The ship's hull rumbled with sleep and snoring.
Rocks guzzled ale, roaring with laughter as the monsters behind him sat in grim silence. They were born of this age — living horrors that made the old breed of pirates look quaint by comparison.
Before Roger, pirates had been desperate cutthroats — nuisances to the world.
Before Rocks, they had been mere bandits with fading ambitions.
Then Rocks gathered the truly mad, and the world's seas swelled with monsters.
Vessels packed tight streamed out from Hachinosu, a black tide sailing straight for God Valley.
"Head into the windless belt! Push through!" someone barked.
No wind? No problem — the Rocks fleet had no shortage of monsters.
Below decks, the early risers were being lined up and assigned chores. Sharn kept one eye half-closed, letting the world turn without him for a moment. The cabin reeked of sweat, spilled wine, and half-eaten rations. Streaks of light cut through the portholes and landed on his face. For a breath he wondered: is life supposed to feel like this?
"Oi — get up, get up! Kaido's here!" shouted Jeff, the scruffy pirate, barreling into the cabin.
The air snapped alive. Kaido.
The name alone chilled men awake. He was the strongest of the rookies, the prodigy called a living monster — an intern aboard Rocks' flagship, already above the rest by league and stature. Passing the trial meant becoming a true crewman.
And Kaido was only twenty-one.
"Are you lot planning on lazing around all day?" Kaido's kanabo scraped the floor, sparks flying every time its iron studs kissed a nail. The sheer pressure he radiated had the cabin shrinking in on itself.
By now Sharn's body had been augmented three times by the Demon Compass; his constitution sat at the peak of a normal human's potential. But Kaido didn't just peak — he redefined it. The man had to bend down slightly to squeeze into the cramped two-meter-high cabin. For everyone else, it felt suffocating; for Kaido it was absurd. He could only stand in the doorway, but that was enough.
Still, someone in the corner refused to rise. A bottle dangled from his fingers, the glass rocking gently.
"Dead meat!" Kaido didn't shout; he merely struck.
The Rocks Pirates were not a place for softness. Disobey, and you were smashed. Beat Rocks. Beat Shiki. Beat Whitebeard. You could be a captain. Strength decided everything.
Notes and asides about Kaido's future strength scrolled through the old man's memory: though he lacked the awakened dragon form now, Kaido's talent suggested he would eventually rival a much older Jack or even later reach Yonko-level power. Even without the Zoan's fullest bloom, at twenty-one he was a walking wrecking ball.
Kaido's blow smashed the cabin door into splinters and wood dust rained down. The ceiling groaned. The height of Kaido's waist was higher than the cabin roof. The man's shadow swallowed the room.
Sharn thought to himself of Soru and how it had melded with his newfound body — a stepping stone to further mastery. Two geniuses in the Six Powers loomed in legend: the newly-born Rob Lucci (a timeline aside) and the prodigious Rob Lucci; Sharn knew the Six Powers' apex would rest with someone like Rob Lucci. For now, the Demon Compass had gifted him enhancements in body, skill, and memory — not fixed, but mutable. That meant room to grow.
When Kaido's kanabo slammed down, Sharn was already mid-air — a breath built from the sharpening of "Soru," an instinct refined by the compass's amplification.
"Shigan — Shigan!" he fired.
The impact cracked the air. Kaido expected resistance — instead the plank thudded and the blow rebounded. Kaido countered instantly, rampaging through the cramped space, splintering bunks and sending sleepers tumbling into the deck below.
"This cabin's a nuisance!" Kaido roared, his body like forged iron moving with blinding speed. Even as Sharn anticipated the power of the man before him, Kaido was faster, heavier, and more ferocious. If the ceiling hadn't constrained him, the young pirate might already be a smear on the wood.
A concussive boom broke the air; the room shivered. Kaido had not expected to meet someone with even a few tricks; instead he found a pawn who could trade blows. The thought thrilled him. From childhood Kaido had never had a peer — he had been the weapon of the Vodka Kingdom since he was ten. By fifteen he'd joined Rocks, and six years of molding left no wonder that his strength now outranked ordinary men. Aside from Charlotte Linlin, few bodies compared.
"You're that kid Captain saw at Rocks Port yesterday? Name?" Kaido demanded.
"Sharn." The Demon Compass spun faster as Sharn's name left his lips.
"Kaido!" Kaido's eyes were hungry for the clash. He hefted his kanabo, trying to swing, only to find the narrow quarters made a proper exchange impossible. There — in the ship's belly — was a special arena: the Paradise Cabin, carved for straight-up fights.
[Ding!]
[Fate Point activated — new choice available]
[Choice 1: Lay low and avoid attention — Reward: Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Commoner (AU) Form]
[Choice 2: Dive overboard and flee — Reward: Fishman Physiology]
[Choice 3: Accept the challenge — Reward: Moon-Lion Mode + Electro Mastery]
"Run? No. I pick three!" Sharn barked.
He had come for Devil Fruits — God Valley promised treasures. Why flee when the sky itself was backed by Rocks?
Moon-Lion and Electro Mastery — names that carried the blood-stench of the Mink Tribe. The former implied a berserk transformation under moonlight; the latter was the Mink's ability to wield electrostatic currents. Water for Fishmen, electricity for Minks — fit pairings of nature and martial art.
"This cabin's no place for a real fight, Sharn!" Kaido laughed, smashing the doorboard further.
"Then we'll find the right place!" Sharn shot back.
Who could refuse a challenge against a legend-in-the-making like Kaido? The man who could crush nations at twenty-one.
"Ha! I'll mash you into paste!" Kaido bellowed, a feral, fishlike laugh escaping him.
Sharn assumed Kaido's strength might be a Devil Fruit's doing, but found instead a living monster born that way — perhaps the Devil Fruit will later find him as its ideal host.
[Choice Completed]
Wood creaked and snapped. Sharn stepped out from the wreckage, the ship falling silent enough to hear men swallowing. With every step he felt his body reshape itself — the compass's gift working to adapt his flesh to the Moon-Lion form and electro techniques. The fusion promised both a biological upgrade and a whole new suite of body arts.
His shoes pinched too tight after the changes; he shrugged them off and walked barefoot toward the Paradise Cabin with Kaido at his side. Head peering from behind panels, the other pirates watched. When the two youths moved down the corridor, shouts rose like a tide.
"A rookie dares challenge Kaido!"
"He's lost his mind — Kaido will squish him!"
"Can't wait to see him fail."
Word spread swiftly through the decks.
The Paradise Cabin itself loomed twenty-one meters high — a slaughterhouse of sweat, blood, and the stench of combat. It was Rocks' war-chamber, a holy ground for fighting. When Kaido and Sharn entered, dozens of predatory eyes turned and the air thickened — the party of monsters had its next spectacle.
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