Whole Cake Island, the Totto Land Kingdom.
A plump old woman lay on her side on a huge bed, propping up half of her cheek with a chubby hand. After listening to her subordinate's work report on the Sabaody Archipelago, she parted her red lips slightly, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth, and let out a series of ambiguous laughs.
Although Big Mom Charlotte Linlin did not send anyone to compete for the successor to the Will of Rocks, Whole Cake Island was placed under heavy security.
The calm on the sea today was merely the prelude to an impending storm.
All of this was orchestrated by Damon using the alias of the pirate Dragon Ash.
The World Government, the Navy, the Four Emperors, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, revolutionaries, the underworld, various member states, and even renowned pirates—anyone who knew what was happening on the Sabaody Archipelago would, without exception, do what was in their own best interest at that moment.
Rocks D. Xebec!
A person's name was like a tree's shadow!
Even though this legendary pirate had been dead for many years, as long as there were still people in the world who knew his name, they would deeply understand how important the successor of Rocks' will was!
Although he was in the Sabaody Archipelago, Damon had foreseen all of this.
The moment Damon obtained the Dragon Ash skin, a series of plans began to brew in his mind. Even if Doflamingo hadn't sent the Plum Blossom Army to cause trouble today, Damon would still have found Rayleigh in the Sabaody Archipelago to fight him, and incidentally reveal his identity as the successor to Rocks' will, thus stirring up the world.
Chaos was the age when heroes emerged, and it was also the best time for Damon to uphold justice.
If the World Government's Seven Warlords system was allowed to continue, this sea would gradually shift from chaos and disorder to calm and order, which was not what Damon wanted to see.
By using the persona of Dragon Ash, the pirate who was the successor to the Will of Rocks, to attract the attention of the world, Damon himself could use the Navy as a platform to make arrangements around the world without drawing attention.
Damon made a move toward the dock. Along the way, endless shadows engulfed the earth and buildings, as if everything was shrouded in darkness, losing some of its colorfulness and gaining a touch of mystery.
Standing on the shore, Damon gazed into the distance.
Blue sky and white clouds, rippling blue waves.
The outline of a warship gradually emerged on the sea surface. A solid cannonball was fired from a distance. A figure stood firmly on the cannonball. Just as the cannonball's kinetic energy was about to deplete and it was about to move vertically, the figure pushed off with its feet and instantly transformed into a beam of light that shot out.
The beam of light traveled at the speed of light, far beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
As the dazzling beam of light was about to shoot towards him from afar, Damon raised his right arm and clenched his fist tightly in the air.
In an instant, the shadow beneath Damon's feet suddenly surged, and a giant shadowy hand covered in sharp teeth abruptly rose up, like a magnificent city wall blocking the path of the beam of light.
Light and shadow, like natural enemies.
After the two forces wore each other down, perhaps the flash still prevailed. The beam of light, which had been reduced by half, pierced through the giant shadow hand, but Damon, who was prepared, dodged it in advance.
The scattered light spots reconverged in mid-air, coalescing from bottom to top into a solid form, revealing an ordinary-looking middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man had short, slightly curly black hair, wore sunglasses, and had a stubble beard. He wore a dark green shirt underneath a well-tailored suit with yellow and white stripes that accentuated his tall and slender figure. He also wore a cloak draped over his shoulders by a Marine Headquarters admiral, with the word "Justice" printed on his back fluttering in the wind.
One of the three admirals of Marine Headquarters, Admiral Borsalino, Kizaru!
Although he had already anticipated that this admiral would be on an overseas assignment, Damon was still on high alert.
With Damon's current strength, he would be unable to contend with a Marine Admiral without using his Zanpakuto's Bankai.
That was why Damon deliberately came to the coast. If he was at a disadvantage in the battle, he would immediately turn around and jump into the sea. No matter how capable you were, as a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, you wouldn't dare to go into the sea to rescue someone.
"Oops! You missed."
Admiral Borsalino shook his head repeatedly, seemingly lamenting his advanced age, but his eyes remained fixed on Damon, scrutinizing the man who claimed to be the successor of Rocks' will.
"This person is tall, with a strong frame and bulging muscles. Although he is wearing a mask and his appearance is not clear, judging from his words and actions, he is not very old, probably between twenty and thirty years old."
"A strong person of this age should not be an unknown person, but I have never heard of this person before. This person has either been living in anonymity or has been disguised."
"No matter what the possibility was, once I caught him, everything would come to light."
Thinking this, Admiral Borsalino glanced down at the watch on his wrist, and then, with a hint of disdain, flicked his right foot to shake off the shadow clinging to his white leather shoes.
He was a Logia-type user of the Glint-Glint Fruit, known as the Glint Man. He could turn any part of his body into light and possessed the speed of light, enabling him to attack and move at the speed of light.
The speed of light was nearly 30 kilometers per second, which was extremely powerful.
The only drawback was that Admiral Borsalino's body and mind could not support such a powerful speed. Once he used the speed of light, he could only move straight ahead and could not turn around or launch a precise attack at the speed of light.
It was precisely for this reason that, theoretically speaking, Admiral Borsalino should only need a few seconds to travel from Marine Headquarters to the Sabaody Archipelago. However, he insisted on traveling by warship and only used his ability to travel after the target appeared in his field of vision.
"I need to hurry up and finish the task. After get off work, I want to go to the newly opened hot spring and soak in the bath with the sisters."
Admiral Borsalino crossed his arms in front of his chest, and dazzling spots of light gathered on his fingertips.
With a flick of his arms, Admiral Borsalino flicked his ten fingers in rapid succession, unleashing blinding beams of light that scattered across the land like a fairy scattering flowers, instantly transforming the area into a sea of light.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Like laser weapons, each beam could easily punch a fist-sized hole in a wall. When hundreds or thousands of beams suddenly fell from the sky, it gave people a sense of impending doom.
Damon's eyes narrowed, and the sea of shadows beneath his feet began to boil.
Endless shadows suddenly rose up, overlapping and overlapping each other, like a huge black curtain covering the earth, forming a complex defensive position like the Maginot Line, in order to confront the naval admiral.
The interplay of light and shadow did not produce the deafening roar one might expect; instead, it was remarkably quiet.
Everything that fell into the shadows, whether people or objects, even beams of light, would be diminished by the layers of shadow.
Damon's Shadow Alchemy drew on the sticky properties of the Sticky Fruit, making the shadows extremely viscous and resembling a giant swamp. Once trapped inside, it was difficult to escape.
The square shadows firmly protected Damon's figure, like a huge black coffin sitting on the earth.
After the surrounding area was no longer covered by shadows, the earth and buildings regained their original colors. Under the indiscriminate bombardment of the beams of light, many buildings collapsed and burst into flames.
Admiral Borsalino frowned, seemingly realizing that things were not so simple.
A pair of eyes opened on the black coffin formed by shadows, gazing intently at the figure high in the sky.
"Flash!"
The next instant, Damon suddenly appeared next to Admiral Borsalino.
Admiral Borsalino's pupils contracted slightly. He only managed to raise his hand to block before feeling a tremendous force coming from his side.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Armament Haki and King's Haki instantly enveloped Damon's right hand, unleashing a powerful punch that slammed the enemy from the air into the ground.
Meeting the slightly surprised gaze of Admiral Borsalino, Damon stood high in the sky, shadows swirling around him, a voice that sounded like a half-smile emanating from beneath his mask:
"The sky is dark, the flames are still raging, your attack is meaningless, the wheel of fate has begun to turn."
Admiral Borsalino murmured Damon's words repeatedly, and immediately sensed that there was more to them than met the eye, as if they contained some deeper meaning.
"Has the wheel of fate begun to turn?"
"Does this mean that this person is truly the successor to Rocks' will, and that he intends to emulate Rocks's feats, attempting to gather a powerful group of subordinates to achieve his grand goal of overthrowing the World Government and becoming the King of the World?"
With a myriad of thoughts swirling in his mind, Admiral Borsalino continued his work without pause, immediately transforming into his elemental form. His body turned into specks of light, and before he could fall onto the shadow-covered earth, he dodged the encirclement of numerous shadow spikes.
Damon's eyes flashed with a dark blue light. His Mystic Eyes of Death Perception could not perceive the opponent's death line and death point. Admiral Borsalino's body was always in an elemental state, which made his death point hidden deep and his death line appear and disappear. It gave him the feeling of having a dragon-slaying sword in his hand, but not being able to slay the dragon.
He clutched the wound on his abdomen where the beam of light had grazed him. In those few short seconds, thanks to the passive ability of Holy Light Protection, the wound had healed by more than half. He then checked the system notification.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, host, for reciting a classic line from World of Warcraft. You have been awarded one chance to draw a prize. Would you like to start the prize wheel?"
The prizes in the lottery wheel were divided into two types: racial talents and skills.
Racial Traits: Escape Expert, Heroic Spirit, Resilience...
Skills: Charge, Rallying Shout, Execution...
[Underwater Breathing]: Prolonged breathing underwater.
It seemed that Damon's luck had turned after encountering Admiral Borsalino, and he only managed to draw a negligible reward.
Light spots converged from all directions, forming a human figure from bottom to top, and Admiral Borsalino's slightly teasing voice rang out:
"How scary, how scary! I almost got hurt!"
He glanced down at the back of his hand, which was covered in Armament Haki, and a glint of light flashed in his eyes behind his sunglasses.
Damon's sudden counterattack was so fast that it almost made people wonder if he also had the speed of light.
Moreover, Admiral Borsalino, feeling the lingering pain on the back of his hand, confirmed that Damon was not bluffing; he truly possessed the Thunder Bagua technique.
Kaido of the Beasts occasionally caused a ruckus at Marine Headquarters when he was drunk, and had been arrested and imprisoned by the Marines multiple times.
Admiral Borsalino had also fought against Kaido of the Beasts. Although Damon's mastery of Thunder Bagua was still somewhat immature, it already possessed considerable power, clearly indicating a close relationship with Kaido of the Beasts, otherwise he would not have been able to receive the teaching of this unique skill.
"It seems that even if this person is not the successor of Rocks' will, he must be inextricably linked to Kaido of the Beasts."
With this thought flashing through his mind, Admiral Borsalino suddenly disappeared from his spot.
Damon's pupils contracted, and before he could react, a slightly annoying voice came from beside him.
"Young man, have you ever been kicked by the light?"
The next instant, Admiral Borsalino raised his right leg, and his golden right foot, wrapped in dazzling golden light, swept across fiercely.
Despite his usual slyness and busy schedule of drinking tea and reading newspapers, Admiral Borsalino, despite his usual philandering and frivolous behavior, wasn't exactly magnanimous. He delivered a powerful whip kick to Damon's face, clearly still harboring resentment over the punch Damon had landed on his head earlier, which had nearly caused him, a Marine Admiral, to lose face.
If Admiral Kizaru Borsalino were to suffer a facial injury as a result, it would definitely become a laughing stock in Marine Headquarters, and he would never be able to hold his head up in front of his colleagues again.
Damon hadn't activated his Mangekyo Sharingan, so his eyes couldn't keep up with Admiral Borsalino's movements, and his body reacted a beat slower, leaving him no time to make any blocking moves.
Armament Haki, Dragon Roar, Dragon Scales—three layers of protection for his face. Damon only had time to make this emergency reaction before he felt the scenery before his eyes turn upside down, and he heard a piercing sound of wind breaking through his ears.
"Boom!"
He was sent flying backwards, crashing into a three-story residential building, causing extensive cracks in the walls and load-bearing columns. The entire building collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.
While you are sick, I will kill you!
When Admiral Borsalino got serious, his work efficiency immediately doubled, and he flicked beams of light from his fingertips like shooting birds with marbles.
"Yasakani no Magatama!"
Hundreds and thousands of beams of light descended again, forming a light curtain that enveloped the area where Damon had fallen. Continuous explosions followed, and large areas of buildings under the dense barrage of beams were reduced to ruins riddled with holes, leaving only shattered walls and broken walls in sight.
"Hmm?" Admiral Borsalino tilted his head, a serious expression on his face.