Sea Circle Calendar 1464.
First half of the Grand Line.
"Ptui ptui ptui."
A disheveled young man looking like a complete savage sat on a deserted island grilling fish, but after just one bite, he couldn't help spitting it out.
"What is this stuff?"
But no matter how terrible this sea fish tasted, if he didn't fill his stomach, he couldn't swim to the next island or find human settlements.
Right—swim.
More than half a year had passed since Rocks left Sphinx. Initially, leaving felt somewhat uncertain, but after departing, Rocks was full of ambition, firmly believing he'd become powerful.
First, he naturally needed his own ship.
Though following White Wolf Pirates, as a crew member he rightfully had his share of wealth. But after leaving the White Wolf Pirates, he didn't take a single berry of this money.
He already felt that Silas had trained and cultivated him, then he'd turned around and run—in the pirate world, this deserved being stabbed six times. Yet Silas had simply let him go.
Rocks considered himself no saint, but he had basic integrity.
So what if he had no money? Couldn't he steal?
Initially, Rocks had hidden aboard a merchant ship, smuggled to the New World's frontier, then robbed some blind bandits and transferred ships to reach the Grand Line's first half.
The initially smooth sailing made Rocks think he could successfully reach his destination—Water 7's shipyard. He'd heard Silas mention there lay the world's finest shipyard. Even White Wolf Pirates veteran Dean's Sphinx shipyard aimed to match Water 7.
So Rocks's plan was elegantly simple: go to Water 7, steal a decent ship, and then recruit crew.
Originally he didn't know how to grow stronger. Because Silas had said ordinary Haki could strengthen through training, but only Conqueror's Haki could improve through repeated battles.
And on these seas, the strongest pirate was undoubtedly Silas. He couldn't locate other pirates.
But after the World Government introduced the Seven Warlords policy, Rocks knew his target.
Go to Water 7 for a ship, recruit people, and then challenge the Seven Warlords. Any pirate capable of becoming a Warlord was a powerhouse worth over 200 million Berry. Even current him faced poor odds against such near-top-tier fighters.
But that made it interesting, right?
Having chances versus having no chances were different matters entirely.
His Warlord challenges had low success odds, but challenging Silas now meant zero chance.
Rocks set himself a crystal-clear goal: after challenging the Seven Warlords, he'd challenge Marine Admirals. Only by defeating Marine Admirals would he qualify to challenge Silas!
Rocks had been high-spirited, spending half a year traveling from Sphinx to Water 7. His destination was nearly within reach when disaster struck.
A storm directly destroyed his vessel, forcing him to swim to the nearest island.
Only then did he begin regretting—aboard Silas's ship, why hadn't he learned navigation from him? And how to identify sea fish while he was at it?
Though possessing decent strength, after truly sailing alone, Rocks realized what comfortable environment he'd previously lived in. Silas knew navigation, was himself a top navigator, could distinguish marine animal toxicity, could cook, and knew some basic first aid.
He hadn't noticed while in the White Wolf Pirates, but now after leaving, looking back, his captain was simply all-capable! And terrifyingly powerful to boot.
Previously in White Wolf Pirates, thinking about leaving and sailing solo—only after truly departing did he realize the gap between him and Silas was far greater than imagined.
And he only had ten years left.
Fortunately it was ten years. If it was truly five years, as he'd claimed, Rocks doubted he could even gather people to challenge Silas.
Among current difficulties, the most urgent to solve was finding reliable help.
"I need to find a navigator!"
Accustomed to the White Wolf Pirates' group of monsters, ordinary navigators couldn't catch Rocks's eye. But where to find talented, knowledgeable navigators?
"That island ahead should have people."
Vaguely seeing human structures on a small island several kilometers from his current deserted one, after finishing his fish, Rocks jumped into the water with a splash, swimming toward the island.
Rocks didn't know that single-mindedly wanting to advance toward Water 7, after the shipwreck, he'd nearly swum to the first half of the Grand Line's first half!
This was the Magra Kingdom—an unremarkable World Government member state consisting of one main island surrounded by dozens of smaller ones, with a total population under one million.
Holy Land Mariejois's upheaval had created far-reaching effects. Though White Wolf Pirates ultimately retreated, over a hundred member nation kings fainting at the crucial moment was seen as symbolizing White King Silas nearly breaking into Pangaea Castle.
So they began doubting the World Government—doubting whether the World Government retained its eight-hundred-year ruling power.
However, the nail that sticks out gets hammered.
Unlike the White Wolf Pirates with just one ship—able to leave at will—if any member nation suddenly declared withdrawal, they'd definitely receive the World Government's special attention. Unless they could contact the White Wolf Pirates!
The Magra Kingdom wasn't barren but was far from wealthy. But due to remote geography, few pirates passed through. So for the Magra Kingdom, paying or not paying Heavenly Tribute made little difference—they didn't need Marine protection anyway.
Yet the annual Heavenly Tribute wouldn't decrease just because the Magra Kingdom didn't need Marine protection, creating a crushing burden.
But this so-called Heavenly Tribute was essentially protection money paid to the World Government. Paying didn't guarantee protection, but not paying meant the World Government would definitely come looking for trouble.
So the Magra Kingdom hesitated.
A small nation under one million people paying ten billion Berry annually in Heavenly Tribute—this cost was excessive. If they could reduce it by half—no, just one-third—they wouldn't mind paying someone else.
Envoys had been dispatched to the New World, but whether they'd receive replies was unknown.
While the Magra Kingdom's nobles agonized over their impossible situation, Rocks landed on Magra Kingdom's outermost island.
His story was about to begin.