Aboard the gibecks sword.
The Rocks crew were still grunting and straining at the oars to pick up speed.
The sooner they reached Red Line Island and snatched Patrick Redfield aboard, the sooner they could return to Ohara and pick up Fang Huo and the other two.
Rocks and Newgate and the rest of the brutes rowed day and night, never tiring.
To monsters who could fight for ten days straight without food or drink, a few days of rowing was nothing.
Even the two Fishmen, Babel and Sanbel, could keep fighting for more than five days straight.
Only Kiel Bastard, user of the Ghost-Ghost Fruit, and Maron, the Mafia boss, felt the strain—barely three days and they were already flagging.
And that was with Long Bread's cooking to keep them going.
It left Rocks dissatisfied with the strength of these two new Executives.
He decided to ramp up their training—hellish regimens like the ones he'd once put Fang Huo through.
"So my stamina and strength are already this great!"
"The first mate's Gravity training field really can boost power fast."
Sanbel's eyes sparkled with delight; as the Rocks Pirates' fame spread, real battles had become few and far between.
He hadn't faced a life-or-death fight in ages.
He had no idea how strong he'd actually become.
Yet he'd never slacked in training, sticking close to Fang Huo and grinding inside the Gravity field he'd created.
Babel saw that this little brother had completely caught up to him.
He felt both proud and a sudden urgency.
To keep his big-brother dignity, he resolved to squeeze into more of Fang Huo's Gravity sessions.
If Sanbel surpassed him, he'd lose serious face.
"The open sea is vast!"
Fūgetsu Kisaburō bared his rope-muscled arms; to a Swordsmith, days of high-temper forging were child's play, let alone rowing.
It was mere paddling.
He marveled at the ocean's breadth—this was only one corner of the West Blue.
In Wano Country, a few days' run could circle the whole nation.
"Never thought you crossed the Calm Belt alone!"
Newgate admired the samurai swordmaster; he himself had never tried soloing the Calm Belt.
Back in the Whale Pirates, they'd never left the New World for North or West Blue.
Captain Uharle and the rest were terrified of the Calm Belt.
Only after joining the Rocks Pirates had Newgate first left the New World for the West Blue.
Yet he still hadn't witnessed the horror of the Sea Kings there.
"Those mountain-sized monsters in the Calm Belt are terrifying!"
Recalling the endless colossal Sea Kings—and tribesmen devoured—Fūgetsu's face darkened.
In that death zone, surviving was already the goddess of fate's favor; protecting others was impossible.
Outsiders call the Calm Belt the Sea of Death—no exaggeration.
The Rocks Pirates were lucky to own a Flying Battleship.
If they'd tried sailing straight through, who knew if they'd make it.
"I crossed the Calm Belt alone! Just some big critters—one burst of Haoshoku and they faint."
Rocks grinned; leaving his hometown of God Valley in the West Blue, he'd crossed straight into the New World and reached Red Port at the base of the Red Line.
He'd slipped into a kingdom delegation and ridden the bubble lift up to Holy Land Mary Geoise.
During the World Conference he kidnapped five allied kings and stormed deep into Mary Geoise.
"You're a monster! No comparison!"
Newgate shot Rocks a cool glance; the man's monstrous Haoshoku could knock Sea Kings out cold.
Rocks treated the Calm Belt and whirlpool currents like his own backyard.
How many in the world could rival him?
"worororo! Newgate, you'll tread the Calm Belt like flat ground one day!"
"You're the kingly Executive I value most!"
"Work hard! I know you can overturn that scheming Fang Huo!"
Rocks gave Newgate full praise, even egging him on to take on their first mate, Fang Huo.
In Rocks' eyes, both Newgate and Fang Huo were first mate material.
But Newgate didn't care about titles.
Of course, Fang Huo treated the post like a joke; to him it was optional.
"Hah! I'll smash Fang Huo—and you too while I'm at it!"
Confidence blazed in Newgate's eyes. Titles meant nothing; surpassing them meant everything.
Only with absolute strength could he do whatever he wanted.
One day he'd found a crew of true family.
"worororo! That's the spirit! I'll be waiting!"
"But my fists will stay just as hard!"
Rocks loved that drive—purer than Fang Huo's or Shiki's.
—A single shift at the crank-oars showed Kiel Bastard and Maron the gap between them and the other Executives.
Even frail-looking Long Bread seemed to have freakish stamina.
The two saw not a trace of fatigue on the cook's face.
If they hadn't known he was a Paramecia user of the Eat-Eat Fruit, they'd swear he had a Zoan Type.
They also sensed something sinister about him, akin to the dark aura when Fang Huo entered his Vampire Form.
They burned to uncover the secret.
After days of high-speed sailing, the gibecks sword finally entered the waters off Red Line Island.
Rocks was determined to secure this potential seed of the Three Types of Haki born with Observation Haki.
Whether Patrick Redfield liked it or not, he'd be hauled aboard first.
Meanwhile, on Red Line Island—
Patrick Redfield watched the new "Barlorick Family" from the shadows, face blank, eyes burning with murderous intent.
He saw CP Agents in Barlorick garb, even strangers wearing his parents' clothes.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"
He didn't understand why CP Agents had replaced the Barlorick Family, but the blood feud could never be erased.
He sensed several mighty auras and knew he was outmatched for now.
He forced down his seething hatred, slipped through a secret passage back into the count's manor dungeon, and saw his family's corpses cast aside like trash.
He gritted his teeth and carried his parents out for burial first.
He longed to recover the rest of his kin.
But moving them all would alert these impostors.
He had to grow stronger fast to wipe out every fake CP Agent.
Right now he only had mind-reading Observation Haki, some noble fencing, and an unrefined aura—far from enough.
To defeat those white-suited impostors, he needed a better way to train!
—