Marine Calendar 1485 (56 years ago) [Official Marine Calendar: 1541]
A lavish warship bearing the World Government flag sped from Enies Lobby toward Marineford via the High-Speed Triangular Current.
From Marineford, it would continue on to Red Port, beneath the Red Line.
In the warship's lower hold, dozens of muscular prisoners were locked away in separate cells.
Their numb faces were ashen with despair, and the light had long since left their vacant eyes.
Their country had fallen.
They had become prisoners of war and slaves.
Worst of all, they had been chosen by an enemy commander to be sent as slaves to the holy land of Mary Geoise.
The thought of becoming slaves to the Celestial Dragons filled them with even greater despair. It was more terrifying than death!
Beyond these cells stood a separate iron cage.
Inside, a gravely wounded young man was bound from head to toe in steel chains. Seastone Handcuffs and shackles locked his hands and feet, and an explosive collar encircled his neck.
I was keeping my head down just fine, and I'd only just started fitting into this world...
How did a war to wipe out a country break out out of nowhere...?
I'm sorry, old man and old lady. I couldn't save you...
His body trembled involuntarily from the excruciating pain. His face was covered in gashes, twisted with agony.
His battered face was bloodied, his lips pale and cracked, and even his breathing was weak. On his forehead was a barely visible, dark-blue crescent mark.
It was clear he had endured inhuman torture.
Clang!
The door to the hold swung open.
Several agents in black suits walked in.
"We're almost at Marineford. Give him some water. That man can't die."
"This is the special prisoner Saint Saturn personally requested."
"I can't believe he can still use his Devil Fruit ability with Seastone Handcuffs on. It completely defies the laws of the world. No wonder one of the Five Elders specifically asked for him."
The Cipher Pol agents' eyes, concealed behind their sunglasses, were stern and cold.
"Hmph. We can't let him die, but we can't let him regain his strength either. Otherwise, that bastard will attack us and try to escape again!"
The expression of a Cipher Pol agent with white bandages wrapped around his chest was icy.
The slash wounds on his body were the work of the young man bound in Seastone Handcuffs and shackles.
At first, none of them had believed the boasts and warnings of the King of the Cang Kingdom.
After all, how could an ability user activate their Devil Fruit power while wearing Seastone Handcuffs?
But during the voyage, they'd caught the young man trying to escape in secret. In the ensuing fight, he'd gravely wounded one of them with a slash of blue energy.
Only then had all the Cipher Pol agents begun taking this special prisoner seriously.
Steel chains to tighten his restraints, beatings, starvation, injections of debilitating drugs...
They'd subjected this troublesome prisoner to everything.
They couldn't risk another incident during the voyage.
Besides the slaves and the young man, the ship also carried the Cang Kingdom's Heavenly Tribute for the year.
If anything happened to this Heavenly Tribute ship, every Cipher Pol agent aboard would pay with their life.
The Reverie had just concluded, and the Cang Kingdom had immediately launched a war and paid its Heavenly Tribute for the year. No wonder it was known as one of the Grand Line's famous kingdoms of war.
The Heavenly Tribute ship had set sail from the Cang Kingdom, in Paradise on the Grand Line.
Once they passed through the Gates of Justice at Enies Lobby and entered the High-Speed Triangular Current, the Cipher Pol agents gradually let their guard down.
This unique current connected the World Government's three major institutions: Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Marine Headquarters.
It was also close to the Sabaody Archipelago.
They couldn't imagine any pirate daring to invade the heart of the World Government's territory.
Or so they thought.
A few days earlier, a monster had invaded the holy land of Mary Geoise during the Reverie and killed a Marine Admiral.
But that villain had vanished after the full force of Marine Headquarters hunted him down.
He'd probably already escaped Paradise on the Grand Line, fleeing either to the Four Blues or the New World.
There was no way he'd dare linger in these central waters.
But they didn't know that the more unlikely something seemed, the more certain it was that something would go wrong.
Nobody had expected that the monster Rocks really hadn't left these waters.
A small boat forced its way through the whirlpools beyond the Tarai Current and entered the High-Speed Triangular Current, rapidly closing in on the Heavenly Tribute ship.
The Cipher Pol agents aboard immediately went on alert.
When they finally got a clear look at the imposing figure on the boat, they stared in stunned horror, their faces turning deathly pale!
It was the very worst pirate, the man who had wreaked havoc at the Reverie!
Rocks, who could even take down a Marine Admiral!
"Wahahahaha! Looks like I've got the funds to build my future and a pirate ship to boot!"
Rocks eyed the lavish Heavenly Tribute ship greedily and attacked without hesitation, launching himself forward with a powerful kick.
At the recent Reverie, Rocks had kidnapped five kings in Mary Geoise, taken down a Marine Admiral, and ultimately come face-to-face with the "King of the World" deep within Pangea Castle.
The monster's terrifying aura had left Rocks shaken.
There was no way he could win. After making his threats, he'd promptly fled the holy land.
As he made his escape, he'd encountered an incredibly powerful giant.
The two of them had clashed fiercely.
He remembered the giant's name: Harald!
Harald had leaped straight from the Red Line, which stood ten thousand meters high, into the Ocean on the New World side.
The sheer power of his body had left Rocks even more stunned.
Rocks, meanwhile, had made a quick escape back to Paradise on the Grand Line by climbing the ropes of a bubble lift.
After fighting a Marine Admiral and Harald in quick succession on the holy land...
He'd escaped down to Red Port, only to be pursued and surrounded by the Fleet Admiral, other Marine Admirals, and Vice Admirals...
After a hard-fought battle, Rocks had finally escaped the area by diving into the sea.
He'd made his way to the Lulusia Kingdom, an Affiliated Nation near the Red Line, and secretly recovered from his injuries and exhaustion in Shadow Port.
While resting in Shadow Port, Rocks had happened to meet a hot-tempered pirate thief.
He hadn't expected the little girl to belong to the D Clan too. She'd even helped cover for him for several days without turning him in.
But when Rocks left, he didn't say goodbye to the flat-chested girl. He simply slipped away from Shadow Port under cover of night.
He had to prepare for his grand plans for the future.
He'd been lying in wait in these waters for several days.
This Heavenly Tribute ship was exactly what he'd been looking for!
Now he had all the money he needed and an excellent warship.
"It's the worst pirate, Rocks!"
"Send a distress signal to Marine Headquarters!"
The Cipher Pol agents aboard the Heavenly Tribute ship shouted in panic.
Nobody had expected Rocks to attack them so close to Marine Headquarters.
This was sheer lawlessness!
He was openly defying Marine Headquarters and the World Government.
But under Rocks's terrifying Haki and cannonball-like slashes, the Cipher Pol agents on deck were blasted into the Ocean in an instant.
"Wahahahaha! Get lost, all of you! This is my spoils!"
Rocks quickly dealt with the Cipher Pol agents. Marine Headquarters was incredibly close, so he had to leave as fast as he could.
But damn, this was thrilling!
He'd dared to invade even Mary Geoise. Why would he fear Marineford?
The Cipher Pol agents who'd just rushed out of the hold were no match for him either.
He took them all out with a single blow!
After swiftly clearing the Marines and Cipher Pol agents from the ship, Rocks took control of the Heavenly Tribute ship and raced along the High-Speed Triangular Current.
As he passed through the Gates of Justice at Marine Headquarters, he even let out a wild, unrestrained laugh.
He was that bold. That brazen!
The High-Speed Triangular Current connected the three World Government institutions of Marine Headquarters, Enies Lobby, and Impel Down.
The current flowed in only one direction.
Each of the three institutions had a massive Gate of Justice.
If a ship couldn't leave the current through one of the Gates of Justice, it would keep circling endlessly within the Tarai Current.
Rocks steered the Heavenly Tribute ship swiftly past the Gates of Justice at Marine Headquarters and continued toward Enies Lobby.
After the Heavenly Tribute ship was stolen, the World Government and Marine Headquarters were thrown into shock and sprang into action.
That lawless Rocks had attacked right on their doorstep. He was practically asking to die!
They were determined to wipe him out on the High-Speed Triangular Current.
That reckless fool had attacked right outside Marine Headquarters, then tried to escape using the World Government's own current.
It was the most regrettable decision of his life.
There was no way he could escape the current!
But nobody had expected Rocks to be so powerful and terrifying.
Before the Marine reinforcements could catch up, he'd smashed open the Gates of Justice at Enies Lobby by himself, knocked out its Cipher Pol agents and troops, and escaped, vanishing into the Ocean.
Once again, Rocks stunned the world!
He hadn't just stolen the Celestial Dragons' Heavenly Tribute!
He'd also broken through the Gates of Justice, which had stood unbreached for centuries!
Rocks's terrifying strength and brazen disregard for the law instantly made him the World Government's highest-level threat.
In the cells in the lower hold of the stolen Heavenly Tribute ship, the young man's eyes grew more and more eager and feverish with every eruption of Rocks's Conqueror's Haki and every thunderous blast of his Cannonball Sword Technique.