Hachinosu.
At the summit of the colossal skull-shaped rock, a massive round table sat beneath flickering torchlight.
Around it were six officers of the Rocks Pirates:
Edward Newgate
Shiki
Charlotte Linlin
Wang Zhi
Silver Axe
John
Projected before them, an image Den Den Mushi broadcast the clash between Romu and Zephyr.
No one looked relaxed.
"So it's Black Arm Zephyr fighting Romu… no wonder the disturbance is this huge," Wang Zhi muttered, stroking his beard.
Silver Axe exhaled slowly.
"He didn't even go all out last time… I thought that wooden dragon was his limit."
He and John both glanced sideways at Shiki.
Shiki snorted, cigar ember glowing. His expression was stormy, unreadable.
Newgate burst into laughter.
"Gurararara! That's Romu for you!"
Behind him, Linlin watched silently, eyes glittering with private calculation.
From the shadows at the head of the chamber, a voice cut in.
"So… that's the rookie you've been talking about?"
The officers fell quiet instantly.
Rocks D. Xebec stepped into the light. His hair stood in wild serpentine strands, framing a grin that felt more like a predator baring teeth.
"At his age… this level of power?" Rocks said. "Impressive. He just killed a Marine vice admiral and now he's trading blows with Zephyr… He's a monster."
The word carried weight.
For Rocks, monster was the highest praise — because he himself was the greatest monster at sea.
The officers exchanged looks. Even Linlin's gaze sharpened.
Rocks folded his arms, still watching the projection.
"Our Marine friends have arrived," he said lightly. Then his tone hardened.
"We should welcome them properly."
His eyes flashed with danger.
"All officers — mobilize."
"Kill Zephyr."
The room ignited with excitement. Chairs scraped. Weapons were lifted. Only Newgate remained seated, smiling faintly.
Rocks added, almost casually:
"And bring back our new officer."
"I'll be holding a banquet on Hachinosu… to welcome our newest monster."
The Battlefield
The laws of nature felt suspended.
Hundreds of meters of ocean had peeled away to either side, forming towering walls of water. Between them stretched a vast seabed corridor — like a canyon carved through the deep.
At its center stood the wooden giant.
Light pulsed across its surface. Life energy flowed endlessly through it. It was less a construct than a force of nature — immovable as a pillar holding the sea apart.
On the cruise ship, trapped Marines stared in stunned silence.
Some trembled.
Some collapsed.
Some prayed.
All of them felt the same thing:
In the presence of power that could divide the ocean… they were insects.
Above, Zephyr's muscles trembled.
His eyes locked onto the giant.
I was wrong, he thought grimly.
Plant-based fruits might seem supportive… but once awakened, their limits are unknowable.
Not someday — now.
Romu is already a suffocating threat to this sea.
He exhaled.
Paper Art: Martial God wasn't enough.
His arms darkened — supreme Armament Haki hardening to its peak.
"Romu!"
Zephyr's gaze sharpened.
Then—
Soru.
He launched forward in a blur, aiming straight for the giant.
At the last instant, he twisted midair with Moonwalk —
and redirected toward Romu himself.
A veteran's instinct.
A tactician's strike.
"Kid," Zephyr roared,
"battle isn't about whose muscles are bigger!"
"Finger Pistol: Yellow Lotus!"
His blackened fingers became a storm of thrusts, stabbing forward at impossible speed.
But Romu only smirked.
"Zephyr… you're underestimating the Wooden Giant."
The air shook.
A colossal shadow appeared between them.
Zephyr's eyes widened.
A mountain-sized fist filled his vision.
"How is that possible?!"
Death pressure flooded his senses.
He hardened his entire body in Haki —
and the fist crashed down.
BOOM!!
A shockwave detonated outward.
Zephyr became a black streak, blasted into the seabed hard enough to carve a human-shaped crater.
He rocketed back up with Moonwalk—
only for the giant to already be there.
Two enormous fists clasped together, glowing green like a divine warhammer.
They fell.
Space itself spiderwebbed and cracked.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The seabed buckled.
A second crater bloomed beside the first, rock collapsing inward under impossible force.
Zephyr had been driven into the earth — again.