Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1475
A small village near Hachinosu Island.
It was midday.
Yet the village's wide main street was completely empty—no footsteps, no voices, not a single shadow.
On both sides of the road, every door and window was shut tight, leaving only narrow cracks.
Behind those cracks, villagers hid with terror carved into their faces.
Following their trembling gazes, you'd see it—
At the far end of the street lay a corpse.
Beside it stood a teenage boy, turned slightly to the side.
His features still looked boyish, but he was already around 1.8 meters tall.
A mess of black hair.
Two horns on his head.
Clothes torn and ragged.
A bloodstained kanabō slung over his shoulder.
His expression was dark.
"So that was the strongest guy in town?"
"I'm not even warmed up yet."
He muttered to himself, openly annoyed—angry that the fight hadn't satisfied him.
His name was Kaido.
A man from the Vodka Kingdom.
Five years ago, at just ten years old, he'd already become the kingdom's strongest warrior. When he learned the king planned to sell him to the World Government, Kaido escaped.
Since then he'd wandered the seas, hunting for strong opponents.
Before long, he'd carved out a name for himself around the pirate island Hachinosu.
His bounty had already reached 70,000,000 Beli.
He'd come to this backwater town today because he'd heard there was someone worth fighting.
But clearly, the man's reputation had outweighed his strength.
Now he was just another body cooling in the dust.
"Tch. Boring."
"These people are all too weak."
Kaido shook his head, shouldering his bloodied kanabō with a proud, defiant look.
And then—
"Grrrrrr…!"
His stomach growled.
The sound boomed through the empty street like a drum.
"What a shame there's no Marine base around here."
Kaido rubbed his flat stomach, frowning as he muttered.
He ate like a bottomless pit.
Most days, no matter how much he stuffed down, it still didn't feel like enough.
And Marine food?
Marine food was the best.
So whenever hunger hit, Kaido would practically throw himself at them—barge in, eat his fill, then slip away again.
Just as he was daydreaming about the Marines' "free meals"—
A sudden explosion thundered in the distance.
"BOOOOM—!"
It sounded like cannon fire.
Kaido's eyes snapped wide.
Excitement lit his face.
"Don't tell me the Marines are nearby?"
In his mind flashed the image of sizzling roast meat on a warship's deck.
He grinned.
"Heh… heh…"
Wiping the drool at the corner of his mouth, Kaido immediately stowed his kanabō and sprinted toward the sound.
He was fast—frighteningly fast.
Not long after, he reached the source.
Behind the village, in the hills—
A coastal port.
…
At the port, a ship sat moored at the shoreline.
On a mast nearly ten meters tall flew a flag with a pure black background.
In the center was a white skull.
At the bottom right, a blood-red lightning bolt.
Sinister. Ominous.
Along each side of the ship were three cannons.
In the sunlight, their cold barrels gleamed a dull, oily black.
This was unmistakably—
A pirate ship.
And to the northeast of the ship, high in the air, floated a massive red flower.
The shocking part wasn't the flower—
It was the fact that someone was lying on it.
The man had a clean, refined face, looking about twenty.
He wore a gray short-sleeved shirt and cropped wide-leg pants that ended around the calves.
He lounged on the red flower like it was a sofa, a toothpick in his mouth, eyes half-lidded—
Lazy. Unbothered.
Meanwhile, behind a huge rock near the port, Kaido arrived and steadied his grip.
"Pirates… and a Devil Fruit user, huh?"
"Let's see if they're worth me lifting a finger."
The corner of his mouth rose. His excitement sharpened.
Then a furious roar cut through the air.
"Fire! FIRE!"
"Gunners—aim properly! Don't waste my damn cannonballs!"
On the deck stood a one-eyed pirate captain in a black hat, waving a curved saber, murderous intent pouring off him.
Behind him, a fat pirate grinned viciously.
"Don't worry, Captain."
"This time I'll blow that annoying mosquito right out of the sky!"
He bent down and pressed his eye to the sight, hands working fast as he spun the cannon's aiming wheel.
A moment later—
The barrel tilted to a forty-five-degree angle.
The dark muzzle locked onto the young man floating overhead.
Target acquired.
The fat pirate licked his lips, eyes crazed.
"Die."
"You damned bounty hunter!"
BOOM!
With a deafening blast, three black cannonballs shot out of the barrels at once.
They tore through the air like meteors.
Yet the mysterious youth on the flower didn't move at all.
In the blink of an eye, the cannonballs were right in front of his face.
The heat shimmered in the air.
But he remained sprawled out, eyelids drooping, as if he couldn't be bothered.
Only his mouth moved—calm, almost bored.
"Wood Style: Wood Wall."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three explosions erupted in rapid succession.
Fire and sparks burst across the sky, swallowing everything in a thick cloud of black smoke.