One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

Inside the mountain cave, the rock walls began to crack and split. Huge boulders broke free from the walls, crashing down below. They fell to the ground, sank into the sea, and smashed into the docked ships, destroying them all.

All of them?

Sage's eyes widened as he instinctively shouted: "My ship! My money! My treasure! Akin, go—"

His words cut off abruptly as he noticed something gleaming brightly on Akin's wrist, shining in the dark cavern.

It was a gold bracelet.

Sage looked at the others.

Paru wore a gold earring, while the rest of the pirates either had bulging waist pouches emitting a faint golden glow, or were adorned with gold jewelry.

These people had all kept the loot on their persons?

"Sage, the ship has probably sunk," Lily said, coming over and pursing her lips. "It's okay, if you need it, I can give you my money."

But as she said this, one hand was hidden behind her back. Sage remembered she had a jeweled bracelet on her wrist.

It was from their previous loot.

"No, what's wrong with you people?!" Sage raged. "Who keeps money on them? Isn't it all supposed to be hidden on the ship?!"

"Captain Sage, it's more convenient for us to keep these small amounts on us," Akin said with an awkward smile.

So he had more stuff, and now it was somehow his fault?

Meanwhile, the voice from the speaker continued laughing: "Hehehe, everything will disappear. Once this place is destroyed, not even space itself will remain. You'll be buried in this island forever!"

As the gloating laughter echoed from the speaker, the massive layer of rock and soil above them was now shaking and sinking.

Once it fell completely, the space here would be utterly annihilated!

"You old fart! You asshole! You hemorrhoid freak! Your mother's dead!" Renee shouted, her eyes red and brimming with tears. She raised her long hammer, twisting the handle to extend it upwards until it pressed against the falling rock.

"I'll kill you! Power Impact!!"

Bang! A visible shockwave burst from the hammer's face, causing the falling rock layer to pause for an instant. But it was only for a moment before it continued descending.

This was the collapse of an entire island's worth of space. No matter how much force Renee applied, she couldn't stop it.

"It's useless, hehehe. Why do you think I supported you digging a hidden tunnel under the island? Why didn't I use a Den Den Mushi, but instead had you make a simple two-way communication device? It was all for this day. Just die quietly here, Renee. Your usefulness has come to an end!"

"Sage, we—"

Lily's face turned pale as she watched the massive rock layer gradually descend.

This overwhelming force couldn't be stopped.

Was their journey to sea going to end here? She had only just established her dream!

Lily gripped her rapier and raised it upwards, gritting her teeth: "Even so, I'll still fight back!"

"Tempest Kick!"

Sage kicked upwards, sending a slashing attack straight at the rock layer. It carved a deep gash in the rock, but compared to the enormous layer, it was completely insignificant.

"It's no use," Renee said dejectedly, lowering her hammer. "I know this height. Even if you could slash through it all, it would only fall faster."

"That's for you," Sage said, lowering his foot. He looked at the speaker with a cold expression. "Old fart, you're dead today! You sank my money—even if God himself came, he couldn't save you!"

"I'm not old!!" The speaker almost seemed to jump up despite being an inanimate object.

Sage suddenly took a deep breath, making his chest rise and fall rapidly. He clenched his fists tightly and slowly raised his arms.

Hiss! A jet of white vapor shot from his nostrils towards the ground, spreading out in a circular shockwave.

An invisible aura seemed to swirl around him. As he breathed, that energy sank into his body, causing it to expand outwards.

He was swelling up!

Sage raised his head, looking at the massive falling rock layer. "Mere rocks—I'll just punch through them!"

Sage couldn't destroy an entire island, but that didn't mean he couldn't do anything about this rock layer.

It was just a matter of punching through from the bottom to the top of the island's interior, right? This island wasn't that big. He had just tested it with Tempest Kick—it could be done!

But relying on these ordinary techniques wouldn't be enough now.

However, the Big Dipper Fist wasn't just about Secret Point Acupoint or Iron-Crushing Fist.

It also had... "Ultimate technique."

Another jet of vapor shot from Sage's nostrils, spreading across the ground. As he breathed, his physique swelled up another level.

"Dragon Transformation Breathing Technique!"

Hiss! The clothes on his upper body were torn apart by his bulging muscles. Sage's body continuously grew taller, transforming from a normal build to nearly three meters in height.

His body underwent a massive transformation. The muscles on his surface twisted and knotted like steel cables. His shoulders expanded outwards, forming muscle plates like pauldrons. The bones at his elbows protruded, resembling the elbow guards of heavy armor. The collarbone around his neck also spread out in a circle, looking more like the collar of plate armor.

Bang! With just a slight movement, the shockwave he produced sent Lily, who was closest, stumbling back several steps. The nearby pirate subordinates couldn't even stand firm. Several of them staggered and fell to the ground, staring in shock at Sage, who no longer looked human.

The potential contained within the human body is immense. In this vast sea, every person harbors the power of will, which can be developed into Haki through training. With further practice, even a weakling can become a formidable fighter in just two years.

Sage, too, had his own potential.

The Dragon Transformation Breathing Technique was originally meant to force out all of one's potential, strengthening the body to use it to its maximum limit.

But after coming to this world, the technique had changed.

Because Sage could no longer force out all of his potential.

The key to unleashing potential is that potential has a limit, but now he couldn't see the end.

Ultimately, the power of the Big Dipper Fist couldn't be considered top-tier in this sea. Even Lao's heaven-splitting punch, which could alter celestial phenomena, could still be matched by many people in this world.

But he had practiced the Big Dipper Fist to its ultimate level. Since he couldn't unleash all of his potential, he just had to change his method. As long as he could maximize his current level of power, that would be enough.

The Big Dipper Fist's ultimate technique, Dragon Transformation Breathing, allowed him to freely mobilize all of his current power to strengthen himself.

"80% should be enough."

Sage clenched his fist and looked up at the falling rock layer. He slightly raised his leg.

"Moonwalk: Comet!"

That incredibly fierce body shot upwards like a comet, smashing directly into the rock layer above.

"Ora!"

Boom!!! Countless rock fragments exploded outwards from the center of the layer. The massive, impenetrable rock layer was forcibly dented with a huge depression.

Sage braced himself at the center of the depression and threw a fierce punch, creating another dent within the first one. Then his fists became a blur, rapidly pummeling the rock layer.

"Ora ora ora ora!!"

Like a rock-drilling machine, as Sage continued to rise, he actually punched out a massive tunnel in the rock layer, constantly pushing upwards.

The shattered rock fragments fell to the ground, piling up to form a stone staircase leading upwards.

Lily's heart stirred. She stepped onto the staircase. "Let's go up! We can get out!"

The pirates reacted, all stepping onto the stone staircase. Following the tunnel Sage was rapidly carving out, they quickly ascended.

...

"Hehehe!"

Inside the castle, in the grand and opulent great hall, a man tossed aside the speaker and descended from the throne. Looking at the soldiers filling the hall, he shouted: "Rejoice! The ship is complete. From now on, the Black Sail Pirates will be the most terrifying legend in the East Blue! Endless wealth beckons to us—you can all get rich!"

These soldiers filled the hall from inside to out.

Two thousand soldiers from the Natia Kingdom had been gathered by him.

At his words, all the soldiers' faces lit up with excitement.

"However..." The man waved his hand. "The ship's capacity is limited. Not all of you can board. We must select only the most elite soldiers to join this black ship. Now, let us—"

"Ora!!"

Bang!!

Before he could finish speaking, a shower of rock fragments suddenly exploded from behind the throne, raining down on the surroundings. A few unlucky souls were crushed by the falling rocks.

A violent gust of air blew out from behind the throne, knocking over the bejeweled chair and revealing a large hole behind it.

A blurred figure burst out of the hole, solidifying in mid-air to reveal a fierce body.

It was a person!

His white hair flying, body grotesquely muscled, he looked like a demon crawling out from the underworld, glaring down at those below.

Sage's mouth split into a grin, revealing stark white teeth. "I told you—you're dead today!"