Lilith

The low morale lifted somewhat as the Marines looked expectantly at Leo's back. Vice Admiral Leo was one of Headquarters' elites, proficient in Haki and experienced in dealing with Devil Fruit users.

He should be able to fight Annus, right?

Leo was not as optimistic as the soldiers.

If there was one officer of the Rocks Pirates Leo least wanted to face, it was undoubtedly the man before him.

At Marine Headquarters, there was a file on every officer of the Rocks Pirates, recording their identities and battle records in detail.

And within those files, only two people had maintained undefeated records.

Even when Marine Admirals personally deployed, they returned in defeat!

One of them was named "Rocks."

The other was named "Annus."

Leo did not consider himself weak. Over his military career, he had captured quite a few pirates worth over a hundred million. But the moment he learned that his superiors had ordered him to stop a Rocks Pirates ship, he realized he had embarked on a road of no return.

"Come on, Annus! Even if it costs me this old life, I won't let you leave this island so easily!"

With a courage-boosting roar, Vice Admiral Leo raised his Haki-coated longsword and unleashed his strongest slash!

The sharp flying slash tore through the air, split apart the solid deck, and sped straight toward Annus.

"Your courage is commendable."

Facing that terrifying slash, Annus merely raised an index finger toward the sky, then swept it downward.

"Is it coming?! Lord Annus's signature move!" the pirates shouted excitedly.

As Annus's finger fell...

A massive pillar of lightning descended from the heavens!

"Divine... Punishment!"

Lightning erased everything.

Victory unquestionably belonged to the Rocks Pirates, and the battle ended swiftly and decisively.

Even a Marine fleet guarded by several Vice Admirals was nothing more than something that took the Rocks Pirates a little extra time to deal with.

Unless the Marines' strongest forces deployed together, no one could usually stop the Rocks Pirates' operations.

When the Rocks Pirates departed, only the wreckage of several warships remained behind.

"Jihahahaha! Annus! Your power really is terrifying!"

Shiki sat at the bow, his gaze toward Annus carrying a hint of wariness.

Though both were Devil Fruit users, Annus wielded a far more terrifying power than he did.

The destructive power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was absolutely Calamity-class, far more powerful than the Float-Float Fruit.

If anyone could compare, perhaps only that guy Newgate's power could do so?

Only earthquakes could contend against heavenly thunder!

"Shut up, Shiki. No matter how much you say, I won't forget how you and Ochoku plotted against me just now." Annus did not give Shiki a pleasant look.

"How cold!" Shiki laughed awkwardly.

If possible, he did not want to become enemies with Annus.

Within the Rocks Pirates, the officers had fought one another many times and knew each other's strength well.

"Gurararara! Enough nonsense! Come drink!"

"Shiki! Hurry up and use your power. Get us back to Beehive before sunset!"

"Don't order me around, Xiong!"

The island housing the Riesk Bank headquarters was quite a distance from the Rocks Pirates' lair.

But with the power of Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, the officers returned to Hachinosu before sunset that same day.

In the eyes of people around the world, this pirate island was no different from a den of demons. In truth, it was indeed an extremely dangerous island, once used by various countries to dispose of vicious criminals too dangerous even for prisons.

It had originally been a barren island with no food, surrounded by perilous seas that made it difficult to approach or leave.

But later, someone discovered a massive gold vein on the island. After hearing the news, dark organizations extended their aid, allowing the prisoners to acquire enormous wealth.

This enraged the World Government. They would not allow such immense wealth to fall into others' hands, especially when the island had originally been used to dispose of criminals.

It was then that the Rocks Pirates seized the island.

At the time, Rocks deceived the World Government, saying, "As long as you pay enough, I'll capture Beehive Island and return it to the World Government."

But after receiving the bounty from the World Government, Rocks went back on his word, profiting from both sides and turning Hachinosu into the Rocks Pirates' main base.

In fact, that had only happened six years ago.

"Lord Annus! You're back!"

The moment the ship docked, an exceedingly beautiful woman came forward to greet them. The way she looked at Annus could only be described with words like "worship" and "infatuation."

Like Annus, the woman had a pair of white wings on her back. She wore a flowing one-piece gauze dress, with dazzling golden hair, a slender waist, long legs, and a breathtakingly voluptuous figure.

"I'm back, Lilith." Annus nodded at the woman with a smile.

At Annus's response, the woman's face immediately flushed as though she were drunk.

"Welcome back, Lord Annus!"

The woman named Lilith was not Vegapunk's "evil" satellite from the original story. Like Annus, she was a powerful warrior from Sky Island.

Before he knew it, twenty-four years had passed since Annus came to this world.

Annus had been born on Birka, the Sky Island that was Enel's hometown in the original story.

Once Annus learned what kind of world he had come to, he began planning his life. To survive in such a world, strength was essential.

So, once he had grown a little and gained the ability to act on his own, Annus painstakingly trained in combat techniques while searching for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit said to exist on Birka.

After struggling his way through countless hardships, his efforts finally paid off. At the age of fourteen, he obtained that power.

Before Mythical Zoans took center stage, this Devil Fruit had always been the first choice of transmigrators. Its strength was beyond question.

After that, fourteen-year-old Annus became the strongest person in all of Sky Island. He built his own faction and gained followers of his own, Lilith among them.

But Annus was not satisfied. He knew Sky Island was merely one corner of the pirate world.

The power of a Logia alone could not make one invincible beneath the heavens. Only Haki stood above all else.

In pursuit of greater strength, he decided to leave Sky Island and seek his fortune in the Blue Sea.

With several of his strongest subordinates, seventeen-year-old Annus leaped down from Sky Island!

Afterward, Annus formed his own pirate crew and quickly became famous across the seas. Not long after, he encountered Rocks.

After losing to Rocks in the pirate game Davy Back Fight, Annus joined the Rocks Pirates.

After putting in great effort, he eventually climbed to his current position.

Though he had supposedly joined them, Annus had actually retained his own small group. Such arrangements were very common within the Rocks Pirates.

"Nothing happened while I was gone, did it?" Annus asked.

On this island crawling with pirates, disputes and conflicts were commonplace. Pirates often fought over all kinds of reasons, sometimes even killing each other.

There was no shortage of ambitious challengers, either.

"I heard some hotheaded kid plans to challenge Uncle Yale. A lot of people went to watch the show. Do you want to take a look?" Lilith thought for a moment before asking.

Annus nodded. Beside him, Shiki perked up upon hearing that.

"Jihaha! There's something fun to watch? Annus, don't forget to bring me!"

Annus raised his eyes. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Don't be so heartless!"

"Fine. If you insist on following, I don't care. But I'll still settle the score. Neither you nor Ochoku will get away with it."

"What a grudge-holding bastard!" Shiki's expression stiffened.

Not far away, Ochoku, who had been quietly slipping away, immediately sped up and did not even dare look back.

Though young, Annus was famously difficult to deal with in the eyes of the other officers. His grudge-holding nature was undoubtedly one of the most important reasons.

Whitebeard had originally wanted to join the fun as well, but when he saw Buckin charging toward him, he immediately considered making a run for it.

"Jihaha! I say you should just give in to that woman Buckin, Newgate!"

"Don't let me hear that again! Or sooner or later, I'll sink you to the bottom of the sea!"

"What? Don't tell me you're still hung up on Shakuyaku? That's too despicable, Newgate!"

At the mention of Shakuyaku's name, the atmosphere grew slightly heavy.

Shakuyaku, hailed as Hachinosu's "precious treasure" and the "world's most beautiful woman," had been missing for nearly a year. Even now, there was still no news of her.

They had not even discovered who had killed Marlon, the "leader."

The group headed deeper into Hachinosu. Along the way, the pirates cast either wary or worshipful looks toward Annus and Shiki.

As major officers of the Rocks Pirates, the two drew attention wherever they went.

Lilith, traveling with them, was also immensely popular among the pirates due to her captivating beauty.

Before long, the group arrived at the center of the island, where a magnificent white clock tower over a hundred meters tall stood before them.

This building was Annus's territory on Hachinosu, known as the Heaven-Piercing Tower. It stood only a few minutes from Rocks's Skull Building, at the heart of the power center.

Under normal circumstances, pirates would take the initiative to avoid this place.

But today, a crowd had gathered in front of the Heaven-Piercing Tower.