Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 41. After defeating Pedro Saint, the White Wolf Pirates regrouped with the giants of Elbaf.
But the crew's condition was far from good.
Against bizarre Devil Fruit powers and physically superior foes, Rocks and Newgate fought with everything they had—and still lost in the end.
Unwilling as they were,
that was reality.
You can't always meet an enemy who's just a little stronger, the kind that lets you break through at the last second and win.
Rocks lay on the deck, pondering life.
With his hearing damaged, the world around him felt strangely quiet.
It should feel quiet!
"Newgate, stop grinning like an idiot!"
"Ah, sorry, Rocks-nii. I just think… losing doesn't feel so bad."
Newgate was an orphan.
He'd always lived relying on himself. Even if he was bullied at the orphanage, no one would ever stand up for him.
So this was a first.
Even though he lost, the ones who bullied him were beaten down by Magnus afterward.
This is family!
Newgate thought to himself.
Not brought together by profit, but bound by something purer.
When he's bullied,
Rocks-nii will stand up for him.
Captain Magnus will stand up for him.
In the past, Newgate wouldn't have dared dream of such a thing.
So even in defeat,
he wasn't as sad as he'd imagined.
"Tch."
Rocks rested the back of his head on his hands.
He didn't know what Newgate was saying, but having mastered Kenbunshoku Haki, he could sense the gist of it.
Foolish.
Relying on others to safeguard your life—what kind of "strong" person is that?
The Holy Knights possessed immortality.
Rocks had known this from the start, but he thought that even if he couldn't break that immortality,
as long as he could hold an enemy in place, that would still count as victory.
But—
he hadn't managed even that simple a task.
Worse, the opponent he couldn't defeat even after going all out had been one-shot by Magnus, left with no chance to fight back at all.
"I can't go on like this."
He wasn't like Newgate, who had no ambition and only wanted a family.
He wasn't like Ripley either,
who boarded because of Magnus, and whose greatest wish was merely to surpass Harald, King of the Giants.
He wanted to surpass Magnus!
Rocks made up his mind.
Elsewhere, Magnus was analyzing the abilities of the Holy Knights with Harald.
After all, they had a ready-made sample right here.
"Damn pirates! If you've got the guts, kill me!"
For the first time, Pedro Saint regretted being immortal.
Magnus was treating him like a test subject.
Since he wouldn't die anyway—
he severed his limbs, sliced off his head,
and even tossed him into the sea.
He was a Devil Fruit user!
Even if Magnus hadn't frozen his body, most Devil Fruit users lose all strength on contact with seawater.
Pedro Saint was no exception.
But because of his immortality, even submerged he wouldn't die.
The process, however, was anything but pleasant.
"So that's what immortality is, huh?"
"For now, I haven't found a way to completely break it. Coating them with Busoshoku Haki only slows their regeneration. Compared to killing them outright, freezing them is simpler."
"What about Haoshoku?"
"At the highest level, that should work."
"…"
Gripping Pedro Saint by the hair, Magnus calmly tested cuts across his body to observe the healing while chatting with Harald.
"Compared to restricting them with Busoshoku, Haoshoku is the clean, one-and-done approach. But unfortunately, even my Haoshoku can't completely kill these idiot Tenryuubito."
"If even you can't, I can't imagine who could."
Harald shook his head.
Magnus's Haoshoku was among the very finest in the world. If even he couldn't crack the immortality of the Celestial Dragons, then likely no one of this era could.
"What a feeble era we live in."
Magnus couldn't help but mock himself. In the past hundred years, you could count the sea's true overlords on one hand.
And among those pirates, the strongest might not even match his current level.
Let alone what's to come.
Magnus knew that twenty years from now, during the God Valley incident,
there would be several pirates capable of standing against him.
Compared to that future, the only ones worth mentioning now were himself and Harald.
In a while, they might add Rona to that list.
"When we rendezvous with Rona later, don't tell me you plan on fighting her?"
"I won't lay a hand on her."
Harald glanced at his severed leg, now replaced by a branch from the Treasure Tree Adam,
and shook his head.
"I don't resent her. Winners are kings, losers are outcasts. She was just carrying out orders."
In truth, the Marines had reason to arrest him. For the things he did in his youth, even an assault on Elbaf would have been justified.
Looking back through history,
the giants had indeed committed many crimes.
So when Rona, as a Marine, captured him, a former pirate, Harald had no complaints—especially since she went easy in the end. Otherwise, none of his guard would have escaped.
As a pirate clashing with a Marine,
no matter the outcome, there was nothing to complain about.
In fact, after his guard escaped, they warned the other villages; many ordinary giants managed to hide and avoid catastrophe.
As king, he owed Rona a debt.
"Haha! Look at you now, so steady and measured. Decades ago, no one could have imagined it—from the Butcher of the Giants!"
Seeing Harald like this, Magnus laughed. Half of the giants' infamy came from the Giant Warrior Pirates, and the other half—from Harald himself.
Forty years ago, Harald hadn't been the pacifist he was now.
"That's all in the past."
"I remember when I first set sail, my village elders warned me: if you ever run into giants—run!"
Magnus chuckled.
"And in the end, I became friends with giants."
"I never thought there'd be a day like this either…"
Harald looked toward the distant sky, then suddenly stood.
"I can feel Admiral Crimson Serpent's aura. We should go meet her."
"We've kicked a hornet's nest this time."
Magnus shrugged and signaled Dean.
"I'm leaving Rocks and the others to you."
He knew Rocks was in low spirits, but he had no time to console him now. Every strong person grows through failure.
If he couldn't endure even a single defeat,
how would he ever become the future sea overlord who challenges the Celestial Dragons?
This is a feeble era.
But right after it will come a brand-new dawn.
"Let's raise the waves of a new era!"
(End of Chapter)
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