บท 104: [104] Advent of Chaos
[2315 words]
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"Sol will host the Pirate Festival at his home ground of Superbia to challenge the last remaining pirates of this great sea!"
Captain John smirked at the intel. "Johohoho! Sounds like a haul for goods."
"That prideful guy, it's his kind of thing to invite every powerhouse onto him openly." Shiki lit a cigar for himself, "The Navy probably got an invite too."
"Then we'll fight them too," Rocks declared with a menacing grin.
"It'll take a few weeks to reach Superbia with the size of our fleet, until then, you're free to do as you please," Shakky stated.
…
[Later than Night]
Damien was currently on a call.
His snail morphed into one with long purple hair and matching eyes.
"How did the news hit the Underworld?" Damien asked.
"It's set off a lot of alarms. My Night Ravens picked movements at the other Emperors, mostly about the most beneficial route of action. The Festival will surely change the entire structure of power in the New World and the Underworld will shake with it."
Damien nodded as the words were carried out from the receiver.
"It's time to put the Overlords of the Sea behind us, after the festival, it will be the Rocks Pirates against the World Government."
His claim matched the one in Aurora's mind, leaving her much to prepare. "There are three things you should know," she then said.
"First, the Seastone trade is going well. I made sure all the weapons were of at most 30% purity—even if the World Government gets their hands on it, they can't ever get enough to pad their ships."
Damien was satisfied with the arrangement. Although he had Aurora arrange the trade with Wano, he also wasn't dumb enough to allow his enemies to harness the stone beyond mediocre craft.
"Only the artisans of Wano can mould Seastone into bullets, let alone purify it to any useful extent."
Vegapunk was the man who conquered the Calm Belts and Damien was more than willing to exploit the windless seas until then.
.
Aurora continued, "Second, Pryde D. Sol, in light of his Festival, attacked a heavily fortified transport from G-1 to Mariejois and stole a highly sought-after treasure, one the Celestial Dragons themselves were furious about."
The intel brought curiosity to the Sin Incarnate's face, "Oh? Any clue on what it was?"
The snail shook its head, "No. It was protected by the elusive God's Knights… their leader's Haki was too strong for me to spy on with my Ravens."
Damien nodded with narrowed eyes, "Alright, what's the third thing?"
"It's about The King of Smuggling: Nelson Vacuum. The World Government reached out to him about setting up a trade to obtain some recently stolen reactive ore… from G-2," Aurora explained.
"How did it proceed?"
The snail continued to convey the woman's thoughts, "Their discussion did not amount to anything, but Vacuum said that he would look at the rare minerals and hired the Anarchy Pirates led by the Super Rookie Agon."
"Alright," the Sin Incarnate acknowledged, "keep tabs on them."
The transponder snail gave a definitive nod, drawing an end to the conversation.
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[Worldwide]
The news of the Pirate Festival graced the seas, setting off a storm in its wake!
Three months until every big-named crew of scum will gather at Superbia, no matter what, it was an event that would go down in history.
The World Economy News Paper was headlining the information, ensuring that every child and their dog knew what was about to go down, writing it as an epic battle for the ages.
However, this news alone wasn't everything; another huge piece of news concerning a pirate group arrived.
Something concerning the Roger Pirates.
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[New World Sea]
"Captain, I see it! I see the island!"
A pirate scrambled from the lookout tower at the mast, screaming down the ship's solid frame.
A boisterous pirate stood at the ship's deck, his curved black mustache floating proudly. "Oh? You're right, I see it too," the man uttered, his eyes locked onto a distant land.
He gazed down at a device strapped to his wrist, one with three glass domes enclosing a needle each. The central needle was pointing dead ahead.
A fog swamped their ship, reducing their vision to a small distance. Although even under the haze, the bold letters of the red ship were visible and read: GOL⋅D⋅ROGER.
.
"So we've finally reached it, the final island that no one has stepped foot on!"
Rayleigh, the golden-haired Vice Captain muttered, his bespectacled eyes left with a mix of shock and excitement.
Roger, the captain, beamed his signature grin, "The Final Island of the Log Pose Trail—Lodestar Island!"
The Oro Jackson dove through the thick fog, slowly docking onto the foggy island.
…
The Roger Pirates cheerfully disembarked, feeling a great resolution coming to their long journey.
"Hmm?" Roger felt something odd, a rare frown flashing on his face. He peered at the log pose on his wrist and saw something wild.
All three needles were spinning wildly with no end in sight, not pointing anywhere!
"Rayleigh…" The swordsman nodded, feeling just as unsure.
The Captain gazed at the distance, seeing nothing but haze beyond Lodestar but deep down he knew that something was missing.
The man exhaled a dull breath and exclaimed, "There's no doubt about it… this isn't the last island!"
"This is no ordinary fog, we can't traverse it without some form of directions or we'll be lost in it for months," Rayleigh cautioned.
"…" Roger sighed, shaking his head. "Even my Haki can't pierce past it…"
But such results could never tear down a man as stubborn as Roger. The infamous pirate clenched his fists and loudly declared, "I'll be the first person to travel all around the world, but it just won't be today!"
He decisively turned around, walking back to the Oro Jackson.
"Captain…"
"Let him be," Rayleigh calmed his fellow crewmate, "you know how moody Roger is,"
…
The Roger Pirates eventually headed back, feeling mixed about their journey. The thought of leaving without completing their objective left them wanting so much more.
"Looks like some big things happened in our absence, Roger." Rayleigh handed his captain a bundle of newspapers.
"Wahahaha! We missed a lot of fun things."
He went over the first headline that was released over a week ago.
"The Fourth Division of the Rocks Pirates raided G-2 and left Admiral Basara in critical condition; looks like that little monster has come back from his hiatus."
"That's not all, turn to the next page," Rayleigh said from the side.
Roger blinked at the next piece of intel. "Einar D. Damien versus Charlotte Linlin—The Duel of Seeds."
"The Sin Incarnates leaves victorious after a battle that lasted two days and one night…" he continued reading. "Wahahaha! That crazy woman went around looking for anything to pop out some impressive brats, it really is like her."
*Furl*
He went on to the next headline, one that had arrived just last night.
"Sol's finally playing his hand? Hehe, there's no way we can miss such a party, get ready for some fun, you all!"
"Ouuh!" The few dozen men all yelled out in their lungs, ready to enjoy the coming festivities. Forgetting their recent gloom.
…
Roger's successful arrival at Lodestar Island had considered him to have accomplished a peerless feat.
No one man had stepped on said island, granting Roger a new epithet as the "King of the Seas"!
This piece of news alongside the coming Festival was enough to get people either riled up in excitement or cowering in the basements.
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[Ten Weeks Later]
[Hachinosu]
Booom!
A loud explosion resounded near the docks as the nearby ships were shaking.
A black-haired young man with red streaks down one side slammed his fist which was bursting with blazing crimson energy and black lightning against a giant opponent.
With his glorious blond hair and a thick white mustache, Whitebeard responded with his attack. A right fist covered in a white bubble went forth to meet the youth.
A natural disaster raged towards the power of absolute compression as the two powers collided.
The atmosphere on one half was cracking and shattering apart like glass as a white hue rained down. The other half was filled with ripping red energy as it tore the winds apart in its fury.
BOOOOM!
The two powers of great destruction continued to clash as the red one was starting to be overwhelmed.
Boom!
The white energy finally bashed through and crashed on the younger pirate as he felt the power of a world-shaking earthquake echo across his face.
The young man shot through the air, his face was bruised from the tremor while his legs dug into the sea, leaving behind jets of water to slow his launch and finally caving into a distant ship.
The crimson eyes of the youth shone past the rubble. "Damn… an earthquake to the face still hurts like hell," Damien muttered as he popped his dislocated jaw back into place.
"Gurararara, you've been taking my hits for hours now."
Damien's cheek had already healed before he let out an exasperated sigh. "Newgate-san, you still haven't told me how you Awakened your fruit so I have to do it this way."
The giant man chuckled, "You just have to understand your powers fully. Considering your talent, you'll naturally Awaken in a handful of years. If you want to speed it up then maybe you want to go visit a place ripe with ruin."
Damien heard the shift in Newgate's tone, one pointing at something.
He picked up the hint, voicing it out, "Isle of Disaster: Extinction Valley, right, I already thought of it but looks like it'll have to wait for the Festival."
Whitebeard agreed, "Hmm, good. Just be ready, Sol is something."
Damien raised an eyebrow, "I keep hearing that but there are little whispers of his powers."
The much taller pirate hummed, unsurprised by the comment. "Sol was forced into a pirate crew which enslaved his home… growing up at Moraino Island under a crafty pirate captain."
Whitebeard frowned at the thought as if he felt nothing but disgust regarding the matter, "I pity the guy—he has a bloody past and sees himself as some kind of saviour."
"But unlike most of those prideful scum, Sol can put his money where his mouth is."
Such words left Damien even more curious as he asked, "Enough to duel our crazy captain?"
Whitebeard narrowed his eyes before returning a solemn nod, "His power is… special enough to give Rocks a nice fight at the right time."
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[A Few Days Later]
"GET READY TO SAIL YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS!" Shiki's voice thundered out as the ships lined up in a fleet.
His Division held over eight thousand pirates, each of them cheering for their leader.
Not just his ships, but dozens of other ships were ready to sail.
"I will break Sol's face myself!" Kaido roared from afar as his Seventh Division followed behind.
"Ufufufu, Kaido-chan, you should leave that to the Captain or you'll get hurt," Shakky's voice called out from a single ship.
She was onboard the Titanic as clouds of smoke floated above her.
Loud footsteps echoed behind the woman as Xebec stood tall. "XAHAHA, SET SAIL!"
Captain John and his Division were also onboard.
.
Whitebeard's fleet pulled up from the far back-left with three thousand pirates. Furthermore, Charlotte Linlin's Third Division was to the left and Silver Axe's 6th Division behind her.
Damien had one ship with his six division mates and sailed beside the Titanic on the upper-right side.
Whitebeard's D-1 had 3000.
Shiki's D-2 had 8600.
Charlotte Linlin's D-3 had 5400.
Damien's D-4 had 7.
Silver Axe's D-5 had 1700.
D-6 had 2300.
Kaido's D-7 had 4000.
Captain John's D-8 has 5000.
Shakky's D-9 had 50.
A combined force of thirty thousand pirates!
Although most would die soon, the crazy thing was that every single one of them was more than comfortable with the news and welcomed it with open arms.
Naturally, their advent was not left unseen.
…
"Puru," "Puru," "Puru."
It was a sound most people were familiar with yet under the curtain of the room's darkness made the call sound even louder.
The man holding the receiver was slightly panicked, his heart skyrocketing. He kept looking over his shoulder as the room shook from the turbulent seas.
"Come on, pick already…"
It felt like an eternity before a comforting, "Katcha~!" resounded.
"Finally, I thought you were ghosting me, Captain!"
The darkness hid the man's face but his trepidation was more than palpable.
"My bad. Things aren't exactly calm where I am either. Our agency is very much in demand from Hakuchō-san. Our disconnection with the Navy makes us perfect spies after all."
The agent nodded, his white hair slicked with sweat, "Hehe, and here I thought it was cool being a member of a super-secret force…"
The joking call calmed the man a little as he broke the news, "The Rocks Pirates have left for Superbia. There's no doubt about it, this will decide everything, Captain!"
The purple-haired snail nodded, "You did well getting in; do what you must to remain undercover, even if it means killing marines."
The agent sighed before returning a firm gaze, one conveyed through the transponder snail.
Their conversation was quickly put to a close as the atmosphere outside the small room grew rowdier and rowdier.
Greed, Gluttony, Wrath, Lust, Envy, Sloth, and Pride—the scum under the Rocks Pirates were feeling every vice possible.
The fleet sailed on forth with combined emotions were enough to stir the weather! As such, dark clouds filled the skies, trailing the unholy voyage in its ominous fashion.
The advent of chaos had officially departed with a force that could challenge the status quo for decades to come!
.
Time till the Pirate Festival: 19 Days.
To Be Continued…
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Author's Corner.
A few tremors in the Underworld while another one at Mariejois. Roger Pirates have also conquered the Log Pose Route, a feat no one else has done (that we know of). The title of 'King of Seas' may have been Morgans' way of adding fuel to the fire.
What do you think the treasure was that Sol swiped from the Government?
Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q
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