"Logia-type · Heaven-Shaking Fruit!"
A fanatical smile crept onto Gern's lips as he bestowed an absurdly overpowered name upon his Devil Fruit.
Lowering his head, he stared at his palm as his five fingers slowly spread apart.
Humm—
In an instant, countless fine vibration particles converged in his palm, compressing into a pure white sphere of energy.
Shockwaves rippled endlessly across its surface, warping the surrounding air, like a miniature seismic source compressed to the absolute limit.
"Whitebeard's is the Paramecia-type Gura Gura no Mi—he relies on his physical body as a medium to trigger vibrations. The price is that even his own body has to endure the backlash…"
Gern sneered as his fingers suddenly clenched. The light sphere collapsed instantly, breaking apart into streams of trembling particles that wrapped around his arm.
"But my Heaven-Shaking Fruit…"
"I become the very origin of vibration itself."
He raised his left fist sharply, mimicking the stance from his memories. Vibration particles surged, condensing densely around his knuckles.
The air at the edge of his fist twisted violently, as if a world-ending impact could erupt at any moment.
Yet Gern did not throw the punch. Instead, he slowly restrained the power.
There was no need to imitate anyone.
His ability already stood above the Gura Gura no Mi.
"What Whitebeard can do, I can do," Gern muttered, his gaze sharp as a blade. "And what he can't do… I can do that too."
In terms of sheer destructive power and attack range, the Gura Gura no Mi was already regarded as the strongest among all known Devil Fruits, hailed as the "Strongest Paramecia."
Now, layered with the traits of a Logia, Gern wasn't merely capable of striking the world itself and shaking space.
He could directly command the tremors of the sky, the atmosphere, and the sea.
Not just shaking the world—
But turning vibration itself into a weapon in his hands.
As Gern was marveling at his newfound power, raging flames and smoke filled the western side of God Island in the distance.
The remnants of the Rocks Pirates were retreating in panic, while figures like Whitebeard and Shiki flickered in and out of view amid the smoke.
Gern merely cast a cold glance in that direction before withdrawing his gaze and turning toward the very center of the island.
That was where Rocks D. Xebec had fought Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Garp.
"Now…" A faint smile curved Gern's lips as invisible vibration particles began to surface around his body.
"It's time to go collect some real 'spoils.'"
...
At the central region of God Valley, the luxurious platform once used by the Celestial Dragons to watch their hunting games had already been reduced to rubble.
At the bottom of an enormous crater, Rocks D. Xebec lay sprawled on his back, blood pooling beneath him into a dark crimson lake.
The king who once ruled the seas now gasped for breath, every inhale accompanied by the coughing up of shattered organs.
After Roger and Garp had grievously wounded him, the God's Knights escorted the Celestial Dragons away.
The World Government, meanwhile, left him behind to face the coming Buster Call alone—abandoned to die along with the island.
"Pirates and Marines… joining hands…" Rocks split his blood-stained lips into a mocking grin.
"How… utterly ironic…"
"Roger… Garp…"
Just as he was about to close his eyes and welcome death—
Boom.
The ground suddenly trembled. Pebbles danced and bounced from the vibration.
Rocks' clouded pupils shrank slightly.
This familiar pattern of vibration…
Footsteps approached from afar. A youth in a Marine uniform stepped into this forbidden land of death.
Sunlight poured in from behind him, casting a long shadow across the ruins.
"Newgate?" Rocks thought hazily. "No… that man would never come here."
Struggling to focus, he used Observation Haki—and when he saw that the intruder was merely a fourteen-year-old boy with short black hair, surprise flashed through his eyes.
Then he noticed it.
The peculiar vibration rippling around the boy's body.
That was not Newgate's power.
Meanwhile, Gern was using his ability to precisely shatter sections of the rubble, hoping to dig up something valuable to sell later.
After a long while, he found absolutely nothing.
"That's weird. The rewards for the Celestial Dragons' hunting game can't be this lousy," Gern muttered in complaint.
"But Rocks' and Roger's Conqueror's Haki really was terrifying."
"If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been knocked out over fifty times…"
"Well, gains and losses, I guess."
Down in the crater, Rocks' pupils abruptly contracted to pinpoints as he heard Gern's casual muttering.
This fourteen-year-old Marine boy had been knocked unconscious more than fifty times during the clash of his and Roger's Conqueror's Haki?!
Even an average Vice Admiral from Marine Headquarters would remain unconscious for at least an entire day under their combined pressure.
Yet this boy had awakened again and again at an astonishing speed.
What did that mean?
It meant that during that earth-shattering Conqueror's Haki confrontation, he regained consciousness once every two minutes on average.
"A monster… ignorant of fear?" Rocks suddenly realized something.
Summoning the last of his strength, he opened his mouth and shouted, "Hey! You Marine brat!!"
The voice wasn't loud, but it rang out clearly.
"Stop searching. What you're looking for isn't here. Hahahaha!"
"No way…" Gern swallowed hard at the laughter, slowly turning his head toward the source.
He stepped forward shakily and stopped three meters from the edge of the crater.
"You're still alive…" Gern looked down at the true overlord of this era.
The strongest man of this age.
Rocks D. Xebec.
"Rocks…" Gern murmured.
Rocks struggled to focus his gaze, and when he clearly saw the boy before him, his suspicions were confirmed.
Especially those eyes.
There was no pity for a dying man, nor any reverence toward a ruler of the seas.
They were too clear.
Clear, as if he were observing an exhibit in a museum.
Gern, for his part, merely felt a sense of distant amazement as he looked at the dying Rocks.
To him, Rocks' existence carried the same disconnect as fiction compared to reality—there were no deeper emotions involved.
"Hey, Marine brat…" Rocks' voice was hoarse. "Did you come here… to witness the changing of an era?"
"I'm just here to find something valuable," Gern replied calmly.
"Hahahaha! Something valuable…" Rocks burst into laughter, blood spilling from his mouth.
"Marine brat… you're interesting."
His gaze sharpened suddenly.
"Your power… it's not like Newgate's…"
"It's Heaven-Shaking," Gern said, slowly raising his right hand, palm upward.
As he moved, the surrounding air twisted, a purer form of vibration energy—distinct from the Gura Gura no Mi—gathering in his palm.
The vibration did not tear space apart like Whitebeard's.
Instead, it felt closer to something fundamental.
Understanding flashed through Rocks' eyes.
"So that's it… Heaven-Shaking…"
"More terrifying than Newgate."
"Aren't you looking for something valuable?" Rocks continued. "How about making a deal with a dying man?"
"A deal?" Gern frowned.
"That's right." Rocks shifted his gaze aside. "Something valuable."
Following his line of sight, Gern saw a jet-black long blade embedded diagonally in the scorched earth, its surface reflecting a cold gleam.
Gern walked over and pulled it free.
It wasn't a traditional katana, but a straight, double-edged black blade.
About one and a half meters long. The hilt was exquisitely crafted, the scabbard missing. The blade itself was abyssal black, covered in dark red cracks that faintly shimmered.
"This blade is…"
"One of the Twelve Supreme Grade Swords."
"Use your power…" Rocks' voice weakened further. "Give me a dignified burial. I don't want to die beneath the Buster Call bombardment of those World Government trash…"
"When it's done… the sword… will be yours…"
"The name?" Gern asked.
"You'll give it one," Rocks coughed up blood again.
"Alright." Gern looked at the black blade in his hand, fell silent for a moment, then nodded solemnly. "As you wish. I accept this deal."
Humm—
Vibration particles gathered wildly in Gern's palm, compressing to the extreme.
"Hahaha…" Rocks let out a hoarse laugh. "Interesting… truly interesting…"
"Brat, what's your name?"
"Gern," he answered calmly. "Gern Reginald Sigma."
Not hearing a "D." in the middle name, something flickered in Rocks' eyes.
"So you're not a D…" he sighed.
Images of Roger and Garp's combined assault flashed through his mind.
Pirates and Marines…
Then I'll be willful one last time.
Carry my blade and shake the world again.
Terrifying, ignorant monster—
Gern Reginald Sigma.
The sphere of vibration particles descended slowly.
With a deafening tremor, Rocks' body—along with the surrounding air—was completely shattered, laid to rest forever on this God-forsaken island.