The pinnacle of pirates! Beginning as a trainee in Roger's crew Chapter 15 15: Flowery Haki-chan, Here Comes Watashi! >3

The days at sea were long.

Don't be fooled by how Monkey D. Luffy circled the world in just a few months. The Roger Pirates didn't have such a clearly defined roadmap. Most of their ti was spent simply getting from place to place.

In fact, it might be more accurate to say that Roger was the true "chosen one." He just happened to stumble upon every condition needed to reach the final island, purely by fate.

Other, less fortunate pirates could spend a lifeti searching for the Poneglyphs or soone capable of reading them and never succeed.

Just like that, a year had flown by.

It was now the year 1496 of the Sea Circle Calendar.

Thirteen-year-old Ozz was no longer the greenhorn he once was he was finally coming into his own.

But Ozz didn't care about that.

He had sothing far more important on his mind.

"Hey! Buggy! Good news I hit two ters tall!"

"Are you stupid?! Does this look like the ti to be worried about sothing like that?!"

Buggy, barely pushing 145 centiters, looked up at the towering Ozz with a face full of exasperation.

They were in the middle of a battle!

"Hahaha! Yeah, I know!"

Ozz laughed heartily, casually tilting his head to dodge a few bullets flying his way. He strode over to Buggy without a care.

Clang

A jet-black coating of Armant Haki swept down his arm as he raised it beside Buggy's temple.

Thunk

A bullet slamd into the back of his hand and bounced off with a tallic clatter, harmlessly dropping to the deck.

"Stay sharp, Buggy," Ozz said with a grin.

"EHHHH?!"

Only now realizing how close to death he'd just co, Buggy's jaw dropped. His eyes bulged, his nose dripped, and his whole body trembled with the shock.

"I... I almost died!"

Sure, Buggy had eaten the Chop-Chop Fruit and turned into a Split Man, but that only made him immune to slashing attacks. A bullet to the head would've killed him for sure!

Ozz patted him on the shoulder, then leapt to the edge of the ship.

He let his Observation Haki spread outward.

In an instant, he sensed the two Marine warships tailing them every gun barrel, every soul aboard.

"No Admirals, huh? Just these chumps? Did the Marines offend soone important to get stuck with this job?"

He held his rifle loosely at his side, but his eyes were already drawn to the man at the helm the one standing proudly at the bow.

Captain Roger.

As Ozz stepped forward, many of the crew turned to watch him including the Straw Hat group.

Ozz... was no longer just so kid tagging along.

Ever since he awakened his Conqueror's Haki, he had beco obsessed with fighting on the front lines. In his own words, "The more real battles I face, the stronger my Haki will grow. Nothing tempers the spirit like blood and victory."

And truly

That's how kings are made.

Thanks to this shift in mindset, Ozz's bounty had been climbing fast all year.

Now? He was worth 500 million Berries.

"I've got this, Captain Roger. They're just so Marine flunkies."

Roger had no intention of interfering in the first place. Hearing Ozz speak up, he simply sheathed his sword and turned his gaze to the island ahead shrouded in waterfalls and mist.

The Land of Wano.

"Make it quick, Ozz! We're landing soon!!"

"Roger that!"

Ozz raised his massive sniper rifle. His Observation Haki surged, sweeping across the enemy ships hundreds of ters away. No wall of steel could hide anything from him not anymore.

This was a new technique Ozz had developed an enhanced Observation Haki that granted him sothing like a god's-eye view, almost x-ray-like in its clarity.

A little like the Heart Net.

He steadied his breathing.

His eyes blazed crimson.

He wasn't just seeing a few seconds into the future anymore he was reaching for farther deeper into ti.

Bang

The shot rang out. A black Armant-coated bullet vanished into the air, trailing a faint sonic boom behind it.

Then, silence.

Until

BOOM!!!

As if a chain of explosions had been set off, a chorus of blasts echoed across the sea.

A steel-clad warship groaned, tilted, and began to sink slowly into the depths its powder magazines ignited in one flawless strike.

The Marines on the remaining ship were paralyzed, staring at the scene in horror, jaws slack, eyes wide in disbelief.

"He hit the ammo storage... from that far away?! No way! That's not possible! That can't be real!!!"

The Rear Admiral aboard the surviving vessel teetered on the edge of a breakdown.

Then he snapped out of it.

"Retreat!! Hard to port!!"

"We can't fight sothing like that!"

Orders were barked. The ship turned frantically away but they didn't realize...

To soone like Ozz, hundreds of ters might as well be within arm's reach.

"Sothing's coming straight at us!!"

"Too fast we can't track it!"

"It's Black Gun Ozz!!!"

Ozz soared through the air, stepping on nothing, light as a feather.

Back on the Oro Jackson, the crew wasn't even surprised. They just leaned on the railing, watching the inevitable play out.

On the last Marine vessel, tension briefly lifted as they saw the pirate ship wasn't coming for them.

After all, this was the New World. The two ship commanders were Rear Admirals not exactly nobodies.

One of them, Rear Admiral Tesro, clenched his fists. He had trained both Armant and Observation Haki. He was confident he could buy ti long enough for the others to escape.

And once they had so distance, hundreds of Marines could gang up on one pirate.

How hard could it be?

"Black Gun Ozz! If you've got guts, co at "

Splurt!

The other Marines never saw it coming. Their faces froze mid-smile.

"I'll let you die smiling. That's the most rcy I can offer."

No one even noticed when Ozz appeared on the deck.

He flicked the blood from his blade and looked down at the headless body of Rear Admiral Tesro, who still wore a surprised smile.

Not that it was surprising.

After all, Ozz had seen this happen before he ever drew his sword.

The other Marines paled instantly. It was like watching an opera mask switch from joy to despair.

Ozz walked calmly through the chaos, cutting down soldiers one by one.

A few, driven mad with fear, tried to hide in the ship's kitchen.

"Hey now... Marines should always be ready to die in battle.

Deserters have no place in war."

Ozz didn't hesitate. If he had been so weakling pirate, the Marines wouldn't have spared him. He'd be dead or rotting in a cell.

He wasn't about to show them any pity.

Still, there was a nice bonus in all this: Rear Admiral Tesro's blade.

It wasn't just any sword.

The black-patterned blade was long, heavy, and straight not curved like most katanas. Its lack of ornantation made it feel more like a walking stick than a weapon.

In so ways, it reminded Ozz of Hotline Gambler, but this one was even longer and definitely fancier.

He didn't know if it was a nad sword or not.

But it was way better than the generic one he'd been using.

And more importantly...

It was long enough to match him even when he hit three ters tall.

With his prize in hand, Ozz stepped back into the sky, walking calmly toward the Oro Jackson.

Perfect timing.

He was eager to see what "Flowing Haki" in Wano was really all about

And how it compared to the flowing-armant technique Rayleigh had taught him not long ago.