Evaluation

The lightning completely faded from the sky, leaving only a massive rift forcibly cleaved through the heavens, like an unhealable scar carved into the world.

Hachinosu gradually regained its sounds.

The gale swept up dust reeking of scorched air, waves once more crashed against the harbor, and the air still carried the bloody stench of lightning and violence.

Newgate remained silent for a long while before slowly walking over to Rocks. "Rocks."

His voice was low, yet it could not conceal that extremely rare... unease.

"Was it really okay... to just let him go?"

Rocks did not answer immediately. He looked up toward the direction where the lightning had vanished, his blue-and-white hair lifted by the sea breeze as purple flashes danced across his cheeks.

Then, that familiar arrogant laughter rang out. "Hahahahahahaha—!!!"

The laughter seemed ready to shake Hachinosu apart. He turned and swept his gaze across the monsters of the old era before him—

Newgate, Linlin, Shiki, John, Ochoku, Kaido, Gloriosa...

Every one of them was a monster capable of dominating an entire region.

Yet now, they were unusually silent, all waiting for his answer.

Rocks raised his wildly arrogant face. "What?"

"Did some brat shake you up that badly?!!"

For that moment, no one refuted him.

The impact that boy had brought was simply too overwhelming. More importantly—

He was still so young.

Rocks's smile faded, and his gaze instead grew profound.

He spoke slowly, his voice calm and certain. "Don't forget, I'm Rocks."

"And that brat—"

He raised a hand and pointed toward where the lightning had disappeared.

"I have a feeling he isn't the stubborn sort."

"We—"

"May not become sworn enemies in the future."

The moment those words fell, every powerhouse on Hachinosu froze.

Yet none of them denied the strange intuition in their hearts. That boy had clearly refused them and had even said he wanted to join the Marines.

But they had not sensed any malice from him.

There had only been Haki, confidence, and the ferocious edge of someone declaring his arrival.

He was not an unpleasant boy.

The winds and tides rose across the sea, as though affirming that feeling.

Just as everyone fell silent in thought, Kaido suddenly blurted out:

"You say that like... you could catch up to him even if you wanted to..."

"..."

"What did you just say?" Rocks slowly narrowed his eyes.

Kaido immediately realized he had misspoken. "Huh? Uh, I-I mean... I was just stating the facts—"

"State your damn head!!!"

Bang—!!!

Before he could finish, Rocks sent Kaido flying with a single kick!

That massive body shot backward like a cannonball for hundreds of meters before smashing heavily into Hachinosu's rocky wall.

The entire wall collapsed with a thunderous crash, rubble falling like rain.

Rocks cracked his knuckles, his anger still burning. "You idiot!! I heard you got slapped to sleep today, didn't you?! With that little skill, you dare spout nonsense here?!!"

He roared, "Looks like it's time... to give you some extra training alone!!!"

A soot-covered head poked out from the ruins, Kaido's eyes red-rimmed. "I-I really tried my best!!! I couldn't dodge that move at all!!!"

"His Devil Fruit ability is way too strong!!!"

Linlin could no longer hold it in and clutched her stomach as she howled with laughter:

"Ma-MaMaMaMa!! Kaido, you're way too pathetic! You're killing me!!!"

Shiki held his stomach and laughed madly. "Jihahahaha!! Kaido, stop bragging in front of us from now on!! You couldn't even withstand a brat's slap!!!"

Ochoku and John exchanged glances and sighed together.

Gloriosa shook her head. "Oh dear... that child is still too green."

Hachinosu returned to its usual chaos, clamor, and bickering... as if nothing had happened.

At the edge of the harbor, Shakuyaku stood alone in the shadows.

The sea breeze lifted her long hair, and ash from the cigarette between her fingers scattered in the wind.

She stared toward the horizon where the lightning had vanished and murmured softly, "A monstrous boy... who will change the era."

North Blue · An Unnamed Island

The sunlight was bright, the sea breeze gentle, and seabirds leisurely glided overhead.

But the next instant—

Boom—!!!

The entire sky was torn apart!

A terrifying pillar of lightning descended without warning from the clear sky, like divine wrath.

The island instantly trembled, and some weaker creatures were frightened unconscious on the spot.

A massive crater exploded open, flames and dust billowing dozens of meters high.

Within the smoke, a half-charred figure struggled to prop himself up.

Rock clutched his waist, baring his teeth as he wailed, "Ow ow ow ow ow—!!!"

"Damn! Rocks really went all out on me!!!"

"He opened with a Conqueror's Haki Coating finisher the moment we met?!!"

He leaped out of the crater, his hair resembling a bird's nest after an explosion, ash drifting down from the scorched edges of his clothes.

Yet an undisguised excitement hung at the corners of his mouth. "Haha... now that was intense!"

"As expected of this era—none of these monsters have any sense of fair play."

He shook his right arm, faint light still seeping from the cracks in his skin left by Conqueror's Haki Coating.

"If I hadn't turned into lightning beforehand... this arm would probably have been completely wrecked."

Even so, his eyes held only excitement and fighting spirit. Just as he muttered to himself—

"You!! Who are you?!!"

A boy's furious shout grated like scraping steel.

Rock raised his eyes slightly. His Observation Haki had long sensed the other's presence, but he had not bothered paying attention.

When he truly saw him, the corners of his mouth slowly rose.

The sea breeze dispersed the smoke, revealing a boyish figure.

He was only around ten years old, yet his muscles were as taut as those of an adult fighter. His red shirt hung open, revealing a chest as solid as rock;

He wore a brown hat bearing the word "Justice." His gaze was sharp, and he gripped a short blade in his right hand, aiming it at Rock without the slightest fear.

That gaze... was like magma before a volcanic eruption.

Seeing this, Rock could not help but chuckle. "Well, well~ if it isn't Sakazuki."

The boy's pupils suddenly contracted, as though someone had uncovered a secret. "You... how do you know my name?!!!"

Rock narrowed his eyes. In this child's eyes, he saw the shadow of the future Fleet Admiral—

That obsession to "sacrifice everything for justice."

Though he was still a child, he already possessed an abnormal "hardness of justice."

Rock raised a finger, lightning flickering softly around it like a casually toyed-with speck of light. "There's a lot more that I know."

Sakazuki immediately planted his feet firmly and took half a step forward, raising his short blade in a practiced stance. "Answer me!!!"

"Who exactly are you?! Why did you fall from the sky?! And why do you know my name?!!"

Rock tilted his head and revealed a mischievous smile. "Who am I? Hmm... you can think of me as—"

"Your big brother of justice~"

The moment those words fell, Sakazuki froze for a second, then his eyes instantly blazed!!!

"Nonsense!!! Suspicious person—"

He roared, swinging his short blade down with astonishing force. "Must!! Be!! Executed!!!"

Rock blinked. "Oh my, what a temper~"

Lightning exploded beneath his feet.