Captain John gave a smooth little laugh. "So the captain's already thinking of promoting Ares to an officer. Then this really is the moment for him to show the whole crew what he can do."
In the world of pirates, strength is the only law doubly so aboard a pack of wolves like the Rocks Pirates.
Watching Ares trade blows with Linlin outside, John felt as if no time had passed at all; the kid's face was as young as ever.
It was everything else that had changed too fast to believe.
Rocks' gaze never left the window. He, too, wanted to measure the boy. How far have you climbed in one year, Tengetsu Ares?
"He already has the power to serve as a division captain," Rocks said. "He's young, and our men are a vicious, proud lot but if he wins their respect with strength, no one will object."
There was another reason: the Rocks Pirates' war with the World Government was only heating up. The sooner Ares stood among the top officers, the stronger their hand would be. A freakishly young powerhouse would lure more monsters to their banner.
Many birds, one stone.
Rocks would gladly have a few more like that at his back
to sweep the world clean.
On the street:
Ares stood inside the wreathing fire, eyes flashing. He bared his teeth. "Linlin, your skin's harder than steel. But how does it like a proper roasting?"
A phrase came to him: Turn her own art back on her.
An idea took root. He would answer fire with fire let her taste her own flames.
He vanished.
KRACK!
The ground at his feet spiderwebbed and blew apart, unable to withstand the battering rhythm of Soru. Brutal power fed into blinding acceleration his afterimage stuttered and the sound barrier snapped.
"Azure Dragon Fist Blazing Breaker!"
Linlin's pupils shrank. In the space of a blink he was in her face; heat flared orange in the depths of her eyes
and his flame-wreathed fist slammed into the wall of her abs.
Her body folded like a bowing shrimp and launched, a cannonball trailing rubble.
BOOOOM!
…
…
She punched through wall after wall, skidding on a trail of pulverized stone. Buildings folded like cards, the earth trembled, and a thick pall of dust rose to smother the street.
One punch.
Pure devastation.
Everyone watched, stunned stupid. For the first time, Perospero and Katakuri saw their mother hurled that far.
Linlin was nearly the size of an adult giant. She wasn't yet the matron she would be decades later, but she was already heavy and strong. Seeing anyone knock her that far felt unreal.
Katakuri craned up at Perospero's jaw, voice a quaver. "If… if I ask Ares to teach me do you think I could get that strong one day?"
He wanted power. Linlin was "Mother" in name, but what kind of mother cycled husbands and babies without end? On this pirate-infested island, the kids survived on their own.
Everything had to be earned. Even the newborns he and his siblings raised them.
Perospero glanced down at the fierce light in his little brother's eyes. "Maybe… you could."
"I've decided," Katakuri said, fists clenched hard enough to blanch the knuckles. "I'm going to apprentice under him. I'll get strong and protect our brothers and sisters."
Meanwhile, Wang Zhi was dancing like an ant on a griddle. That one blow had rattled half the district; pirates were pouring in from every alley, drawn by the noise.
If they keep this up, something's going to snap.
And where the hell is Captain Rocks? Why hasn't he stopped them yet?
Back at the crater, Ares flexed the hand he'd struck with. The fire-forged blow had bite. Now had it worked?
He lifted his head toward the impact site. Dust swallowed his view.
A heartbeat later
the ground shivered as a violet-pink crescent screamed out of the haze.
Elbaf's Spear: Ikoku Sovereignty!
Less a cut than a monumental pressure wave a sovereign's decree to obliterate.
"Good!"
Ares' eyes blazed. Excitement sparked along his skin.
Blood-red Armament washed over him head to toe. With fire still licking his frame, he looked like some berserker god, more violent even than his monstrous build suggested.
He didn't dodge. He didn't angle a parry.
He met it.
The sovereign arc swallowed his bulk in light.
For a few stunned seconds, the sword-glow outshone the sun. Outside that lake of radiance the world fell black.
"Not a normal strike," Wang Zhi thought, shoulders tight. "Why the hell take it head-on? Use your fruit, boy!"
He knew that if Ares shifted into his Mythical Zoan, he'd weather it. But Ares was too damn confident.
The glow ebbed.
Daylight poured back
and there he was, exactly where he'd stood: a blood-hued colossus, devil's muscle swollen until his frame seemed even larger. The smooth, crimson plates of his physique mirrored the light like polished glass.
Not a mark on him.
A war god in the flesh.
"He really blocked Ikoku Sovereignty without so much as transforming?" Wang Zhi breathed. Not a scratch. The kid's Armament and raw defense were obscene.
Relief loosened Wang Zhi's jaw. "So his unique Armament's matured into true advanced Haki… I wonder can he project it the way standard Armament can?"
In the New World, Armament was common currency: hardening, emission tricks every seasoned fighter learned.
But Ares' Armament was different.
Wang Zhi could only guess what other techniques the boy had forged over this last year.
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