As the Hachinosu incident was deliberately spread by the Marines, it began circulating in the underworld, intelligence circles, bounty hunter organizations, and even secretly among the World Government and the Celestial Dragons.
A new name quietly took root in the shadows of the world.
—Lightning Boy.
There was no bounty poster.
There was no identity information.
Not even a clear portrait.
But everyone knew two things clearly:
He had caused a massive scene 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 of the old era began to grow wary. "If that brat comes after me... I probably won't last three moves, will I?"
Information brokers rushed about madly. "Find out who he is, and just selling that information to the Marines will make us a fortune!"
Some predators lurking in the shadows quietly suppressed their greed. "A monster like that... the later we meet him, the better."
—Meanwhile, on a prosperous and bustling island.
Sunlight spilled across the streets, while the sea breeze brushed against the cloth awnings of the stalls.
There was no war here. Only songs, merchants' cries, and the laughter of children chasing one another.
In such a paradise-like marketplace, Rock wore a straw hat and the plain clothes of an ordinary traveler as he strolled about leisurely.
He held a chilled coconut drink in his left hand and a freshly grilled local meat skewer in his right.
"Mm~ This tastes pretty good."
He looked like a tourist simply joining in the fun, but beneath that smile, an invisible ripple silently spread from within him.
—Observation Haki, fully unleashed.
In an instant, information from across the entire island flooded into his mind like a tide, piecing together a real and ugly slice of the world in his consciousness:
In a black-market basement, several men bargained over slaves locked in chains;
In a corner of the Marine Branch, two officers accepted money bags from pirates, grinning so hard their jaws nearly dropped;
In the back alley of a tavern, a father prepared to secretly sell a family heirloom just to trade it for a bottle of black-market medicine for his dying child;
The town official and the president of the merchants' association altered financial ledgers beneath dim lamplight;
Three boys lay on a rooftop, dreaming 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 only chaos wearing a different skin."
He bit into the meat skewer and seemed to mutter to himself, "The wheel of the times..."
There was no true stability in this world.
Those who survived... did so not because the era was merciful, but because they had no choice but to struggle on.
Over the past few days, he had transformed into lightning and traveled across the Four Seas. He had seen civilians willing to lose an arm to protect the ones they loved;
He had seen Marine soldiers bleed to protect the people behind them, driven by pure justice;
He had seen ordinary parents gamble everything yet refuse to give up hope, all to carve out the slightest chance of survival for their children;
He had also seen corrupt officers brazenly take bribes, nobles trample lives beneath their feet, and pirates act with the cruelty of wild dogs.
He had seen the darkest depths of human nature and the brightest light in people's hearts.
And Rock had never been a saint.
He was no savior, nor did he have any interest in being one.
But when 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 in the sky, lightning trailed a dazzling line behind it, as though it had cleaved the clouds apart from the heavens.
Rock lazily reclined within the lightning, as if sitting in a rocking chair in the sky, drifting without any destination.
The island behind him had already shrunk into a sesame seed, casually cast aside in his wake.
Meanwhile, the storm on that island had only just begun to be recorded.
In the shabby little courtyard of the Marine Branch, a creaking door was kicked open. A young Marine stumbled toward a Den Den Mushi.
When he grabbed the receiver, even his voice was shaking:
"R-Report to Headquarters—!! Colonel Huiyue... was... was struck into charcoal by someone!!!"
He looked at the smoking lump of black charcoal on the ground, his lips trembling.
The Marine swallowed and continued his report. "There are... also two pirate corpses nearby... along with a large amount of evidence of bribery... It seems they were all dealt with by an unknown person... I've already sealed that document!!!"
"Requesting immediate support from Headquarters! I repeat, requesting support from Headquarters!!!"
The Den Den Mushi erupted with startled cries.
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 now sat on the ground with his child in his arms.
The child had the medicine bottle that had just been placed in his mouth between his lips, swallowing it in tiny mouthfuls through tears.
The man's hands were still trembling—not from fear, but from excitement.
"That young man... that young man..." Tears slid down his cheeks.
"He really is... our family's lifesaver..."
No one knew how many lives had been changed on that unremarkable island by the bolt of lightning that had just flashed past.
Above the sky, lightning sped onward.
Rock stretched lazily and casually rolled through the clouds. "Mm... where should I go next to find some fun?"
He had originally planned to visit an island rumored to have sea beasts for a little excitement, or perhaps check out some small island to see whether there were any brats worth training...
But at that moment, his Observation Haki trembled slightly as a vast aura like a tidal wave pressed in from the distant sea.
Rock paused, stopping 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 sight, he froze for half a second.
It was a legend in itself.
At the bow stood a pair of Mermaid carvings and cannons extending forward;
The deck was broad, with three masts supporting red-striped sails;
The sails swelled in the wind like the banner of an era;
At the center of the hull was a huge, spirited yet bizarre egg-shaped emblem.
With just one look at that ship, the entire era knew whose it was.
It was the flagship of the great pirate crew currently dominating the Grand Line—the Roger Pirates.
That was no ordinary vessel. It was a pirate ship that symbolized the pinnacle of its era.
The corner of Rock's mouth curled up, his expression full of interest and excitement. Now this should be fun.
He clicked his tongue. "These days... the chances of running into pirates really are much higher than running into Marines."
He raised his head as lightning flickered in his eyes.
"Looks like the fun has come to me~"
The next second, his presence suddenly withdrew, and he transformed into an incomparably sharp bolt of silver-white lightning.
"Crackle—!!!"
The lightning tore through the sky and shot straight toward the pirate ship that symbolized the "pinnacle of the world"!
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