"Come, all you who want to prove yourselves worthy."
He raised his arms open and gestured goadingly at the crowd surrounding him.
"Rocks has decided to let me be your judge," he paused in suspense as he let his words sink in, flashing the crowd with a wild and roguish smile. "And I say that any who manage to land even a single hit on any part of me can join his fleet!"
Atlas decided that should be enough arrogance to kick up the hornet's nest. Combined with the fairly simple-seeming objective, he believed he might just have managed to avoid Rocks' little game.
One last thing, though, to make sure they didn't think this would be too easy to be true. He could already see doubt growing in some of their eyes, taking away their hope and greed.
"Of course..."
Another dramatic pause left the crowd silent again.
They hung onto his last word, waiting with bated breath.
"I never said I won't be fighting back."
With that, he let his smile grow larger, too large to be anything more than sinister no matter how he framed it.
A second passed as his words registered with the crowd. Before a booming roar echoed out. Not the kind of complaints and whining, though, like Atlas had thought might happen.
Instead, it was a maddening buzz of excited thrill. Not only would these men have a chance to join the Rocks Fleet, but they could also get a first-hand experience of the strength of one of his personal crew!
Their newest rookie, no less, a man no one had seen in action outside of Rocks and his closest subordinates. They would be telling this story for the rest of their no-good lives even if they never got in.
Atlas just snorted as his smile turned genuine for a second. He'd clearly forgotten that no normal, sane person would willingly volunteer to join the most infamous and feared pirate crew on all the seas.
"In that case..."
Atlas' body gained a purplish-blue hue as it shrunk, his muscular physique morphing into a lean and mean, sleeker form. Instead of looking like he could punch through a wall, now he looked as if he could run a marathon in seconds.
Where before he had towered over nearly all participants, he stood closer to the average height of a normal human man. Many in the crowd even lost sight of him from their distance, the others towering over Atlas and hiding him from any not in his immediate vicinity.
Bouncing from foot to foot, Atlas looked spry. Like a rocket just waiting to take off and leave everyone else in his dust.
"Let's begin!"
His voice reached every corner of the courtyard. No matter whether you could see him or not, it was impossible to not hear him.
In an instant, the crowd moved. Even those so far away they had no chance at reaching him yet. A chaotic mess of attacks flew out at Atlas.
He simply smirked further. His current distorted future was one built around speed. To him, the crowd flowed like lava, dangerous but slow.
His body wove between their attacks, a blurry dance too fast for most to even see. He watched them all. Felt for their strengths and moved. He was, after all, their judge.
It wasn't long before he came across one whose punch felt much less threatening. While the others' fists moved at a snail's pace, his barely seemed to be even moving.
Atlas sighed. It seemed he would have to be eliminated. Reaching out, his fist made contact with the man's temple in an almost gentle tap. But for the man who had barely caught the afterimage of the impossibly fast Atlas, the momentum of that speed swept him off his feet.
He came crashing down into several others behind him, unconscious long before he'd made contact with them.
Atlas was already gone. Cutting through the gaps of extended limbs, all out to hit him. As he glided through the crowd, their breaths getting ragged as their muscles grew sorer after each failed punch or kick.
Before long, the courtyard was strewn with unconscious figures lying on the cold stones. Their fellow volunteers awkwardly worked around the minefield they made. Their own breath coming hard and fast as they desperately chased after the elusive Atlas.
Another cheer rang out from a man who thought he had managed to hit Atlas at last. Only to die out into a strangled cry of frustration as his fist swept through the empty air. He wasn't the first to be fooled by an afterimage of Atlas'.
He moved so fast now that he left several behind him as he swept past. Every second he continued moving untouched, he seemed to gain speed rather than lose it.
To Atlas, this was boring. None of these recruits were anything special. All of them capable men, but not above the level of ordinary. Against someone like him, it was just unfair.
But then again, he was god-like in his powers. A frown swept over him as his pride faltered slightly. He had, after all, met his new crew, who constantly challenged that perception.
His moment of weakness, though, didn't go unnoticed. His speed fell, for only a second, but still it fell. The desperate recruits, run ragged by Atlas the entire time, finally saw a glimpse of hope.
Greed lit up their eyes and burnt away their misery. They seized this chance like hungry sharks circling fresh meat.
Each went in for the kill, uncaring for any who got in their way. Many even chose to simply go through their competition if it meant they might be on Atlas sooner.
Atlas watched in horror as he saw them. Bodies were brutalised, some flung to the wayside like discarded rubbish. Ragdolling in a sickening display of endless broken bones.
Others, smashed through. Blood flowed out in a mist to join the small rivers flowing from those torn apart.
All of his plans to avoid a bloodbath lay in tatters, soaked in the blood of those he had tried to avoid killing.
His mind drew back, memories of his own body cut and bloody. Of days spent in agonising pain, trying to recover from one of the experiments he had "failed" to complete. Jaygarcia Saturn stood coldly over his limp body as he looked down his nose at him.
The coppery taste of blood tinged his mouth as his mind drew more and more comparisons between the two acts of cruelty.
These men were just the same. Inhuman. His breathing grew short and shallow. His eyes narrowed to pinpricks as they pierced through each of the men remaining.
They still hadn't noticed the change in him, their own brains not being able to react so quickly. Their faces still held drooling smiles, so full of hope and greed.
Not an ounce of guilt could be found in them. Atlas could already tell.
They were the same as that demon, and he would not allow a single one of them to join him!
As his anger rose, so too did something else within him. The stuffy tropical air became cooler as the temperature dropped rapidly. His head bowed as the face of Saturn played in his mind. Jerking his head up, his eyes glared out over the remaining recruits.
His chest suddenly lightened. The feeling of tightness vanished as if it had been forced out of him.
At the same time, an invisible wave of pressure swept out around him. Too fast to combat and impossible to detect in any other way than a sudden sinking feeling in your stomach.
For the men who had savaged their way through their competitors to get to Atlas, though, it was on them before they could have time to register the dread.
A weird buzz followed the movement. The last thing they heard before their world went blank.
The sudden repeated thud, thud, thudding of bodies falling heavily to the floor. Heads bouncing off the stone ground and eyes rolling all the way back.
"None of you are worthy..."
Atlas' voice whispered out in a growl, struggling to keep his still-rampant emotions in check.
Without waiting for anyone to respond, Atlas gave a short, hard stare towards Rocks. The two men said nothing, yet so much was clearly shown to each other.
Atlas walked away, his footsteps coming heavy as they echoed out over the now silent courtyard.
Rocks watched him leave with an imperceptible look on his face. His eyes never left the back of Atlas. His lips pressed into a straight line, seemingly contemplating the weight of something great.
As Atlas' shadow disappeared around the corner of the square, Rocks too wordlessly left.
The rest of the crew seemed forgotten in whatever thoughts both men were thinking.
Linlin cackled gleefully to herself.
"What a show from my candidate. Mamama," she muttered to herself as she laughed.
Newgate sighed heavily, the demons in the boy's eyes sticking in his mind. The boy was still lost in his world of hurt and brokenness.
"Stop laughing, you old hag!" Kaidou huffed as he walked off grumpily.
He replayed the last scene over and over again. How the hell had that new guy managed it? He was the one meant to become stronger than Rocks, not him!