Houka the Killer and the Seven-Star Demon Sword

Amidst the billowing smoke of the Cang Kingdom's capital.

The Tribute Ship departed with effortless grace, while Rocks took the opportunity to plunder the royal treasury, seizing countless treasures.

At the ruined island that was once Kozuki Village, Rocks drove all the prisoner soldiers off the ship.

Even the dozen or so young soldiers who had initially served as sailors and handymen wanted to disembark and return to their homelands.

In the end, only six orphan soldiers, who had no family or anyone to rely on, remained on board to serve as sailors and handymen.

Rocks tore down the World Government flag from the Tribute Ship and destroyed it, hoisting in its place a black flag emblazoned with the name Rocks D. Zebek.

He then christened this Tribute Ship the Sword of Xebec.

However, due to a lack of officers and powerful subordinates, Rocks did not want to raise the Jolly Roger of the Rocks Pirates just yet.

He intended to witness the founding of the Rocks Pirates alongside those future powerhouses who would serve under him!

But as it stood, the World Government had already defined Rocks as a pirate—the most wicked pirate of all!

The bounty posters had long since been issued.

Several days later.

"Wahahahaha! Houka, your bounty poster is out too!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, personally executing the general and the king of the allied nation of Cang—your personality is truly wretched."

"You know, when I kidnapped those five kings at the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, I didn't even kill a single one of them."

Rocks grinned broadly, teasing Houka, yet he made no mention of his own heinous act of killing a Marine Admiral.

"What a piece of trash title!"

Houka was frantically developing his two Devil Fruit abilities, trying to find ways to train and strengthen his Soul Insects.

Only during his spare time did he take a moment to glance at his wanted poster.

['Murderous Arsonist' Gu Yue Houka, bounty 80 million Berries! Only live!]

Damn it, the fire in the Cang Kingdom capital was clearly set by Rocks; how did it end up on his head?

"Wahahahaha, 'Murderous' Houka—this infamy isn't bad at all!"

"However, with this level of strength and bounty, you still can't become one of my officers. You must work much harder!"

Rocks looked at Houka deeply; he knew that this unique mutant truly possessed the potential of a peerless powerhouse.

A future user of nine Devil Fruits—just thinking about it was terrifying!

As for Rocks' own bounty poster, it was filled with a long string of zeros.

['World's Wickedest Pirate' Rocks D. Zebek, bounty 3.81154 billion Berries]

In this era, this bounty already far exceeded that of the great pirates of the New World!

It was clear how much the World Government valued Rocks.

Currently, the famous great pirates of the New World generally had bounties around 1 billion.

Charlotte Linlin, who had set sail several years ago, had her first bounty of 50 million Berries at the age of 6, and it took her five years to raise it to 500 million Berries.

Now 12 years old, Charlotte Linlin already possessed a great reputation in the New World.

By the time of the God Valley incident, the Rocks Pirates officer Gier Buster would have a bounty of 970 million Berries.

Guys like Captain John, Silver Axe, and Ganzi, who were on par with him, were likely around the 1 billion Berry mark.

The stronger ones like Whitebeard, Shiki, and Big Mom should be a tier above 1 billion, somewhere between 1 and 2 billion Berries.

After all, the inflation of that era had not yet reached such heights!

Only when these great pirates eventually struck out on their own, formed their own crews, became overlords, and entered the era of the Three Legends and the Four Emperors of the Great Pirate Era would their bounties soar to four or five billion.

"Houka, didn't you say we were going straight to find powerhouses? Why are we still lingering in the Paradise of the Grand Line!"

Rocks could hardly wait to gather all his future powerful subordinates under his banner and then launch an assault on the Holy Land of Mary Geoise!!

"Because some of them haven't grown up yet!"

"Take this Charlotte Linlin, for example. She has the constitution of an 'Iron Balloon' and is a user of the Paramecia-type Soul-Soul Fruit. She is a future Four Emperors-level powerhouse and one of the highest-ranking officers under your command."

"But she is only 12 years old this year!"

"Malone, the West Blue mafia boss, has already grown up; we can go and subjugate him now!"

"Shiki the Golden Lion, a Paramecia-type Float-Float Fruit user, is already making a name for himself in the New World. We can bring him on board, but he is extremely arrogant and conceited..."

"The pirate Edward Newgate, a Tremor-Tremor Fruit user, is currently serving as a combatant on someone else's ship. We must win him over; his strength is immense!"

"The smuggling great pirate Ganzi, a Paramecia-type Bomb-Bomb Fruit user, is already quite famous; we can force him into submission!"

"The pirate patriarch Ochoku—this guy will betray you in the future. Do you still want to recruit him?"

"Captain John, a Paramecia-type Magnet-Magnet Fruit user—this guy will also betray you. I have my eyes on his Magnet-Magnet Fruit ability!"

"Of course, we are currently sailing through Paradise, primarily to seize a cursed sword that has caught my eye. That won't be a problem, will it?"

Houka reeled off a long list of powerful names to Rocks.

He had already investigated these individuals and confirmed their recent status.

All of them had already obtained their Devil Fruit abilities.

Therefore, Houka was not worried about interfering with their future acquisition of those powers.

Stussy, that scientific bandit, however, had no news at all; she seemed to have gone into hiding.

"Wahahahaha! Just hearing the names of these Devil Fruit abilities, I can tell they are powerful."

"As for betrayal! We shall see when the time comes!"

"But, Houka, are you truly only interested in the Magnet-Magnet Ability?"

"The Soul-Soul Fruit Ability, the Float-Float Fruit Ability, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit Ability, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit Ability... these are all formidable powers. Are you not tempted?"

Upon hearing so many precise names, Rocks grinned and let out a boisterous laugh.

Finally, he suddenly licked his lips and spoke to Houka with a sinister edge.

He did not believe that Houka could resist the urge to pass up so many powerful Devil Fruit abilities.

"Whoever betrays, I will kill! That is no problem, is it? My Captain!"

Houka met Rocks' gaze without a hint of fear; he knew his special talent could never be hidden from Rocks.

It was better to just lay his cards on the table.

Rocks, a member of the D clan, seemed to possess a form of Observation Haki similar to the Voice of All Things; his inner thoughts could manifest directly in the consciousness of Roger and Garp.

"Wahahahaha, that is no problem!"

"As long as you are strong enough to help me defeat the King of the World, you may kill these people as you please! They aren't on my ship yet, anyway!"

Rocks unleashed a powerful burst of Conqueror's Haki, confident that he could suppress this little monster, Houka.

"I have no interest in the position of King of the World. My goal is the sea of stars beyond this world!"

"As for this world, you can go play with Imu and that Sun God Nika!"

Houka shrugged and spoke indifferently.

Whether Rocks believed him or not, he believed it himself.

Rocks and Houka stared at each other for a long time, as if trying to see through Houka's true intentions.

But he chose to laugh heartily, ultimately not refusing Houka's personal request to sail through Paradise in the Grand Line and search for the cursed sword.

It worked out well; he could proceed with his original plan and toy with the pirate crews in Paradise first.

He wanted to see if he could find any powerhouses other than those Houka had mentioned.

After all, the future Houka saw was not the complete future.

Several weeks later.

The Sword of Xebec sailed along, brutally crushing every pirate crew it encountered.

Houka also took action multiple times, practicing and developing his Moonlight Ability and Gravity Ability.

Finally, they arrived at Houka's destination: Asuka Island.

Houka and Rocks charged in recklessly, quickly locating the ancient village that guarded the Seven Star Sword.

Houka did not waste time dallying with the guardian priestess; he opened the altar's stone platform directly and snatched the Seven Star Cursed Sword.

"Wahahahaha, it seems this cursed sword is not much worse than my own blade!"

Seeing Houka erupt with powerful soul energy to forcibly subdue the eerie double-edged cursed sword, Rocks burst into laughter.

His little brother seemed to be getting stronger by the day!

However, only by becoming stronger was one qualified to be his subordinate.

"He actually subdued the Seven Star Sword!"

The priestess watched in disbelief as Houka carried the Seven Star Sword away, showing no signs of being controlled by the blade.

That meant the fate of her priestess clan, tasked with guarding the Seven Star Sword, had vanished.

They would never again have to worry about the Seven Star Sword breaking its seal.

After obtaining the Seven Star Sword, Houka unleashed a terrifying slash across the sea, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

Having a monster like Rocks to pave the way was truly refreshing.

In the future, Houka would do his best to help Rocks change his destiny, as repayment for Rocks' protection.

He fashioned a scabbard for the Seven Star Sword and suddenly looked toward the direction of the East Blue.

He wondered whether he should tell Rocks about Roger. With Rocks' charisma, would there be a chance to recruit Roger and Rayleigh?

However, Roger and Rayleigh did not seem to have set sail from Loguetown yet, and their strength was likely not up to par.

While collecting wanted posters and intelligence, Houka did not find any bounty for Roger.

Fifty-two years ago in the original timeline, when Brook was sailing through the Grand Line's Paradise near the Florian Triangle, Roger was indeed a newcomer who had just entered the Grand Line.

It should not take four years to travel from Loguetown to the Grand Line, so Roger must still be in Loguetown and had not yet set sail.

Houka did, however, find information on the Rumbar Pirates sailing in the West Blue; Brook had already left the kingdom's guard and joined the crew as a pirate for the sake of music or some other reason.

Brook and Gunko had spent some time together during Gunko's childhood.

Now, Gunko had grown into a young girl and served by Imu's side.

When Rocks invaded the Flower Room to meet with Imu, Gunko was there as well.