Pirates: A Family Slaughtered, Every Celestial Dragon Must Die!

You ignored me when I made that suggestion!

It was a golden opportunity to kill the Most Evil Criminal and even deal the Rocks Pirates a devastating blow!

And you threw it away for a few Celestial Dragon swine!

In the end, those worthless Celestial Dragons died anyway!

It felt incredible!

Kong, Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr, and the others felt their pent-up anger finally drain away!

Especially when they saw the curly-haired elder and the bald elder cough up mouthfuls of blood.

Garp and Kong nearly burst out laughing!

It felt great! Absolutely great!

With any luck, the two elders would die of rage!

Meanwhile,

Golden Lion used his power to keep the Saber of Xebec floating through the sky.

After flying straight for about three hours, they returned to Hachinosu.

"Time for a feast! Let's celebrate our glorious victory!"

"That's right! We need to celebrate this properly!"

"Lads, get the food and drink ready! I'm drinking for seven days and nights!"

"Hahahaha! Hurry it up! I can't wait!"

As soon as they reached Hachinosu, Rocks declared a grand feast!

The victory had been spectacular!

They had crushed Marine Headquarters, and even the Five Elders had been powerless to stop them!

All nineteen Celestial Dragons were dead!

By any measure, it was a resounding victory for the Rocks Pirates!

Of course they had to celebrate!

And Rocks had something else on his mind.

The vice-captain's post had been vacant for far too long.

Before long, the grand feast began!

Every member of the Rocks Pirates was there, trainees included—all thirty thousand of them!

Fireworks, roast meat, and wine filled every corner of Hachinosu!

"Jahahaha! Who'd have thought it would go so smoothly?"

Golden Lion drained a cup of wine with his left hand and gnawed on a roasted piece of Sea King meat in his right, laughing uproariously.

Before they set sail, Golden Lion had expected a brutal fight.

Instead, everything had gone so smoothly that he hadn't even been wounded.

"Gurarara! We owe it all to Rono!"

Whitebeard lifted a three-meter-tall wine gourd and took a swig, laughing heartily!

Rono had shone, and Whitebeard was proud of him!

"That's right. I agree with Whitebeard. Without Rono, we couldn't have kept the Marines on the back foot!"

"Exactly! That victory felt like a dream. We finally showed them what we're made of!"

Silver Axe, Ochoku, and John all voiced their agreement!

Rono's sudden rise had left the Marines scrambling to respond!

The Rocks Pirates had also suffered very few losses in the battle.

They had lost only a dozen or so ordinary officers and a few regular crew members.

Not one of the seven Division Commanders had been hurt!

The Marines had fared far worse!

Never mind the dead and wounded Vice Admirals: one of the Five Elders had lost a hand, and all nineteen Celestial Dragons had been killed!

All thanks to Rono!

"Mamamama! Rono, won't you reconsider having a child with me?"

Charlotte Linlin practically pressed herself against Rono, batting her eyelashes at him without pause.

The battle had shown everyone a new side of Rono!

His talent was more terrifying than any of them had imagined!

In a short time, he had reached Admiral-level strength, and he was already showing signs of surpassing it!

A monster! An absolute monster!

Give him a little more time, and he might replace Whitebeard as the Rocks Pirates' second-in-command!

The other Division Commanders all wanted to win Rono over, if not curry favor with him outright!

"Wait, Captain Silver Axe, Captain Ochoku, what did you mean just now?"

"How did we keep the Marines on the back foot? Didn't they send four Admirals?"

"What did Captain Rono do? Tell us!"

A group of crew members who hadn't gone to Golden City peppered them with questions.

It was the first time they had seen Captain Rocks and the Division Commanders return so happy!

They were dying to know what had happened.

Silver Axe, Ochoku, and the others held nothing back. They told everyone the whole story!

By the time they finished, the pirates who hadn't gone to Golden City were staring wide-eyed!

What Division Commander? He's the Rocks Pirates' Vice-Captain

Once Silver Axe, John, and Ochoku had recounted everything that happened in Golden City,

the pirates at the feast stood frozen like statues!

"Captain Rono killed all nineteen Celestial Dragons by himself?"

"That's... that's incredible!"

"And he cut off one of the Five Elders' hands! My god! The Five Elders wield the highest authority in the world!"

"He even claimed First Generation Kitetsu, one of the Five Elders' personal swords! That's amazing!"

"Captain Rono, is there room in your division? Can I join? I can scrub the floors!"

"I can wash dishes, cook, mop, and do laundry! Please let me join!"

The pirates' eyes sparkled as they looked at Rono!

Some begged through tears to join his division.

They would have done odd jobs and mopped floors just to join Rono's Seventh Division.

After hearing the story, they had all realized something!

Of the seven Division Commanders, Rono had the greatest potential!

Even Captain Whitebeard and Captain Golden Lion seemed to fall a little short!

They needed to get close to someone like him while they still could!

"Hahahaha! You think getting into the Seventh Division is that easy?"

Kaido laughed, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

He was especially delighted to see trainees who had joined alongside him now begging to mop the Seventh Division's floors.

He was already an important member of the Seventh Division!

Better yet, Captain Rono valued him!

Kaido felt indebted to Rono for recognizing his worth and admired him even more than Rocks.

"By the way, there's something I need to announce."

Just then, Rocks took a long drink and a huge bite of meat before speaking up.

Everyone turned toward Captain Rocks.

After a victory this grand, Rocks usually rewarded people for their contributions!

"I'm sure you all know why we won so decisively this time!"

With that, Rocks looked at Rono.

"It's no exaggeration to say Rono deserves the most credit, by a wide margin!"

"Both the Marines and the Five Elders learned that the hard way!"

"Without question, this is the greatest victory the Rocks Pirates have ever won!"

Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Ochoku, and the others nodded.

No one disputed that Rono deserved the most credit!

Even the captains who regularly fought among themselves made no attempt to claim it this time!

They had all seen who had contributed the most.

"As everyone knows, the Rocks Pirates have always had one position left unfilled: vice-captain!"

"So I've decided to make Rono the vice-captain of the Rocks Pirates!"

"Who's for it? Who's against it?"

Rocks spoke slowly, sweeping his gaze around the gathering.

Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Silver Axe, Ochoku, Charlotte Linlin, and John stared in disbelief.

Everyone else's eyes widened too!

Vice... vice-captain?

Captain Rocks was choosing a vice-captain!

The whole crew was stunned!

They had thought the Rocks Pirates didn't even have a vice-captain's post!

After all, Rocks had never mentioned one since the crew was founded.

Everyone had always considered Edward Newgate, commander of the First Division, the crew's second-in-command.

Most had simply assumed Whitebeard was vice-captain in all but name.

Now it seemed Rono had surpassed Whitebeard in Captain Rocks's eyes!

Rocks was giving Rono the vice-captain's post after leaving it vacant all this time!

"Jahahaha! Well, I never expected that. Rono, Captain Rocks thinks highly of you."

"Yeah! I thought our crew didn't even have a vice-captain!"

"Damn, Rono! You joined three months ago and you're already vice-captain. I've been here for years and I'm still just a Division Commander!"

After a moment's shock, the captains came forward one after another to congratulate Rono!

They had all seen his strength and talent for themselves.

After what happened at Golden City, Golden Lion, John, Silver Axe, and the others genuinely admired the prodigy!

In just three months, he had grown strong enough to cut off one of the Five Elders' hands. The Division Commanders knew they couldn't have done it.