Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of synchronized boots echoed through the narrow alley. Daddy turned his head toward it and saw smoke curling through the air—Smoker, chomping on two cigars, astride his amphibious motorbike. A squad of Marines followed close behind, their rifles gleaming beneath the morning light.
"Daddy," Smoker called, pulling to a stop beside him, "the Boxing Pirates and Rody the Slayer have been sighted in town. Did you see them? And what's with the… pieces all over the ground?"
He glanced at the street, where blood had dried into dark, sticky rivers. Flesh and bone fragments littered the cobblestones.
"I saw it all," Daddy replied calmly. "Those chunks are what's left of the Boxing Pirates. They met the Slayer in this alley… and he slaughtered them."
Smoker's jaw tightened. "Rody the Slayer. That man's a damn monster."
Behind them came the hurried footsteps of Tashigi and several Marines, panting from the chase. "Captain Smoker! Please slow down—we can barely keep up!"
Smoker didn't look back. "Tashigi, take the men and start clearing these bodies. Do it quietly. No need to terrify the townsfolk."
He slid off his bike, his coat billowing in the wind. "This time, the enemy is Rody the Slayer. He's far too dangerous. I'll handle the capture myself."
"That's not acceptable!" Tashigi blurted out, adjusting her glasses. She'd followed his gaze to the massacre and froze. Her face drained of color. "Th-this… this is his doing? The fifty-five million berries Slayer? He's… a butcher!"
The other Marines gagged, some turning aside to vomit. Many had seen death before, but nothing like this.
Smoker exhaled through his cigars, smoke swirling like a storm around his head. "Now you see. He's beyond brutal. I'm a Logia user—his attacks can't kill me easily. But if I take you along, he'll cut you down before I can move. You'll all stay here. That's an order."
He turned away, but Tashigi's voice stopped him.
"Sir," she said, trembling but resolute. "We may not have Devil Fruit powers, but if we were afraid of dying, we would never have become Marines."
She adjusted her glasses again, meeting his eyes. "We chose this life. We knew the risks. We won't be dead weight. Please, Captain Smoker—let us fight by your side."
The soldiers straightened behind her. Their fear had burned away, leaving something fierce and unyielding in their eyes.
Smoker studied them for a long moment. Then, a small smile tugged at his mouth. "Heh. So you've all got death in your hearts already. Fine. If you're ready for that, I've got no reason to stop you."
He turned to Daddy. "Which way did the Slayer go?"
Daddy pointed toward the harbor. "That way. He's heading for his ship. But listen to me—be careful. The pressure that man gave off… it wasn't human. Don't underestimate him just because you're a Logia. He's stronger than any pirate I've ever seen."
Smoker nodded solemnly. "I won't."
He swung back onto his motorbike. "Billower!" he barked, and the engine roared to life. "Leave a few men to clean up the remains. The rest of you, full speed ahead—we're capturing Rody the Slayer!"
"Yes, sir!" the Marines shouted, their voices echoing off the stone walls as they charged after him.
Daddy watched them disappear into the distance. A rare smile flickered across his tired face—then faded, replaced by quiet dread. "Be careful," he murmured. "That man… isn't like anything I've ever faced. Don't die, Smoker."
...
"Captain Rody," Mike said from the deck, his voice steady as ever, "our next destination is Reverse Mountain. Once we cross it, we'll enter the first half of the Grand Line. But I've heard there's a massive island whale that keeps ramming its head into the Red Line. Many ships—pirate and merchant alike—have been destroyed by it."
A chime sounded in Rody's mind.
Host killed Toby.
[Slaughter Value +4]
Slaughter Value: 21
Rody closed the mental panel and spoke absently, "Yes, there's such a whale. Fifty years ago, it was just a calf. It followed a pirate crew into the Grand Line. They promised to return after circling the world… but they died. All except one skeleton still clinging to life. Since then, the whale's been waiting—slamming its head against the Red Line for decades."
Nami tugged gently on his sleeve, eyes shining. "Can we see it, Rody?"
He smiled faintly and brushed her shoulder. "If you want to, then once we cross the mountain, you'll see it with your own eyes."
He wasn't interested in stopping the whale's pain, nor did he care much for sentimental tales. What drew him was the sight itself—a four-thousand-meter leviathan crashing its head against a continent. He wanted to witness that sheer, impossible scale.
And, perhaps more than the whale, he was curious about the man living near it—Crocus, the former ship's doctor of the Pirate King's crew.
Not because Rody cared about Raftel or the title of Pirate King. That crown had never impressed him.
Rocks D. Xebec hadn't wanted to be Pirate King—he'd wanted to overthrow the Celestial Dragons and rule the world. When his crew fell, his two equals rose: Shiki the Golden Lion, who shared his ambition for domination, and Whitebeard, who only wanted a family. Neither had cared about the crown.
Even Roger, the man who did become Pirate King, changed nothing. His title gave him no power to command the seas. Could he order Whitebeard or Shiki around? Of course not.
The World Government hadn't trembled either. The Five Elders had barely blinked. To them, "Pirate King" was just another strong outlaw—a nuisance, not a threat.
Roger had won the sea, only to die on a scaffold. His wife perished carrying his son for twenty long months, and his child was raised by a Marine—Garp.
It wasn't the crown that shook the world.
When Luffy awakened the Sun God, Nika, the Five Elders themselves moved to act. That was power. That was fear.
Rody leaned back against the rail, eyes fixed on the horizon.
"The one who threatens the world," he said softly, "isn't the man who becomes Pirate King… it's the man who becomes the Sun God."