"Record: senior of the Rocks Pirates…"
Sprawled on the deck of his personal ship, a tall young man lay back in a lounge chair with pen and paper in hand. It was an old habit of his. Whenever boredom struck, he wrote his life down. In this world, that habit had a proper na.
A logbook.
So entries read:
Pirate record: crewman of the Pirate King, great pirate, senior of the Rocks Pirates.
Marine record: elite instructor for the Navy officer training camp.
Celestial Dragon record: auxiliary mber of the Divine Knights.
Underworld record: cleared.
"Gick, you do not have to get that worked up…"
Ozz rubbed his brow. The old man's way of worshipping "monsters" was clearly etched into the bones. Even here in the past, before either of them had raised the other, a little display of strength and Gick's fan-heart flared to life.
Back when Ozz was a child, once the old man noticed his natural Observation Haki and freakish strength, he pinned his own monster dream on the boy. He kept Ozz well fed and taught him the rudints of both Haki colors from an early age. Ozz's Observation blossod fast, and after boarding Roger's ship he flew through the rest. Talent helped, but that foundation mattered too.
Now, having returned to a younger era and eting Gick in his pri, Ozz needed only to show a glimpse of true strength to win over this lifelong worshipper of monsters.
Lately, though, his sudden appearance on the open sea and his unprecedented promotion within the Rocks Pirates had stirred doubts. A stranger waltzes in and becos a captain among the top brass? Many questioned his power.
Gick, Ozz's most ardent defender, was not having it. He stord over, waving a newspaper and cursing under his breath.
"This I cannot tolerate, Captain Ozz."
He slapped the paper down. "Look at this. They are saying you are a lightweight, a decoy Rocks tossed out to mislead the world."
His face was flushed. Soone belittled Ozz, and he was angrier than Ozz himself. As for why, he could not say. He just felt close to Ozz. The bond felt right.
"All right, all right, I hear you. Next ti we run into soone big, I will go all out."
Ozz could only indulge him. Even in the original tiline, whenever Ozz shook the seas, the news gulls sohow delivered the paper to Dullarmos Island first so the old man could brag.
"The king who holds this sea down?"
"Oh. You an my good grandson."
To Ozz's face he was always a grumpy old coot. To outsiders he turned Ozz into gold. He did not allow anyone to slander him. By the ti Ozz grew up, few dared anyway.
Now, back in the past and growing close as friends, Gick was the sa. He guarded Ozz's title of monster like a creed. In his heart, becoming a monster was not just a goal. It was a value. A na to inspire awe and fear.
Ozz let the rant pass and shifted the topic.
"By the way, how is that flowing Armant I said I would teach you?"
He gave Gick a teacher's look. He knew he could not remain in this ti forever, and who knew what butterflies would flap. Better to leave the old man with real strength.
Sweat beaded on Gick's forehead. His eyes darted. "I tried. It will not move. The Armant sticks to my skin like glue."
Ozz's mouth twitched. After all this ti, still no progress. Was flowing Armant really so hard? At thirteen or fourteen he had learned it by playing around. No wonder Gick always muttered that he never had the conditions Ozz enjoyed back then.
If Gick had learned both colors, it must have cost him a mountain of pain, and still his talent capped him at basic coating. His swordplay had never stepped into the realm of a true swordsman.
If it were not awkward to do here, Ozz would have run him through the full regin he used in the Navy training camp.
"Forget it for now."
…
"Dotor Ozz? Never heard the na."
Beside a swimming pool, a young man with a long scar at the corner of his eye lounged as beauties splashed and laughed around him. He was on vacation, thoroughly slacking off.
He skimd the report his adjutant handed over. The sketch showed an unfamiliar face. Garp barely paid attention at first.
Until the adjutant relayed the World Governnt's latest confidential note:
A newly erged monster at sea, suspected to be Gol D. Roger's brother. Threat level: extrely high.
Garp shed his laziness in an instant. He sprang to his feet and snatched the paper, morizing that absurdly young face as if he could carve it into his mind.
"That bastard Roger has a brother? And he joined the Rocks Pirates?"
"Fine. Decision made."
Under the stunned looks of the sailors, Vice Admiral Garp, famous for acting first and thinking later, made up his mind.
"I will be the one to arrest him."
In the days that followed, an obscure na finally rang across the seas. Ozz crossed swords with Rocks' top n and earned both their respect and their caution. With it ca real authority to move a portion of the Rocks fleet.
And he went hunting. He accepted every challenge, dragging each doubter into the pit of despair one by one.
Clang.
The crisp ring of steel echoed as a rising swordsman of the New World, wielding a black blade, ca at Ozz. He had co to make his na by cutting down a captain of Rocks.
He had arrived smiling with a champion's poise.
Now disbelief drenched his face. Sweat rolled in heavy beads. His will crumbled. The world as he knew it cracked as the man before him pinched his strongest slash between two lazy fingers.
The last thing he heard was a flat voice.
"Is this a circus act?"
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The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
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