Chapter 24: [24] Ambition
[2200 words]
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The crowd began to build up at the docks of Hachinosu. Pirates of various intentions stood and watched with intrigue.
However, they did subconsciously clear the way for the newly arrived to walk through.
Their boots dug into the soil that had turned red from being bathed in blood. A haze covered much of the island.
Many eyes were glued onto the young Damien. Some gazed at him with curiosity. Provocation. Fear. Intimidation. Lust?
The walk went quickly, the relaxed Whitebeard seemed to lead Damien towards Skull Rock. Kaido had already disappeared to a pub elsewhere.
"I was gone a few months and so many rats have flooded this place," Shakky commented as she felt the distant gazes of malintent.
"They won't last long anyways," Whitebeard offhandedly said.
The three walked ahead, making their way through the sea of scum, eventually reaching the very front of the Skull Rock, the place where the Captain resided.
"Good luck, Damien-chan," Shakky said while reaching up to pat his shoulder.
Whitebeard nodded to him and went off to his own devices.
.
The Sin Incarnate alone looked up at the mountain-sized structure where the big boss supposedly was to be found.
Though the sky was bright and the wind was calm, Damien felt a tense environment built of the woe of the many, all concentrated in the structure before him.
However, his attention was captured by a mob of pirates that had gathered.
"The fresh meat is here."
They were mostly quips by the more battle-hardened veteran pirates. The ones who actually survived since perhaps the dawn of the Rocks Crew, were not an easy feat.
A large, burly man of 15 feet (4.57 m) in height walked up to the unmoving Damien.
"I heard a new monster rookie was brought in," he said in a condescending tone. "You don't look all that tough to me."
Damien gazed up at the larger, hairy pirate.
'Guess I need to prove myself before thinking of walking into the den of scum,' Damien thought.
He also felt a few other dozen pirates enclosing around him, not too obviously, but rather as if they were predators stalking their prey. A moment of weakness would send all of them at him like wild dogs.
The pirate at the forefront seemed to take the moment of silence as a slap in the face, choosing to swing his equally large fist at the recruit.
"I got a bounty of 119 million on me, let me see what you got, rookie!"
His fist raged on under the combined gazes of hundreds of onlookers.
Damien remained unmoved as the fist crashed upon his head.
*Crack*
The sound of a broken bone was expected, just not from the one it originated from.
The pirate who had attacked had a flash of pain swamped through his face.
"Augh, my arm!" he cried out from the aching pain.
The tall pirate glanced at his forearm bone that had torn through and out of his elbow and was sticking out, all the while his knuckle had severely deformed.
*Drip* *Drop*
The blood dribbled onto the dirt floor as the man fell to his knees in trepidation.
*Woosh!*
Damien's hand quickly shot forth and grabbed the injured man by his broken arm.
"I won't go down so eas-"
The vice-like grip of the 'rookie' sent pulsating pain down the man's body, shutting him up and granting Damien the stage he needed to finish the act.
With a quick show of force, he snapped the arm and drove the protruding elbow into the towering pirate's throat, lodging it through the carotid artery.
*Gurgle*
Damien stared the man down as he fell into the cold grasp of death; suffocating on his own blood to arrive at his end.
"..." the tension nearby skyrocketed, followed by silence.
Damien cast a glance nearby and saw the eyes of the onlookers.
Some were fearful, many respectful, but quite a few others were grinning like crazed fiends.
*Step* *Step* *Step*
The monster rookie paid no mind as he walked forward and into the gates of Skull Rock for his date with death.
As expected, there were no more obstacles in his path. However, some distant gazes did lock onto his actions, many were eagerly waiting for what condition Damien was going to exit in.
…
*Pitter Patter*
The staircase leading to the very top of the structure was of a spiral kind. Droplets of black water and blood dripped occasionally, adding an eerie echo throughout the way up.
The stench of various odours seemed to be trapped in the rotten wood and mossy stones.
…
[Five Minutes Later]
Damien was soon faced with a cracked signpost that hung above the wooden doors under the dull light that fell through a cracked window.
It read three words written in dried blood by a lost soul: "God ends here."
The young pirate turned his attention away from the olden sign and onto the doors. There wasn't anything special about them, rather it was the eerie feeling that escaped from under the gap beneath them.
Damien took a deep breath and walked in.
*Creak*
Darkness.
One couldn't even make out the dimensions of the room as the edges were all swamped in cold darkness.
A heavy atmosphere of depression and despair was all that remained.
A sliver of light from yet another cracked and aged window allowed Damien to make out a chair in the far back of the chamber.
[Image (in Discord)]
A man seated upon it, a barrel of aromatic saké in hand.
"..."
The person wasn't that massive and seemed to be a little bit taller than Damien himself.
He was slumped over his throne-like seat, watching the rookie pirate before him in deep intrigue.
Damien felt the gaze, the fury-laden eyes shining through the blanket of darkness.
The seat soon creaked due to age as the man slowly leaned forward, his head coming within view.
He donned a dark coat draped over his shoulders. The man had darkish hair in an unruly mass, with locks sticking out unevenly behind his head, in every direction.
A wild, scarred appearance with crazed eyes. A feral grin plastered to his face.
[Image (in Discord)]
"!!!" Damien took a masked breath as he felt the man's aura. His Observation was flaring like an alarm, alerting him of a grievous threat.
"Xahahaha!"
It was a wild and manic laugh. One greatly amplified by the dark cavernous feel of the entire room.
The hoarse voice came once again, "You know of me, brat?"
Damien heard the interest in the tone of the man and replied with a firm voice, "Rocks D. Xebec, the man who wants to be the 'King of the World'."
The words evoked another manic laugh from Rocks, "Xahahaha!"
His wide grin stretched further as he gulped down a few more liters of his saké.
.
"Your ears seem very sharp, kid," he slowly stated. "You can hear it, can't you?"
The words caused Damien's eyes to slightly widen, though he was just as quick to calm himself down.
The Sin Incarnate was about to ask a question but it seemed as if Rocks had long predicted it.
"You can hear their voices…," Xebec muttered. However, the pirate's voice soon turned venomous as he spat out, "…I can hear their screams!"
Boom!
Xebec's eyes burst out with an overpowering momentum as it filled the edges of the rooms.
The pressure seemed to reach far beyond Skull Rock as the skies above Hachinosu darkened into an abrupt storm.
A thick, black, bubble encapsulating the entire Pirate Paradise.
Rain fell as the endless torrent of Haki pressed upon the island itself.
Cracks spread through the room as Damien felt the weight of the world pressing on his shoulders.
He had felt Conqueror's Haki before, even from Whitebeard. But this was different.
Rocks' Haki was not simply imposing one's dominance over the other, but quite literally attacking their mind and sanity, tearing it to shreds.
*Rumble*
Black lightning crackled through the dark skies as the rain fell.
The pirates below began to panic as many of them collapsed in moments, only leaving a few veterans standing.
Shakky, who was in her zone, looked up at the tempestuous weather with worry. She knew what was to come, simply hoping things played out well for the bold young pirate.
*Crack*
Damien, who bore the brunt of the Haki, felt his knees creak and tremble under the bone-rattling weight.
He once again heard the man's hoarse voice, "Now what will you do? You may be a D., and even hear the voice of the world, but you need more than that to hold up in front of me, boy."
The words echoed in Damien's mind as thoughts began to fall apart.
A simple, unyielding spirit began to build up in his mind.
His vision began to darken, his body overcome with the great and surmounting pressure.
'Can't fall now, I've just begun!'
The desperation that had been built up from the moment of Damien's first step in the path to power, from the time of his mother's death to the time he first set onto the sea.
It began to fight back against Rocks' unforgiving might. The unyielding spirit rushed out.
BOOM!
Black lightning began to rain down as it tore apart the very room they clashed in.
Rocks' black Haki was slowly forced back, to a degree, by Damien's very own spirit. The dark red bubble spanned out in an unyielding fashion.
"Haaah, huuuh..."
Deep and bated breaths echoed through the broken chamber as Damien stabilized himself, his crimson eyes locking onto Rocks lacking any fear.
"Xahahaha!"
The look of intrigue further spread through the menacing pirate's eyes as he said, "Yes, those sharp eyes are what you need!"
Damien soon felt the man's voice grow dark and deep, no longer playful.
"Remember this, brat," he said. "In the darkness of this era to come, only ambition can guide you!"
The Haki struggle concluded as the rays of sunlight once again returned to the Paradise Island of Hachinosu.
.
The words reverberated in the young pirate's mind, 'Ambition…'
Xebec grinned, "You're unlike Kaido, unlike any of the rest, I like you, kid. Try not to die too soon."
The words were a clear: "You can leave now."
Damien exhaled a heavy breath as he walked out from Hell's Gate.
No one knew exactly what was in the Sin Incarnate's mind, but he certainly had a sharper outlook on the world than earlier.
Rocks returned to his drink, a quick thought escaping his lips, "Einar D. Ares, the man lost in time, let me see how far your brat can go…"
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[Marineford]
"Is it done?"
A marine stood before the Fleet Admiral's seat and nodded, "Naufragium Island has sunk."
Kong nodded at the report from the Rear Admiral.
"How's Zephyr?"
The Rear Admiral seemed a little hesitant, "He hasn't said anything against the Buster Call."
The Fleet Admiral replied with another nod as if expecting the result.
"Send him orders to report to Paradise for now."
The marine accepted the order and scurried off.
.
Kong turned his attention to the woman in his office, seated by the side. It was Vice Admiral Tsuru.
"Kong-san, Asahi's top sources just got the news that the monster rookie has reached Hachinosu and passed Rocks' test."
The head of the Marines could only give an annoyed sigh.
"Another problem to add to the mountain of problems."
Tsuru took a sip of her tea and commented, "Even Cipher Pol has great trouble in driving in spies to any meaningful positions of the Rocks Pirates, 'Black Death' Shakky is quite good at weeding them out."
Kong just waved his hand, "As long as we know their general position, all is well." He then switched the subject, "Any news on the other top guns of the Rocks?"
Tsuru nodded and gave a concise reply: "The Golden Lion's location is unknown while the Evil Spirit is waging a war on some dessert Kingdom in the New World. Captain John had recently robbed a Heavenly Tribute Ship."
Kong massaged his temples in response to the news.
"These pirates really can't give me a second to rest..."
Another sigh escaped the Fleet Admiral's lips. "Have our troops ready for war, I feel as if a storm is brewing…"
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'How warm,' Damien thought as he felt the sun on his skin.
The inside of Skull Rock was truly something beyond one's imagination.
The awakened pirate peered outside and saw the hundreds of unconscious pirates; nothing unexpected.
Seeing Damien walk out without a scratch was enough to drive fear and respect into the gazes of these scum.
The dark-haired pirate paid them no mind.
He felt something new. He felt reborn. Evolved. His mind was clearer than it had ever been before. The exchange with Rocks had opened a new door in his mind, his spirit felt more free than ever.
And the notification in his mind confirmed his thought.
[Conqueror's Haki mastery has reached the Intermediate Stage.]
A thin smile spread across Damien's face as he walked on ahead through the island of scum, breathing in its miserable air.
To Be Continued…
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Author's Corner.
That's my interpretation of Xebec; the story needs a truly evil figure and it really does fit the narrative.
Hopefully, Oda doesn't throw a curveball and make Rocks exceedingly different from what I wrote him to be...
Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q
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