"Damn you, Kaido, that hurt!"
Shane patted his forehead.
As he rose from the floor, his stomach began to rumble.
"I'm starving."
He entered the corridor, where everyone was carrying weapons out of the cabins.
Shane went against the flow in search of food.
Near the cabin he had been in earlier, he finally spotted mountains of food and wine.
Bread, roast meat, seafood, and fruit set Shane's stomach rumbling.
"Hey! Shane, God Valley's in sight! We're about to land!"
Old Jeff shouted from the cabin doorway.
Shane ignored him completely and kept eating.
Filling his stomach mattered most right now. Who cared what nonsense the old pirate was spouting?
Only after eating a great deal of food did Shane begin to feel comfortable.
But he was still hungry. Last night's exertion had taken far more out of him than Rocky Port had.
As for God Valley...
He would charge ashore and kill once they docked.
Without ample stamina...
Going somewhere full of battling legends and raging Haki was nothing but suicide.
The Saber of Xebec.
On deck.
Rocks wore a smile that looked anything but friendly.
"Ready, boys? Let's show those beasts on God Valley what we're made of!"
Rocks gazed into the distance, his eyes brimming with malice.
"Hey, don't go deciding things yourself. I'm not your subordinate!"
Whitebeard stood nearby, with Bakkin sitting obediently on his shoulder.
"Newgate, ignore Rocks! The show's about to begin!"
Golden Lion held his Dual Swords, waiting for his prey to arrive.
Linlin was already riding a thundercloud, poised to strike, her long hair transformed into roaring flames.
The ever-shifting Kurozumi Higurashi, and Kurozumi Semimaru with his barriers.
"The Roger Pirates are coming too. Rayleigh is bound to show up, Shakky."
Flame Flower, captain of the Amazon Lily pirates, stood beside her crewmate Shakky.
Streusen, Linlin's first husband, had become nothing more than her companion.
The towering Wang Zhi was ready to land on the island at any moment. He would merge with God Valley at the first opportunity.
The huge axe in Silver Axe's hands was nothing compared with his terrifying, godlike strength!
Every one of them would become a great pirate in later years.
They had all once been captains of great pirate crews, too.
Without Rocks, perhaps no one could ever have brought about such a sight.
If they achieved their goal, they would replace the Celestial Dragons and swallow up the world!
If they lost this battle, they would scatter across the world in search of an opportunity!
If Conqueror's Haki had a visible sheen, the Rocks Pirates would have shone in every color.
Inside the cabin.
Shane had eaten until his belly was round and was just about to stand.
A drunken figure stumbled into the cabin and fell.
"Hic!"
Captain John belched out a breath of alcohol, and flames immediately erupted.
The more he drank, the stronger he became. John, a lover of treasure and fine liquor, was the user of the Sake-Sake Fruit.
The cabin ceiling burned.
This was a common sight among the Rocks Pirates.
Having eaten his fill, Shane stood to leave.
John would certainly be fine. Silver Axe had fished him out of the flames many times before.
"Hey, youngster!"
"Not going to give me a hand?"
"What a rude rookie pirate."
John hiccupped and swayed drunkenly.
In an instant, he appeared beside Shane.
He had drunkenly wandered here. Running into Shane had been pure chance.
"Want a drink? I can spit some up for you!"
Captain John swayed even as he walked.
"You'd better save that liquor for yourself."
Shane had no need for such generous treatment.
He headed toward the deck.
With the liquor going to his head, Captain John followed close behind.
On his wrist was a strange bracer-like accessory, a treasure countless people dreamed of possessing.
But it was still nowhere near as rich as it would be later.
"You're interesting. What's your name, rookie?"
John staggered along, reaching the end of the corridor in just a few steps with astonishing speed.
"Shane."
Before Shane could reach him, Captain John vanished without a trace.
"Shane? Who's Shane? Why tell me that name?"
He wobbled across the deck, utterly unaware of where he was.
Shane's name had simply gone in one ear and out the other.
"John, the Celestial Dragons' game is about to end!"
Silver Axe clapped a large hand on John's shoulder, steadying him.
"Hey, old pal! Want some fine liquor brewed in my stomach?"
Everyone felt a little sick, but what could they do?
He wouldn't apologize even if they beat him to death.
"The Celestial Dragons' Nation-Destroying Game, held once every three years."
"The absurd feast they need the Holy Knights to protect."
"Let's tell the Celestial Dragons with our blades that their era is over!"
Rocks's hair writhed like snakes.
His violent Haki erupted in an instant, enveloping every pirate ship.
Boom! Boom!
The force sent ripples across the sea.
The fluctuations grew ever stronger until, at a certain moment, they burst forth.
Haki swept up the waves.
Dark red Haki spread toward God Valley's harbor like a filthy sea of blood.
The valley-shaped island before them resembled a narrow slit of sky between cliffs.
In truth, however, it was extremely vast.
At that moment.
The Celestial Dragons' Holy Knights were guarding treasure chests containing precious Devil Fruits.
For amusement.
And for prestige.
Every three years, the Celestial Dragons selected a kingdom that paid no Heavenly Tribute and began their game.
The people would slaughter one another until their destruction.
Only the final survivors could receive the fruits!
Hundreds of years had passed, and the actual number of survivors was zero!
In two other directions from God Valley.
Ships were also approaching.
On one side were the Roger Pirates, considered pirate newcomers, yet terrifyingly powerful and fiercely unconventional!
On the other was Garp's fleet, forcibly dispatched just as he had begun his leave!
A war that would go down in history and strike fear into the Celestial Dragons was about to erupt.
This time, there would not only be survivors.
Many of those survivors would become titans of the world's major powers in later years!
To those who took part in this battle.
The supposed inviolability of the gods was nothing but a scrap of paper!
When, more than thirty years later, at the Sabaody Archipelago...
Someone threw a punch at a Celestial Dragon...
Few people knew.
That someone had once slaughtered Celestial Dragons here like dogs!
God Valley.
The plaza where the slaughter game began.
The look in Saint Figarland Garling's eyes shifted as he guarded the treasure chests.
Those unconcealed bursts of Haki proclaimed the arrival of the strong!
"Hey, is this some kind of joke?"
His red hair and beard curved like a crescent moon.
The man later generations of Celestial Dragons would regard as a champion who had fought in the battle of God Valley!
Saint Figarland Garling!
Still young, he tightened his grip on his sword alongside the other Holy Knights.
The trump card stationed here was one of the Five Elders!
The Warrior God of Science and Defense.
Jaygarcia Saturn Saint!
"We're ashore!"
The pirates charged.
The Marines at the harbor trembled at the arrival of the New World's overlords, the Rocks Pirates!
Sure enough.
They were like a swarm of locusts, leaving nothing alive in their wake!
Shane stepped onto the deck.
All the pirate ships had drawn close to the harbor, and cries of battle rang out without end.
Bullets flew past his ears from time to time.
Although, before Vegapunk was taken in by the Marines...
The world's technology seemed frozen in the steam age.
That did not negate the lethality of firearms against ordinary people.
"Take back the treasure! Take back the Devil Fruits! Death to the Celestial Dragons!"
Rocks appeared on the battlefield.
He rampaged through it as though no one stood in his way.
Shane leaped onto the harbor, and Marines immediately charged at him.
At the same time.
Large numbers of slaves were running for their lives.
It seemed this disaster had turned into a blessing for them.
The Demon Compass spun.
Shane sent a Marine flying with a kick.
The battlefield was utter chaos. Even the pirates fought on their own.
The Marines and Celestial Dragons had to stop both the pirates and the slaves.
The people of God Valley wept.
As the king wailed in despair, a Celestial Dragon cut off his head with a single stroke.
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