The Thunder God's Journey

As news of the Hachinosu incident was deliberately spread by the Marines, it quietly circulated through the entire black market, intelligence circles, bounty hunter organizations, and even among the World Government and the Celestial Dragons.

A new name silently began to sprout in the shadows of the world.

—Lightning Boy.

There was no bounty poster.

There was no identity information.

There was not even a clear portrait.

But everyone clearly knew two things:

He had caused a huge disturbance before the Rocks Pirates and escaped unscathed;

He had publicly declared that he wanted to join the Marines.

Those two pieces of news were enough to stir the undercurrents in the deep sea of the world.

Pirates from the old era began to grow wary. "If that kid comes after me... I probably won't last three moves, will I?"

Information brokers ran about frantically. "Find his information! Just selling it to the Marines would make us a fortune!"

Some predators lurking in the shadows quietly suppressed the greed in their hearts. "A monster like that... the later we run into him, the better."

—Meanwhile, on a prosperous and lively island.

Sunlight spilled across the streets, while the sea breeze brushed against the cloth curtains of the stalls.

There was no war here, only singing, merchants' cries, and the laughter of children chasing one another.

In such a paradise-like marketplace, Rock wore a straw hat and ordinary traveler's clothes as he strolled leisurely along.

He held a chilled coconut drink in his left hand and a freshly grilled local meat skewer in his right.

"Mmm~ This tastes pretty good."

He looked like a tourist out for excitement, but beneath his smile, a transparent and invisible ripple quietly spread from within him.

—Observation Haki, fully unleashed.

In an instant, information from across the island surged into his mind like a tide, forming a real yet ugly slice of the world within his consciousness:

In a black-market basement, several men were haggling over slaves locked in chains;

In a corner of the Marine base, two officers accepted money bags from pirates, grinning so widely their jaws nearly dropped;

In the back alley of a tavern, a father was preparing to secretly sell a family heirloom just to trade for a bottle of black-market medicine for his dying child;

The town official and the president of the merchant association altered financial records beneath dim lights;

Three boys lay on a rooftop, speaking longingly of becoming pirates because that was the "freedom" they imagined.

Rock slowly withdrew his Observation Haki and took a deep breath.

His smile faded as well.

"Just as I thought... so-called peace is merely chaos wearing a different skin."

He bit into the meat skewer and murmured as if talking to himself, "The wheels of the era..."

This world had no true stability.

Those who were alive... were not living because the era was merciful, but because they had no choice but to struggle on.

Over the past few days, he had traveled through the four seas as lightning. He had seen civilians willing to lose an arm to protect the people they loved;

He had seen Marine soldiers bleed to protect the civilians behind them, embodying pure justice;

He had seen ordinary parents risk everything without giving up hope, all to carve out a sliver of survival for their children;

He had also seen corrupt officers brazenly accept bribes, nobles trample lives beneath their feet, and pirates as cruel as wild dogs.

He had seen the darkest depths of human nature, as well as the brightest light in people's hearts.

And Rock had never been a saint.

He was not a savior, nor was he interested in being one.

But whenever he saw someone worth saving, he had never been stingy about lending a hand.

He turned his head toward the end of the bustling street, where smiles, shadows, desire, and kindness intertwined like an incomplete painting.

"This isn't any one person's fault."

He said softly, "It's the problem of the entire era."

High above, lightning trailed a dazzling streak behind it, as though it had split the clouds apart from the heavens.

Rock lounged lazily within the lightning, half-reclined as if sitting in a rocking chair in the sky, drifting without any destination.

The island behind him had already shrunk to the size of a sesame seed, casually cast aside in his wake.

At the same time, the storm on the island had only just begun to be recorded.

In the shabby little courtyard of the Marine base, a creaking door was kicked open. A young Marine stumbled toward a Den Den Mushi.

When he grabbed the receiver, even his voice was trembling:

"R-Report to headquarters—!! Colonel Huiyue... was... was struck into charcoal!!!"

He stared at the smoking lump of black charcoal on the ground, his lips trembling.

The Marine swallowed and continued his report. "Beside him... there are also two pirate corpses... as well as a large amount of bribery evidence... They should all have been dealt with by an unknown person... I've already sealed the documents!!!"

"Requesting immediate support from headquarters! I repeat, requesting support from headquarters!!!"

Cries of alarm erupted from the Den Den Mushi.

There was terror in the Marine's voice, but even more than that, an awe he himself had not noticed.

In the narrow alley behind the tavern, the father whose treasure should have been taken by underground thugs was now sitting on the ground with his child in his arms.

The child had the bottle of medicine that had just been placed in his mouth, swallowing it in tiny mouthfuls through tears.

And the man's hands were still trembling slightly, not from fear, but from excitement.

"That young man..." Tears slid down his cheeks.

"He truly is... our family's lifesaver..."

No one knew how many people's fates had been changed by the streak of lightning that had just passed over this inconspicuous little island.

Above the skies, lightning sped onward.

Rock stretched lazily and rolled through the clouds with ease. "Mmm... where should I go to find some fun next?"

He had originally planned to visit some island rumored to have sea beasts for a bit of excitement, or perhaps stop by a small island to see whether there were any kids worth training...

But at that moment, his Observation Haki trembled slightly as an immense, tide-like presence pressed in from the distant sea.

Rock froze, hovering in midair.

He raised his head and narrowed his eyes toward the horizon.

In the distance, a shadow moved across the sea—

Massive.

Majestic.

Steady as a mountain, imposing as thunder.

When that ship fully entered his field of vision, he was stunned for half a second.

It was a legend in itself.

At its bow were a pair of mermaid carvings and cannons extending forward;

Its broad deck supported three masts flying red-striped sails;

The sails billowed in the wind like the banner of an era;

At the center of the hull was a huge, proud yet strange egg-shaped emblem.

With just one glance at that ship, everyone in the era would know who it belonged to.

It was the flagship of the Roger Pirates, the great pirate crew currently dominating the Grand Line.

It was not merely an ordinary vessel. It was a pirate ship that symbolized the pinnacle of the era.

The corner of Rock's mouth curled up with the interest and excitement of someone who had just found a good show.

He clicked his tongue. "These days... the odds of running into pirates really are much higher than running into Marines."

He looked up, lightning flickering in his eyes.

"Looks like the fun has come to me~"

The next second, his entire presence suddenly withdrew as he transformed into a peerlessly sharp bolt of silver-white lightning.

Bzzzt—!!!

The lightning tore through the sky, shooting straight toward the pirate ship that symbolized the "pinnacle of the world"!