"Gurararara! Roger, we still haven't settled the score from last time. Let's settle it all today!"
One day, the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates met at sea.
On the bow of the Whitebeard Pirates' Moby Dick, Whitebeard's towering figure stood with a naginata in hand as he called out to Roger.
Whitebeard and Roger went back a long way.
Back when Whitebeard was still in the Rocks Pirate Group, he and Roger had already met and fought several times, earning each other's respect.
Later, Rocks was defeated by Roger and Garp working together, and the Rocks Pirates disbanded as well.
Over the past few years, Whitebeard had taken in a group of orphans one after another and formed the Whitebeard Pirates. They had gradually made a name for themselves in the New World, becoming one of its famous major pirate crews.
During that time, Whitebeard and Roger had met at sea several times, and every encounter had led to a fight.
"Haha! Whitebeard, let's fight!"
At the sight of Whitebeard, Roger had found a worthy opponent. He rushed out excitedly, leaped aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' ship, and began fighting Whitebeard.
Both swung their blades at the same time. Their blades never touched, but a terrifying impact surged outward.
It was a clash of Armament Haki.
Once Armament Haki reached a certain level, it could become an invisible force that left the body to attack.
The sea churned from the clash of their Haki.
The sky split from their collision.
"Whitebeard really is Whitebeard, even..." Zesi murmured as he watched the battle.
Even without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Whitebeard was still Whitebeard, and his strength was still terrifying.
It would be more accurate to say that Whitebeard had made the Tremor-Tremor Fruit what it was, rather than the other way around.
Without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, however, Whitebeard could no longer use wide-ranging attacks such as earthquakes and tsunamis as he had in Zesi's previous life.
But in one-on-one combat, he would definitely not be much weaker than the Whitebeard with a Devil Fruit in the original story.
Roger and Whitebeard did not fight for long.
They were actually on good terms and would not truly fight to the death.
They simply had not seen each other in a long time and were sparring as a greeting.
Besides, they did not dare fight too fiercely out at sea.
The two sides that had just been fighting soon gathered together for a banquet.
"Gurararara! Roger, you've got another newcomer on your crew. I haven't seen him before!" Whitebeard said with a laugh when he saw Zesi.
"Haha! This is Zesi, our crew's brewer. Here, try his liquor. You won't find anything this good anywhere else!" Roger said, handing him a bowl.
"Good liquor!" Whitebeard said, his eyes lighting up after a sip.
"Right? This is exclusive to our Roger Pirates. You can't even buy it anywhere else!"
"Let me take some with me later!"
"No problem!"
Marco of the Whitebeard Pirates came over and sat beside Zesi.
"You're Zesi?"
"Is there a problem?"
"I heard you brewed this liquor?"
"That's right!"
"How about joining our ship? We'll treat you much better than the Roger Pirates. Look, even our ship is bigger than theirs!"
"Well, well, Marco! How dare you try to poach our crewmate!" Before Zesi could refuse, the Roger Pirates beside him had already begun protesting.
"So what if your ship is big? Our ship was built from Treasure Tree Adam. One of ours is worth ten of yours."
"Marco, you dare poach someone from the Roger Pirates? We're drinking you under the table today!"
"That's right, that's right! Marco, you've gone too far. We can't let you off!"
A round of laughter and banter broke out.
"Enemy ship spotted!"
Even during a banquet, a pirate crew in the New World had to remain alert for attacks by other pirates.
So they posted lookouts even while holding a banquet.
At that moment, the lookout spotted a pirate ship.
"It's a Supernova pirate who just entered the New World recently, Baden the Fanatic!"
Many pirate crews entered the New World every year.
Some pirates who had completed the Grand Line, distinguished themselves, and earned a fair amount of fame were called Supernovas.
"Nova" meant they were still newcomers to the New World.
"Super" meant they were different from other newcomers, possessing greater strength and potential, with the makings of great pirates.
Of course, that depended on whether they could survive until then.
Baden the Fanatic was one of those Supernovas. He was called Baden the Fanatic because their captain, Baden, was an extremely fanatical and crazed man.
He was utterly fixated on anything he set his mind to, even to the point of madness.
And he had no idea what fear was.
"Bastard, what timing. Interrupting my drinking!"
"Exactly. He's ruined a perfectly good banquet."
The members of both the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates began grumbling.
"I'll handle it. Keep drinking!"
Zesi spoke with a smile, then picked up the long blade beside him and walked toward the bow.
The Roger Pirates thought nothing of Zesi stepping forward.
The Whitebeard Pirates, however, could not help thinking that this newcomer was a little too full of himself.
Their opponents were a whole pirate crew, after all, and they even had a Supernova among them.
"Marco!" Whitebeard called.
"Understood!" Marco immediately stood and followed.
Zesi and Marco reached the bow together and looked ahead.
They saw a ship flying a pirate flag sailing swiftly toward them.
Before the pirate ship even arrived, it was already firing cannonballs at them.
The cannonballs struck the sea beside the Roger Pirates' ship, throwing up huge splashes.
"You're certainly not holding back. In that case, let me send a slash your way!"
Seeing that they had already greeted them with cannon fire, Zesi smiled faintly, rested a hand on his blade, and gathered his strength to strike.
Marco watched Zesi curiously as well.
For Zesi to act so arrogantly, he ought to have some skill.
"One Sword Style: Azure Dragon's Roar!"
At that moment, Zesi drew his blade and slashed.
A slash resembling a flood dragon emerging from the sea hurtled toward the approaching pirates amid peals of dragon roars.
"What is that?"
When the pirates aboard the Baden Pirates' ship saw the enormous flood dragon flying toward them, every one of them was scared out of his wits.
Roar after roar gave the flood dragon an utterly terrifying presence, and even the seawater parted on its own.
It was as though the flood dragon, a peerless ferocious beast of legend, had emerged from myth.
Before the flood dragon arrived, its roars reached them.
Amid the dragon's roars, the Baden Pirates felt the air around them distort.
Waves of pressure bore down on them, as though their bodies could no longer move.
"Am I going to die?" At that moment, even the crazed Baden could not help breaking out in a cold sweat.
At the same time, the flood dragon appeared before them, tearing unstoppably through their pirate ship and through their bodies.
The slash was formed from strands of fine sword energy and shock waves.
As the flood dragon swept through, the sword energy and shock waves exploded, instantly destroying and shredding everything around them. The entire ship was pulverized.
The pirates aboard were covered in wounds, as though they had been attacked by a crowd.
Marco was dumbstruck.
"Alas, I'll need another sword again!" After that attack, the long blade in Zesi's hand was already riddled with damage.
"Gurararara! That was truly a stunning move. Roger, you've got an incredible newcomer on your crew. That move combines swordsmanship, Haki, and a Devil Fruit, doesn't it? And the Devil Fruit's formidable power pushed its strength to a terrifying level. Once he's grown a little more, I'm afraid even we might not be able to take that move easily. If I'm not mistaken, his ability should be vibrations!" Whitebeard said with a laugh.
"Haha, that's right. Zesi's Devil Fruit is the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Zesi is a genius. In just three or four months, he trained his Haki and swordsmanship from nothing to this level. He even combined Haki and swordsmanship with the properties of his Devil Fruit to develop this move," Roger said proudly.
"The Devil Fruit known as suicide?" Whitebeard murmured to himself.