Chapter 1: Saint Saturn Personally Demands a Special Prisoner
Year 1466 of the Sea Circle Calendar, 56 years ago
A magnificent warship flying the World Government flag was traveling through the high-speed current from Enies Lobby toward Marineford, the Navy Headquarters.
From Marineford, it would continue on to Red Port beneath the Red Line.
In the ship's lower hold, dozens of cells held some fifty to sixty powerfully built prisoners.
Their numb faces were filled with decay and despair, and their vacant eyes had long since lost their light.
Their country had fallen.
They had been reduced to prisoners of war and slaves.
Most hopeless of all, they had even been selected by an enemy commander to be delivered to the Holy Land Mary Geoise as slaves.
At the thought of becoming slaves to the Celestial Dragons, their despair deepened. It was more terrifying than death.
Outside those cells, there was also a separate iron cage.
Inside it was Akane, severely injured, bound head to toe in iron chains, hands and feet locked in Sea-Prism Stone cuffs and shackles, with an explosive collar around the neck.
I was lying low just fine, I'd only just blended into this world...
How did a war of national annihilation come out of nowhere...
Sir, ma'am, I'm sorry. I couldn't save you...
Wracked by searing pain, Akane's body trembled on instinct, the face twisted beneath savage, bloodstained wounds.
The head was split open and bleeding, the lips pale and cracked, even the breathing weak. On the forehead was an extremely faint crescent-shaped mark, a dim deep-blue hue.
One look was enough to tell Akane had suffered inhuman torment.
Clang!
The door to the hold's prison block swung open.
Several agents in black suits walked in.
"We'll be at Marineford soon. Give Akane some water. Don't let that one die."
"This is the special prisoner personally requested by Saint Saturn."
"Never thought someone wearing Sea-Prism Stone cuffs could still use Devil Fruit powers. That breaks the rules of the world. No wonder the Five Elders personally ordered it."
Behind their sunglasses, the Cipher Pol agents' eyes were hard and cold.
"Hmph. We can't let Akane die, but we also can't let Akane recover any strength. Otherwise that bastard will attack us again and try to break out!"
One Cipher Pol agent, the chest wrapped in white bandages, spoke with a chilling expression.
The slashing wounds on his body were courtesy of Akane, despite the Sea-Prism Stone restraints on hands and feet.
At first, none of them truly believed the boasting and warnings of the Cang Kingdom's king.
After all, how could any Devil Fruit user activate their powers while wearing Sea-Prism Stone cuffs?
Until, during transport, he caught Akane secretly attempting to escape. In the ensuing fight, he was gravely wounded by an eerie deep-blue slash Akane swung out.
Only then did every Cipher Pol agent begin treating this special prisoner with extreme seriousness.
Extra iron chains to increase restraint, beatings, starvation, injections of weakening drugs...
They used everything on this unruly special case.
They feared another accident before delivery.
After all, besides these slaves and Akane, the ship was also carrying the Cang Kingdom's Heavenly Tribute for the year.
If anything happened to this Heavenly Tribute warship, every one of these Cipher Pol agents would be buried with it.
The Reverie had only just ended, and the Cang Kingdom immediately launched a war and handed over this year's Heavenly Tribute. As expected of the Grand Line's infamous nation of war.
...
This Heavenly Tribute warship had departed from the Cang Kingdom in Paradise on the Grand Line.
After passing through the Gates of Justice at Enies Lobby and entering the high-speed current, the Cipher Pol agents gradually lowered their guard.
This special triangular current connected the World Government's three great institutions: Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Navy Headquarters.
It was also close to the Sabaody Archipelago.
They simply did not believe any pirate would dare invade the World Government's core territory.
Then again...
Not long ago, a monster had invaded the Holy Land Mary Geoise during the Reverie and even killed a Navy admiral.
But under the Navy Headquarters' full-scale pursuit, no one knew where that fiend had fled.
He had probably already escaped Paradise on the Grand Line, fleeing to one of the Four Blues or to the New World.
There was no way he would still dare linger in these core waters.
Yet they did not realize that the things you feel cannot happen are exactly the ones that bring disaster.
No one expected that the monster named Rocks had truly not left these inner waters.
A small boat forced its way through the whirlpool current outside the triangular high-speed current, entered the stream, and rapidly closed in on the Heavenly Tribute warship.
The Cipher Pol agents aboard instantly went on alert.
When they finally saw the domineering figure on that small boat clearly, every one of them froze in shock, their faces turning pale with terror.
It was that very pirate who had thrown the Reverie into chaos.
The most evil pirate.
Rocks, the one who could even crush a Navy admiral.
"Wororororo! Looks like I've got both startup funds and a pirate ship now!"
Rocks stared greedily at the magnificent Heavenly Tribute warship. Without hesitation, he launched his attack and surged aboard in a single explosive leap.
...
At the Reverie not long ago, Rocks had kidnapped five kings in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, cut down a Navy admiral, and in the end met that so-called King of the World deep within Pangaea Castle.
The terrifying aura of that monster sent a chill through Rocks.
He could not win. After throwing out a parting threat, he decisively fled the Holy Land.
While escaping, he encountered an incomparably powerful giant.
The two collided in a fierce clash.
Rocks remembered the giant's name.
Harald.
Harald actually leapt straight off the Red Line, ten thousand meters high, down into the sea on the New World side.
Rocks was even more stunned. What kind of body strength was that?
As for Rocks, he used the rope of the bubble elevator to quickly escape back to the Paradise side of the Grand Line.
Rocks fought successive brutal battles in the Holy Land, against a Navy admiral and against Harald...
After escaping to Red Port, he was then hunted down and besieged by the Fleet Admiral along with other admirals and vice admirals...
After a hard-fought struggle, Rocks ultimately escaped that sea by diving into the water.
He fled to the Lulusia Kingdom, an allied nation near the Red Line, and secretly hid in Shadow Port to recover injuries and strength.
While recuperating at Shadow Port, Rocks happened to meet a short-tempered pirate thief.
He never expected the little brat was also from the Clan of D. She even helped cover for him for several days and did not report him.
But when Rocks left, he did not say goodbye to that flat-chested brat. He simply slipped away into the night.
He needed to prepare for his future grand plan.
He had been lying in wait in these waters for days.
This Heavenly Tribute warship perfectly met his needs.
Now he had both ample funds and an excellent warship.
...
"It's that most evil pirate, Rocks!"
"Request reinforcements from Navy Headquarters, now!"
The Cipher Pol agents on the Heavenly Tribute warship shouted in panic.
No one had imagined Rocks would attack them near Navy Headquarters.
It was lawless beyond belief.
It was a direct provocation to Navy Headquarters and the World Government.
But under Rocks' terrifying Haki and the cannon-like roar of his slashing strikes, every Cipher Pol agent on deck was blasted into the sea in an instant.
"Wororororo! Get the hell out, all of you! This is my loot!"
Rocks swiftly cleaned them up. This place was truly very close to Navy Headquarters, so he had to leave fast.
Still, this was damn exhilarating.
He had dared to storm the Holy Land Mary Geoise, so why would he fear Marineford.
The Cipher Pol agents who rushed out from the hold's prison block met the same fate.
All of them were instantly killed in a single move.
After quickly sweeping the ship of its Marines and Cipher Pol agents, Rocks nimbly took control of the Heavenly Tribute warship and continued racing along the high-speed current.
As he passed the Gates of Justice at Navy Headquarters, he even let out an unrestrained, arrogant laugh.
That was how bold he was, how wildly arrogant.
These triangular high-speed currents connected three World Government institutions: Navy Headquarters, Enies Lobby, and Impel Down.
The current's direction could not be reversed.
Each of the three government facilities had a massive Gate of Justice.
If you could not exit the high-speed current through a Gate of Justice, the warship would keep looping in endless circles within the triangular stream.
Rocks steered the Heavenly Tribute warship past the Gate of Justice at Navy Headquarters at full speed and continued toward Enies Lobby.
After the Heavenly Tribute warship was stolen, the World Government and Navy Headquarters were shaken to the core and sprang into action.
This lawless Rocks had actually struck right at their doorstep. It was practically suicidal.
They were determined to annihilate Rocks completely on the triangular high-speed current.
That reckless brute Rocks had chosen to act at the doorstep of Navy Headquarters and then flee through the World Government's exclusive high-speed current.
It would be the biggest regret of his life.
Because there was absolutely no way he could escape the high-speed current.
And yet, no one expected Rocks' strength to be so overwhelming and terrifying.
Before the Navy's main force could catch up, he single-handedly blasted open the Gate of Justice at Enies Lobby, knocked out the Cipher Pol agents and troops stationed there, and escaped, vanishing into the sea.
Rocks shocked the world once again.
He not only stole the Celestial Dragons' Heavenly Tribute.
He also shattered the Gate of Justice, thought impregnable for centuries.
Rocks' horrifying power and brazen lawlessness caused his threat level, in the eyes of the World Government, to skyrocket to the highest tier.
And down in the prison cells at the bottom of the Heavenly Tribute warship, amid the repeated eruptions of Conqueror's Haki and the thunderous boom of cannon-like sword strikes, the light in Akane's eyes grew ever more hungry and burning...