Several weeks later.
On a famously notorious pirate island in the New World.
"Why do we have to help Golden Cat steal swords first!!"
"Then I want to go to the North Blue first!"
Silver Axe glared at the fierce battle in the distance and growled at Rocks.
"The next stop is the West Blue!"
Rocks replied flatly, paying no heed to Silver Axe's grievance.
He had long wanted to return to his hometown in God Valley, West Blue; Silver Axe's protest wouldn't change that.
As for the North Blue, it could wait until West Blue business was finished.
"Hmph!"
Silver Axe could only sulk; he knew Rocks gave special treatment to Executives with kingly potential like Newgate, Shiki, and Linlin.
Before, Rocks had seized the supreme grade meito: murakumo cutter just for Newgate.
Now he was after the famed blades sakura jū and kogarashi for Shiki.
As for Fang Huo, there was nothing to say.
If Fang Huo asked, the whole crew would brave fire and water for him.
Ordinary Executives like him had little say with Rocks.
"Bahahaha, awaken Conqueror's Haki and become a king-potential Executive—only then will Rocks listen to you."
Babel sneered at the sulking Silver Axe.
This brute's brain was even duller than those of two Fishmen like him and Sanbel.
If Silver Axe kept misreading his place, he'd be surpassed by newcomers Bolo Gram and Kiel Bastard before he ever awakened Haoshoku.
Ganzi's bounty and fame already eclipsed Silver Axe's.
With sheer power he now outranked Silver Axe on the crew.
Ganzi's Bomb-Bomb Fruit was formidable—even Babel couldn't beat him yet.
Silver Axe couldn't even suppress newly boarded Bolo Gram.
Kiel Bastard's Ghost-Ghost Fruit left Silver Axe just as helpless.
Soon Silver Axe would only bully Stussy and Long Bread, while Sanbel kept growing fast.
Sanbel had been personally vouched for by Fang Huo as a founding member.
Under Fang Huo's Gravity field, earnest and hardworking, he trained like mad.
If Babel slacked, even he might be overtaken by Sanbel.
Babel figured in a few years Silver Axe would drop to third-last, above only Stussy and Long Bread.
He himself was ninety-percent sure of surpassing Silver Axe completely.
Unless Silver Axe scored a mighty Devil Fruit, Babel would surely defeat him.
---"Hmph!!"
Silver Axe had thought he could adjust and become more open-minded.
But watching Golden Lion and Whitebeard grow ever stronger, his anxiety only worsened.
There was no way he could accept this!
On the battlefield, Golden Lion Shiki clashed with a Two-Sword Style Swordsman who wielded the very blades Fang Huo had named: sakura jū and kogarashi.
Fang Huo's "prophecy" had brought this swordsman disaster ahead of schedule.
"Jihahaha! Nice, very nice!! Your swords are superb!"
Golden Lion Shiki eyed the nicks on his own blades, coveting the man's famed swords.
"You covet my sakura jū and kogarashi?"
The Two-Sword Style Swordsman's eyes blazed; to a swordsman, blade-theft was akin to wife-theft or murder.
"Jihahaha! In a minute they'll be MY sakura jū and kogarashi!"
Golden Lion Shiki bared his greed without shame—he meant to seize both blades.
On these seas, might makes right: winners take all, losers eat dust.
If you can't protect your prized blades or beauties, stronger men will keep them for you!
"Dream on! Where I fall, my blades fall!"
The swordsman's resolve was absolute; he'd never abandon the blades that had accompanied him for years.
"Tch, your swords were looted from someone else anyway!"
"Since you're itching to die, I'll oblige!"
Golden Lion had planned to spare the man, just like Newgate did after robbing someone.
But if the fool insisted on dying, he'd grant that wish without mercy.
"Lion Majesty: Palace Grounds Roll!"
Golden Lion slapped the ground, activating the Float-Float Fruit and shaping four earthen lions that surged toward the swordsman.
Blades of air howled out, cleaving the lions apart.
Yet under Shiki's control the earthen beasts re-formed again and again, lunging for their prey.
Today he would not let these famed blades slip away!
---"Wahaha, that Two-Sword Style Swordsman's not bad; if Shiki hadn't targeted him, I might've offered him a spot."
Rocks admired the swordsman for holding out so long against Shiki.
It proved the man's strength.
"He's a bounty hunter who hunts pirates. You want a pirate-hater as a pirate?"
Ganzi shrugged; rumor said the swordsman's family or hometown had been ravaged by pirates, driving him mad.
"Why not?"
"One cut won't persuade him—then two!"
Rocks believed that before the terror of death, anyone would compromise; if they still refused—let them die.
"Fang Huo, why won't you toss those love letters? Am I not attractive enough?"
Stussy clung to Fang Huo, determined to win the de facto first mate and Supreme Great Succubus.
Yet the man seemed fickle.
She dared to flirt, and he dared to take advantage—but he'd never promise exclusivity.
His motto: never initiate, never refuse, never commit.
It drove Stussy crazy; she refused to share Fang Huo.
But without a promise, she couldn't bring herself to give herself fully.
"Of course you're attractive."
Fang Huo watched Shiki's fight while pinching Stussy's pretty cheek.
"Then I'll burn those love letters!"
Stussy wanted to strike while the iron was hot before Fang Huo changed his mind.
"No can do."
"That's another matter. How could the Great Love Immortal Venerable break so many lovely hearts?"
Fang Huo took advantage even as he rejected her, immune to this scheming beauty's wiles.
"You!!"
"How could you?"
Stussy's eyes brimmed with grievance, equal parts fury and pitifulness.
"I have a dream—to spread love across the world and give every beauty a warm home."
Fang Huo gave the green-tea beauty a gentle look, his gaze both tender and universal.
"Gurarara, first time I've heard womanizing called a noble dream!"
Newgate saw Fang Huo unmoved by Stussy's advances and knew how clear-headed the cunning Prophet was.
"first mate is truly a model for us all!"
Kiel Bastard jotted down Fang Huo's quotes, eager to learn and imitate.
"My dream is also to give every race a warm home!"
Charlotte Linlin's eyes sparkled, her desire to possess Fang Huo growing ever stronger...---