. However, even so, the host can still stand proudly above all others!!
Now that he had used the high pressure of the deep sea to put himself in a near-death state and, with the help of the System, broken his mental shackles, he was very confident in the strength of his current body, despite his unfavorable physical condition.
Even if he could die at any moment, as long as he didn't encounter more than two Admirals, he could decisively kill them before he died.
Clenching his fingers, feeling the surging, infinite power within his body, Rocks murmured,
"The top priority now is to familiarize myself with the power after the shackles are broken, and then quickly harvest negative value to restore myself!"
"Reminding the host, every 100,000 negative value can restore the body once. To restore to a healthy state requires 1,000,000 negative value, and to peak requires 10,000,000." The lack of energy caused the System's mechanical prompt to sound for a moment before falling silent.
"As for negative value, for me, who has decided to inherit Rocks's identity, it's too simple. If I reveal the news of 'my' resurrection, the whole world will be shocked, and all I need to do is pull off a big one."
"Eat something. If no ships pass by after I familiarize myself with my power, then I'll build a ship myself and leave this island to pull off a big one and harvest negative value."
As he spoke,
Rocks grabbed the cut tender Sea King meat and leaped towards the island.
A moment later,
On the island, which had been uninhabited for thirty-eight years, wisps of cooking smoke slowly rose.
And high above, extremely far from the island, a colossal ship, with a lion-like figurehead, as large as an island, soared proudly.
Huge and intricate rudders on both sides of the ship, like wings, adjusted the airflow; massive sails on the ship were filled by the howling wind, propelling the ship to fly rapidly!
Above this soaring ship, vivid pirate flags, like a lion's mane, fluttered in the wind.
This ship was the flagship of the great pirate, Golden Lion Shiki, one of the Three Legends, who was as famous as Pirate King Roger and the world's strongest man, Whitebeard.