Below the skull castle.
"Lady Linlin stopped Lord Kyo!!"
"Does that mean Gill Bastar has already been accepted by Lord Rocks?"
"Damn it! Gill Bastar actually passed the test just like that!"
"Ahahaha! So this is how you can become one of the Rocks Pirates' officers by getting past Kyo!"
Countless pirates burst into excitement.
Within a single day, both the "Great Pirate Smuggler" Ganzui and the "Four-Armed Gun King" Gill Bastar had successfully joined the Rocks Pirates.
If a few more powerful figures joined, the officer lineup of the Rocks Pirates would truly dominate the entire New World.
"That guy really became an officer of the Rocks Pirates?"
A trace of shock appeared in Polo Gram's dead fish-like eyes.
He suddenly felt… this didn't seem all that difficult.
He believed he wasn't weaker than Kyo, and even felt he might be slightly stronger.
Wouldn't that mean that if he wanted to, he'd have at least a sixty percent chance of joining the Rocks Pirates?
However, after glancing at his companions, Polo Gram still preferred freely adventuring together with his crew.
He had no intention of challenging Kyo.
Besides, Kyo was currently in a furious state and probably wouldn't be easy to handle.
So he continued watching the spectacle with his companions, observing powerful pirates challenge the two gatekeepers, Shiki and Kyo.
"Could there actually be shortcuts to joining the Rocks Pirates?"
"Or maybe having a special ability is enough…"
Miss Buckingham Stussy looked toward Gill Bastar, who had successfully climbed Skull Mountain.
She wondered whether quietly slipping past Golden Lion and Kyo to reach the summit would make Rocks recruit her.
Stussy calculated the probability of successfully joining.
But if she attempted that, there was probably a fifty percent chance Rocks would mercilessly kill her instead.
Stussy didn't have the courage to gamble like that.
'What should I do?'
A worried expression appeared on Stussy's face. It seemed finding a powerful backer wasn't easy after all.
Still, she hadn't given up on joining the Rocks Pirates.
She planned to use her advantage, her beauty, to attract the attention of Rocks and Ignis, the captain and vice captain.
She refused to believe these pirates weren't lustful.
··.....
Nighttime.
Elysium Island blazed brightly with lights as countless pirates reveled in celebration.
The dazzling illumination shining from the eye sockets of the Chibaku Tensei skull resembled a lighthouse, allowing pirates at sea to see the glowing eyes of Skull Mountain from afar.
Vice Captain Ignis personally organized a welcoming banquet for the two newcomers so that Ganzui and Gill Bastar could quickly integrate into the Rocks Pirates.
Normally, Shiki and Kyo, the two eternal rivals, would constantly clash against each other.
But now, Kyo was staring fixedly at Gill Bastar, his new mortal enemy, completely ignoring his old love-hate rival Shiki!
"Jihahahaha, Kyo, now that Gill is one of our officers, maybe tone down the killing intent a little."
"Besides, this is the Rocks Pirates' welcome banquet. Ignis specifically forbade all officers from fighting on a newcomer's first day."
Shiki continued stirring the flames and provoking Kyo, seemingly hoping to see him fight Gill Bastar.
Within the Rocks Pirates, Captain Rocks had established only one rule: strength above all and supremacy of the strong.
Vice Captain Ignis, however, established the rule that every newcomer must receive a welcoming banquet and that fighting was forbidden on that day.
With firm enforcement from Newgate, Barbel, Sunbell, and the others, even Shiki and Kyo didn't dare disregard Ignis's authority as the "pseudo vice captain."
"Shiki, can't you calm down for once?"
"Kyo, this embarrassment was a lesson for you. Never underestimate any opponent."
"On these seas, the bizarre abilities of all kinds of Devil Fruit users are endless. One careless mistake and you'll suffer badly."
"In a real battle, you might already have been killed through underhanded means."
Ignis calmly glanced at Shiki before "guiding" the stubborn and prideful brute Kyo.
"Hmph!!"
Kyo slowly suppressed his killing intent toward Gill Bastar, but he would never forget today's humiliation.
Sooner or later, he would reclaim the face he lost today.
Still, Ignis was right.
Today, he truly had been careless.
Gill Bastar's Hollow Fruit ability was unbelievably strange, even his Armament Haki had failed to block it.
This caused Kyo's obsession with obtaining a powerful Devil Fruit to reach new heights once again.
Looking at the newcomers and veteran officers alike, every single one of them possessed powerful Devil Fruit abilities, making Kyo increasingly irritated.
At this point, aside from the invincible captain Rocks and the two fish-men Sunbell and Barbel, he was the only person on the ship without a Devil Fruit ability.
"Heheh, no fight, no friendship! Brother Kyo, let me toast you. You're not so narrow-minded that you can't even accept this, right?"
Seeing Ignis's lofty position within the Rocks Pirates, Gill Bastar immediately decided to firmly cling to this thigh.
He realized that Rocks, the world's most evil pirate, barely bothered managing the pirate crew.
The captain even seemed to enjoy watching them fight one another, while it was Vice Captain Ignis who stabilized the ship's order.
It almost seemed as though Ignis was the true manager of the crew.
"Next time, I'll beat the hell out of you!"
After hearing Gill Bastar's provocation, Kyo could only viciously take a gulp of alcohol.
"Tsk tsk, with your kind of spirit, even if Sunbell and I awaken Conqueror's Haki, you probably still won't."
The massive fish-man Barbel spoke up, his eyes carrying a trace of disdain toward Kyo.
Under the guidance of the big shots Ignis and Newgate, his strength had grown rapidly, and now he no longer feared Kyo.
The next time their bounties updated, his would probably surpass Kyo's, raising his position within the crew once again.
"Bastard!"
Kyo was immediately infuriated again. Besides Devil Fruit abilities, possessing the qualities of Conqueror's Haki was another major obsession of his.
He looked toward the imposing Shiki and the calm-faced Newgate.
Those bastards possessed the qualities of kings.
And even Ignis, that weakling whom Rocks constantly mocked due to his physique problems, now seemed to carry a faint yet intangible pressure and aura.
Kyo suddenly realized Ignis seemed… different somehow.
'Could Ignis be on the verge of awakening Conqueror's Haki?'
"If a person cannot even accept their own failures, then their future truly won't go very far."
Newgate slightly shook his head. A personality like Kyo's truly wasn't even as good as Barbel's.
"..."
Kyo suddenly felt as though the entire world was against him, as if every crew member looked down on him a little.
It nearly caused his mentality to completely collapse!
"Being born humble is not shameful. The true mark of a great man is knowing when to bend and when to stand tall!"
"Kyo, if you weren't born with the bloodline of a king, then if you want to become a first-generation Conqueror's Haki awakener, you must steel your resolve."
Seeing everyone target and mock Kyo, Ignis chose to speak up when Kyo stood isolated and unsupported.
As Ignis spoke, Kyo's icy heart felt as though it had been warmed by sunlight, and he unexpectedly experienced an emotion called "being moved."
For the first time, he suddenly felt that Ignis, the cunning prophet, truly resembled the head of a family, leaving Kyo deeply touched inside.
No wonder so many crew members respected Ignis.
Even he himself now seemed to be gradually falling under Ignis's influence, wanting to move closer to this warm sun-like figure.