It was not just the Rocks Pirates.
On the western shore of God Valley a pirate ship with a bright red hull eased in.
"It is the Roger Pirates."
Marines cried out in shock as a man jumped down from the prow.
"It has been a whole year. Do you know what kind of mood I have been in?"
"Ozz is not my brother."
"Roger, wait for us."
God Valley War. The Roger Pirates had entered the field.
"You are still as full of energy as ever, Captain Roger."
Inside God Valley the Rocks Pirates had already clashed with the God Knights and the Marines. Ozz stood on a slope and with his Observation Haki sensed the approaching Oro Jackson. He could not help but smile.
Originally Ozz was the one the God Knights had their eyes on. As the most threatening of the Rocks captains and as a never-recorded member of the God Knights, Saint Garling wanted to test him.
But Whitebeard showed up, so Garling had to split his attention and grit his teeth to fight him.
Seeing Ozz stroll away unbothered made him furious. He blamed that damned pirate Newgate for ruining things and slashed him several times across the chest.
...
"So. Where are those chests?"
Two figures, one tall and one not as tall, moved slowly through the inner area of God Valley. Ozz looked around.
His Observation Haki was wide, but there were too many places to screen. On top of that his memory of the exact plot here was fuzzy, so for a moment he did not find anything.
But he knew that as long as he found Kuma and those kids he would get something.
They walked at an easy pace. Beside him Gick held his twin blades and was on high alert.
In his mind in a chaos like this a monster like Captain Ozz would definitely attract even stronger monsters, so he absolutely could not drag him down.
"Relax. The monsters have only just made landfall. This will not end that fast."
Ozz wanted to move, but he was not in a hurry. Fights between these powerhouses never ended in a few minutes.
Especially that monster Rocks.
Standing in front of that man his Teleport fruit felt like it was sealed. Sure, he could still fight with raw strength and Haki.
But winning would be rough.
The kind of guy who needed both Roger and Garp, two peak non-fruit monsters, to bring him down. Ozz did not think his current self could grind him out without pulling dirty teleport tricks.
But it was fine.
As long as Rocks could not get close.
Ozz switched his Observation to full power and narrowed the range to a thousand meters around him. The precision became radar level. Every movement, every figure, none could hide.
Soon he picked something up.
"Hey Gick. If one day you do not sail as a pirate, what will you do?"
It sounded like small talk, like a captain caring about his man. Gick did not suspect anything and thought seriously.
"I still want to be a pirate. But if I really had to do something else…"
"Maybe I will go back home and help my village. Live quietly."
That was about right. The old man in Ozz's time always took care of his hometown folk. Ozz was influenced and had tossed a bunch of noble titles around back then.
"In that case."
"After this battle I will tell you everything. Then you have to look after yourself."
"Huh?"
Gick was confused, but before he could speak the scene blurred. The two of them appeared in another part of God Valley.
...
In one of the slave zones a little pink haired girl was stealing information using an odd electrochemical device.
"This time the prize is our key to escaping."
"Prize?"
The slaves did not know what Ginny was talking about.
"There are two Devil Fruits for sure."
"One is an animal type, mythical zoan, Azure Dragon. Eat it and you become a dragon."
"The other can send yourself or others flying super far. The Paw Paw Fruit."
"As long as someone finds and eats one, they can take at least dozens of people out of here and break the Marines' siege."
For this plan they also needed a decoy to draw the Hunters.
The young Kuma volunteered without hesitation.
"So kind, little Kuma."
The slaves did not notice two figures standing on a nearby hill watching them.
Unlike Ozz's blurry memory, Kuma and the others clearly knew where the chests were. Taking advantage of the fact that the main forces had not fought their way here yet, they sneaked into a small cabin in the center of God Valley and got the chests.
They had just gotten excited, ready to eat one right away, when a huge figure walked in.
It was the one who had crept over alone to hunt treasure. Ozz's past white moonlight. Charlotte Linlin.
She grabbed Ivankov with one hand, snatched the animal type mythical zoan Azure Dragon fruit, then reached for the one in Kuma's hand.
Then a voice cut in.
A tall figure had appeared behind Kuma without anyone noticing.
He took the Paw Paw Fruit right from Kuma's hand.
"So this is the Paw Paw Fruit."
Everyone jumped and looked over.
Especially little Kuma. When he saw the fruit in his hand was gone he threw himself forward to grab it back.
But he was too short.
When Linlin saw who it was her face turned sour. She hesitated.
Then she sighed and pretended to compromise.
"So it is you, Ozz."
"Fine. Since you picked it up, we take one each."
If it had been anyone else Linlin would never have backed off. Every Devil Fruit here was a top tier fruit. Give it to someone with talent and that person would be at least a future First Mate level.
But this was Ozz.
Snatching from Kuma was one thing. Snatching from Ozz was another. So she could only give up on the Paw Paw Fruit.
She kicked Ivankov aside and twisted her slender waist to leave.
Then a cold voice came from behind her.
"You can go."
"The fruit stays."
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