Rocks smiled as his gaze settled on the towering, broad-shouldered Kaidō though deep in his eyes a thin blade of hatred flashed.
This mission had been for a Mythical Zoan, a treasure mapped and planned for him.
With the Yami Yami no Mi in his body, he needed a second, overwhelming power to vault his combat strength to another peak. And yet…
The Mythical Zoan he'd coveted ended up in Kaidō's stomach.
Poached, right under his nose.
Rocks buried the rancor well; not a ripple reached his face.
As for promoting Kaidō to captain Rocks had his reasons. Split the Sixteenth Division's strength. He knew Kaidō carried the spark of Conqueror's Haki. Stoke that spark into a king's ambition, and Kaidō could grow into a counterweight to Tengetsu Ares. Even if he couldn't suppress Ares, at the very least… don't let those two monsters stand on the same side.
The room reacted to Rocks's announcement with a dozen flavors of expression: surprise, envy, smirks, shock… and a few who knew exactly what was happening and pretended not to.
A low uproar rose.
"Kaidō's got a powerhouse ability now. Making him a captain isn't a stretch. Anyone with objections can challenge him!"
"Captain Rocks… isn't this a bit irregular?"
"Didn't expect another monster to rise right after Ares. Things are getting lively."
"Kaidō's not the kid he used to be. Not many in Rocks's crew can beat him anymore."
Rocks's face hardened. A pressure rolled out of him and crushed the room flat.
"We're pirates of Rocks," he said, voice ringing like steel. "The capable rise. The useless fall. Anyone with the strength can be a division captain. I said that the day this crew was born."
The protests died on cue. Many of them had clawed upward on those very terms, with hands soaked to the wrists in blood.
Then Kaidō shot to his feet, voice booming.
"I refuse! I don't want a captaincy. I want to train under Big Brother Ares and watch him become the strongest in the world!"
A year by Ares's side had taught Kaidō exactly what kind of demon he was: freakish comprehension, freakish discipline. A monster among monsters.
Charging higher with every fight.
In Kaidō's heart, Ares would realize his dream forge a body surpassing the Supreme Grade blades, become the invincible man, the strongest creature alive. Kaidō would witness him climb to the summit of the seas.
Rocks's face went black for a heartbeat then he laughed, easy as ever. "Jiehahahaha… Rare brotherhood. If that's how you feel, I won't force it."
He looked to Ares, raised his cup. "Ares, come drink with me."
Their cups touched across the air. Both drank deep.
"Even if the mission wasn't perfect," Rocks said lightly, "Ares alone brought back glory beating Vice Admiral Garp. That's worth celebrating!"
"Spread it. All of it. Trample the Navy's face while it's down. Let the world hear Ares's name again."
That lit the hall. Praise tumbled over itself.
"Yeah! That mutt Garp is always rabid, biting whenever he sees us. Ares shut him right up!"
"And not just Garp Ares had even Red the Aloof gasping for air!"
"I heard Garp was covered in blood, pathetic as a drowned rat. Shame I didn't see it!"
"Be honest is Ares already the strongest among all division captains?"
They nearly hoisted Ares to the rafters.
Ares lifted a brimming bowl and answered Rocks. "I owe you, Captain. When I asked you back then, you told me through battle, a man can become the strongest blade in the world."
"Fighting and fighting again, I did grow stronger."
"Thank you for clearing the path when I was lost. If I'm closer to my dream today, Captain, your part is not small. I drink!"
He upended the bowl gurgle, gurgle until it ran dry.
Rocks tasted ash. And a sliver of fear.
Ares's growth was too fast, and around him clustered the likes of Golden Lion, Whitebeard, Kaidō… a knot of heavyweights forming under his nose, warping his grip on the crew into a new center of gravity.
A quiet crisis coiled in Rocks's gut.
"Ares, it's your own effort," Rocks said, laying the gold on thick. "Your talent everyone sees it. And you drew a Mythical Zoan besides. Maybe it was fate."
"Someday, the age might be yours."
Others chimed in. Before long Ares outshone even Rocks at his own feast. Whitebeard and Golden Lion bracketed him, pounding cups down his throat. Captains lined up to toast. Ares took the chance to introduce Slardar around.
By night's end, most were dead drunk.
Rocks wove back alone to his quarters. As the door shut, his eyes snapped clear and cold.
"Damn it. Kaidō that brat ate the Mythical Zoan."
"If I'd had it…"
"Everything would be different."
He sagged into the sofa, staring at the moon white disk clean as polished jade, stars strewn like salt across the sky. A thousand points of light, like the powers of this sea, each burning its own cut in the dark. And above them all, the moon most dazzling of all.
"Ares…"
He tasted the name. "We planned this move in deep shadow, and the Navy still sent Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr to intercept."
"There is a Navy mole in my crew. Who? Silver Axe? Wang Zhi? …"
A soft laugh. "Headache either way Navy, or Cipher Pol dogs."
"So eager to erase me, are you?"
"Then we move slower. Tighter. Give the World Government no purchase."
He closed his eyes. Calm washed back over his face. The corner of his mouth lifted, cruel.
"World Government you're waiting for a chance to erase Rocks."
"Well, I'm waiting too."
"Waiting for a chance to overturn the world."
The Rocks Pirates feasted. The Navy wore a funeral.
In a gray conference room, Fleet Admiral Steel Bone Kong sat on rage like a volcano corked under ice. He glared at Sengoku and the others.
"We didn't kill a single Rocks officer," he snapped. "We let Blood-Hand Ares learn Garp's technique and beat him with it!"
"And the Mythical Zoan fell into Kaidō's hands!"
"Failure. Abject failure!"
Sengoku bowed his head; Zephyr's face was sour. Only Garp looked… unconcerned. Kong's eyes flicked to the bandages wrapped thick around Garp's skull. The words he meant to spit turned to a sigh.
"Rocks already has Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Linlin. Now Ares. Now Kaidō," he muttered. "Even I don't know how to handle that pack of monsters."
"I don't think it's all bad," Vice Admiral Tsuru said suddenly, drawing every eye.
In her thirties, hair tied in a neat tail, gaze cool and steady, she sat straight as a spear tall even in the chair.
"This operation failed," she said, "but because it failed, the Rocks Pirates will suspect an internal leak."
"Many officers were involved. Rocks will have plenty to doubt."
"We should seed careful false trails amplify their suspicion."
"And protect the real mole."
Kong's anger ebbed a notch. He nodded. "Good. If we can't break them head-on, we break them from within."
He was about to say more when the Den Den Mushi on his desk trilled.
Pururururu…
"Moshi moshi. Fleet Admiral Kong."
"Kong. We are waiting for you in the Room of Authority, Pangaea Castle."
Kong's face set. "I'm on my way."
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