The sea around Hachinosu was always loud—waves crashing, cannons firing in the distance, pirates shouting, fighting, laughing, or dying. But the moment Lo Ye stepped off his small transport ship and onto the old wooden dock, the noise seemed to pull back just a little. People didn't quiet down out of respect—they quieted down out of instinct.
Some predators were so sharp that the whole environment felt it.
Lo Ye straightened his white tie, making sure the knot was perfectly centered. His suit shined like polished bone under the sun. The docks were dirty—blood stains, half-eaten meals, broken crates, and puddles of sea sludge—but not a single drop touched him. He walked like the filth parted respectfully around his shoes.
Whispers followed him:
"That's him… the intern in white."
"The Suit Thug… he killed his own team last mission."
"No, not killed—cleaned up, they said."
Lo Ye didn't bother to correct the rumors. Some were true. Some were exaggerated. All were useful.
A little lie could be a shield. A little fear could be armor.
Hachinosu was the headquarters of the most dangerous pirate crew in the world—the Rocks Pirates. It wasn't a place where people lived; it was a place where people survived. The strongest drank, killed, and gambled. The weak vanished fast.
Lo Ye wasn't here to drink or gamble.He was here to grow strong before fate caught up.
He walked toward the inner docks, passing groups of pirates who stepped away without being told. His controlled Fire Power flickered faintly behind his eyes—a golden glow, sharp and ancient.
The system inside him had only unlocked one element—Fire—and even that was still at a beginner level. The other four—Water, Earth, Metal, and Wood—were sealed away, waiting for the right trigger: a battle intense enough to shake his soul.
He needed conflict.He needed danger.He needed the world to pressure him until something inside him broke open.
Hachinosu was perfect.
As he approached the main shipyard, he felt three distinct presences watching him.
Isla, leaning casually against a wall, flipped through a tiny notebook. Her short silver hair fluttered slightly in the wind. She didn't speak, but her eyes tracked everything: his pace, his breathing, even the way he held his cigarette. She liked patterns—especially broken ones. And Lo Ye was a walking pattern-breaker.
Stussy, sitting on a rooftop railing, rested her cheek on her hand with bored elegance. Her long legs swung lazily, but her sniper rifle was already loaded. She admired aesthetic things—beauty, precision, control. And Lo Ye, with his impossible cleanliness, was practically her favorite painting.
Dahlia, the closest one, leaned against a wooden post with her arms crossed. Her red hair swayed in the breeze, and her muscles were tense in excitement. She was a fighter by nature, not by ambition. Her instincts were loud, and right now they shouted one thing:This man is worth following.
Lo Ye glanced at them briefly.Not flirtatiously.Not with arrogance.Just with silent acknowledgment.
He respected power when he saw it.
And the three of them were strong enough to be more than background characters in the age of Rocks.
The moment passed. Lo Ye kept walking.
He had been away on a mission—Rocks's "simple test"—and now it was time to return the results.
He stepped onto the main path leading to the throne-like structure where Rocks often sat. The mob of new recruits lined the area, sweaty and confused, waiting for the next command. They didn't know what was coming. They didn't know who they were standing near. They didn't know they were already being judged.
Lo Ye paused, took a slow drag of his cigarette, and exhaled a clean ribbon of smoke.
"Another day," he murmured, "another mess to clean."
And just like that, the chaos of Hachinosu began to shift around him—because the Suit Thug had returned.