One Piece: Path to Power

[2550 words]

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[At an Island in the Paradise Sea]

"638 till nap…"

"637 till nap…"

"636 till nap…"

There was a lone boy at the top of a cliff on an uninhabited island.

The boy had puffy black hair, simple yet dirty clothes, and an annoyed expression as he continued his workout.

He was currently doing pushups with a giant boulder resting upon his back, he was surely an interesting individual. 

One who counted down for every rep rather than the other way around.

"619 till nap…"

"618 till nap…"

"617 till nap…"

He continued the monotonous exercise until he heard the noise of a bird.

*Squack!*

A seagull landed on the tree, it had a newspaper held in its claws.

"Hmm? A report," he yawned. "Well let's see what we got…" 

*Rumble*

The kid jumped up as the rock slammed on the ground with a bang.

"Now then~" he sat on a nearby log and started to read.

"…"

"A ra ra!"

"Big Bro Damien and his crew have done something crazy again!" he smiled and read on.

"Rocks Pirates, Roger Pirates and Borealis Pirate…"

"Mora Island Annual Auction; Supreme Grade Sword…"

"The Navy confronts all three pirate crews…"

Kuzan's eyes traced over the images of the ruined lands.

"Whitebeard killed the Overlord, 'Winds of Revolution' Esso Borealis!" Kuzan's eyes widened as he saw this.

The image of Borealis' corpse was then shown, left in broken pieces after being hit by a chain of catastrophic earthquakes.

"Naval battle raged over the seas while Garp the Fist and Sengoku the Buddha clashed with notorious pirates!"

The boy continued to read with great relish, enjoying the stream of drama to his rather boring lifestyle.

Soon, a smirk emerges on his childish face.

The picture showed Admiral Sengoku using his fruit power while facing three foes.

One was a man with silver armour while the other two were young. One was ginormous with an equally large club, and the other had dark hair with red streaks, sporting a sizzling red energy on the palm of his hands.

"Hehe, Big Bro Damien fought an Admiral, how cool!" the boy exclaimed, clenching his fists.

…

The news mentioned a few major events.

The Clash between the Overlord-Level figures.

Damien, Kaido, and Silver Axe vs Sengoku.

Rayleigh vs Garp.

Golden Lion Shiki's arrival as Roger Pirates and the Navy's brave retreat in hopes of distracting the pirates away from the innocent civilians at Mora Island.

New bounty posters.

Naturally, the main message was the brave acts of the marines who, without care for themself, went in to save the people of Mora Island from the evil Rocks crew.

"Hehe, well I should get back to my pushups... I was at, Ah! My memory is so weak!" he feigned discomfort, massaging his temples.

"Right, 46 left!" He chuckled mischievously.

"RAWR!"

A Sea King rose from the sea under the cliff and met the boy's eyes.

"Alright, alright! It was 173…"

Another growl went off, pushing the kid out of his fantasies.

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[Applenine Island, New World]

A giant apple sat at the center with snow covering the top.

The entire island was layered with fresh snow as the cold wind flowed through the cities, carrying bone-chilling gusts.

[Image of Applenine Island (in Discord)]

The news had already spread over the seas, many eyes were drawn into the mess, after all, one of the Three Overlords had fallen!

A towering woman with a hat and a pink bikini sat with food placed before her. Her eyes darted to the side of the table as she read from the latest newspaper.

"Rocks and Shiki are meeting up? Ma-Ma-Mam-Ma!"

She was quite a voluptuous woman with a desirable figure yet the huge amount of food stuffed in her mouth made one look away in discomfort.

"I suppose it's time for me to head back… *Munch* It's been two years already. But there is a place I want to visit before returning to Hachinosu," she muttered. "All of you, get ready to sail!"

"Yes, Mama!" many voices of varying ages responded as they jumped up from what they were doing.

[A/N: Charlotte Moscato (the one she killed at the start of WC Arc) was 41 at death. He will be born 1 year from now. In other words, she already has 24 children as of now.]

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[Superbia, The New World]

Within the New World was a rather peculiar island.

It was a medium-sized island. Large ports on all sides; tens of ships swayed in the gentle current at each dock.

The island had three rings, each divided up by skyscraping walls.

The outer ring was for imports and exports. The inner ring is where the main population was, sporting a city that had around 300,000 citizens. Farther into this island's center was the core ring that housed a giant golden castle.

This was the Island of Superbia, the main residence of an Overlord of the Seas!

…

[The Throne Room]

A pirate ran into the chamber, huffing and puffing.

"L-Lord Sol!"

He was looking up at the giant throne mounted upon a large staircase. "Hmm?" a deep voice questioned, lacking interest.

"Lord Sol, it's the Overlord Borealis... He's dead!" the pirate said in a hurry, disbelief glued to his face.

"..."

"Ho? Interesting," the Overlord was amused.

The man sat atop his golden throne, wearing luxurious crimson clothes embroidered with rare jewels and expensive gems. He stood around nine feet in height (2.74 m) and had long white hair running down to his chest.

Unlike Borealis, he was rather young-looking, not a day older than 35. However, his face was scarred and grey; his visage seemed to be lacking the shine that his throne room emanated with.

"Who was it?" he asked.

"Ah! I-It was 'Whitebeard' Edward Newgate who killed him!" the pirate informed.

"Is that so? Sohohoho!" 

Then a silence fell upon the hall.

"..."

"U-Um... Lord Sol, Whitebeard is under the man called Rocks D. Xebec…" he gulped. "They say that his strength is even greater than Garp the Fist!"

"W-We should be caref-"

"You ask me to be careful?" Sol questioned in a sharp tone. "His strength may go beyond that of Garp, but at the end of the day, they will all fall before my might!"

The Overlord, Pryde D. Sol, gazed down at the pirate with a hint of displeasure.

"Isn't that right?"

"O-Of course!"

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[Encephala Island]

Another location in the New World.

A string of 12 islands surrounded one larger one in the center. At the center of the large island was a huge factory.

Tens of thousands of citizens were walking with blank expressions, they showed no exhaustion, no emotion, no life.

They simply went on and did what was told by the huge speakers mounted on the watchtowers. Some carried large pieces of metal, some tended to animals, and some fished.

Even the guards held the same demeanour.

It was quite a horrifying sight, there was no sound, no wasted movement, just pure synchronization.

…

Within a magnificent tower was a man leaning on his right hand while smiling.

He was the other Overlord of the Sea, Thaddeus Enigma!

The man was well-dressed for his line of work, he carried a powerful presence. However, his regal appearance was off-set due to the large burn marks on his face. 

He sat before a simple table. A unique chessboard lay before him.

Instead of the black and white pieces, there were four types: Green, orange, gold and blue.

The Overlord stared at the board as he elegantly said, "Borealis is... dead. How refreshing."

Enigma smiled, picking up the blue king piece and removing it from the board. "It seems like a new piece has entered the game."

The curiosity in his voice was palpable, echoing through the confines of the luxurious chamber. Enigma beamed a thin smile, and whispered, "I suppose it's my turn to make a move."

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[The Titanic, The New World]

"Jihahahaha! So you're the new kid breaking the news lately!"

Damien now stood before the round table in the executive hall aboard the Titanic.

He gazed at the man inspecting him with eyes filled with interest and hidden malice.

The pirate had long wavy golden hair and odd-shaped eyebrows. With two long, loose strands of hair running along with his sideburns. A cigar was in the left side of his mouth as he drank saké from the other end.

"Golden Lion Shiki," Damien called out the man's name. "You know me?"

The words evoked a laugh from the pirate.

His golden eyes peered at the young pirate and offered, "I saw what you did to that golden gorilla Sengoku, why don't you come under my division?"

Damien shook his head. "I'll pass."

Kaido cared little for their chat and intervened, "Shiki, fight me!" 

"Kaido, you crazy brat, you want your ass handed to you again?"

"WORORO! I've improved a lot in the past months!"

[Image of Shiki (in Discord)]

*Creak*

The doors flew open as a soft voice broke out, "Ara~ Looks like you both are up and moving, come and have some food."

Shakky began to bring out some delicacies from the kitchen, allowing the two young apprentice pirates to dine in peace.

The woman sat in an empty seat and began to summarize: "Borealis is now dead, the vacuum of power will alert quite a lot of bad eggs. We still need a few months to restock on pirates as well."

Shiki waved his hands, "The pirates we want are a dime a dozen, under Captain Rocks' power, they will flood in. Especially with the new bounties up."

Kaido and Damien's eyebrows were raised, though they didn't quit devouring their food.

*Furl* Shakky slowly placed a half-dozen wanted posters in ascending order:

-----< WANTED >-----

< KAIDO >

< 'Hundred-Beast' >

< 𝔅 711,110,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< SHAKUYAKU >

< 'Black Death' >

< 𝔅 800,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< SILVER⋅AXE >

< 'Blinding Light' >

< 𝔅 834,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< EINAR⋅D⋅DAMIEN >

< 'Sin Incarnate' >

< 𝔅 860,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< EDWARD⋅NEWGATE >

< 'Whitebeard' >

< 𝔅 2,446,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< SHIKI >

< 'Golden Lion' >

< 𝔅 2,520,990,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< ROCKS⋅D⋅XEBEC >

< 'The Abyssal Sin' >

< 𝔅 4,070,500,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

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The Rocks Pirates were not the only ones she presented, three other posters were brought out too.

-----< WANTED >-----

< SCOPPER⋅GABAN >

< 'Twin Axe' >

< 𝔅 970,550,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< SILVERS⋅RAYLEIGH >

< 'Dark King' >

< 𝔅 1,808,600,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< GOL⋅D⋅ROGER >

< 'Mad King' >

< 𝔅 2,564,800,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

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It was quite the haul.

The numbers alone could combine larger than a strong nation could produce in a year. Far beyond the level of the Heavenly Tribute to the Celestial Dragons. 

Damien couldn't help but smirk at his numbers. He was chewing on a giant piece of leg bone as he peered at the ogre by his side.

Damien elbowed his rival-in-rank as if to ensure he saw the numbers.

*Grrr* It was an animalistic growl; primal.

Kaido was fuming at his bounty in comparison to Damien, why was he one step behind?

"Jihahaha! Not a mention of the Navy being chased by my fleet, what a bunch of losers!"

Shakky puffed out a cloud of smoke.

"It's only natural, they focused on saving face by surmounting Borealis' Empire who was already dead by the time we left Mora Island," she answered.

*Creak*

The conversation had to immediately halt as another figure waltzed into the hall. Crazy hair and manic eyes… It was Rocks D. Xebec!

"Looks like you two woke up… I heard what you did against Sengoku, it's worthy of being under my flag," he declared.

Meanwhile, Damien eyed the sword at his captain's waist. "Look like you got what you went there for."

The words evoked a grin on the man, though it wasn't that of joy, but rather of malice. "I also heard of a rather odd and unnatural movement of the forest at Mora Island… It seems you have quite a lot of secrets..."

The grin widened to the stretches of the man's face.

"..." A cold wind blew through the meeting room, whistling with an ominous tone.

However, Xebec didn't give time for Damien to react. "I don't care how sharp my knives are, as long as they remember whose hands they belong to."

Rocks went on ahead and plopped onto the seat at the head of the table. "As a graceful captain, I should reward my subordinates when they do well, no?"

He then turned his eyes to Shakky as if to gesture for her to speak.

The woman nodded. "Damien-chan, do you remember me mentioning the divisions of our crew?" She asked.

The pirate in question returned a nod.

"As per the draft, the captain wants nine total divisions with a powerful leader in each."

She then threw a piece of paper at the young pirate. It had a chart drawn out.

First Division Commander – Edward Newgate.

Second Division Commander – Shiki.

Third Division Commander – Charlotte Linlin.

Fourth Division Commander – [VACANT].

Fifth Division Commander – [VACANT].

Sixth Division Commander – [VACANT].

Seventh Division Commander – [VACANT].

Eighth Division Commander – Captain John.

Ninth Division Commander – Shakuyaku.

Damien looked through the names of the leaders and had to take a deep breath.

A crew led by the likes of Big Mom, Whitebeard, and Shiki was already enough to conquer the New World. For all three of them to be under the same Captain was a force that could surely grasp the World Government by the throat.

.

"Though my division is more focused on internal affairs, all the others are combat-focused," Shakky explained. "Captain Rocks has set the sixth, seventh and eighth division to hold most of the fodders."

She then dropped the bomb: "He thinks you and Silver Axe that was brought in are a good fit to hold the title of division commanders."

"..."

Damien blinked, darting his eyes to the captain drowning himself in some saké that he brought out from thin air.

"I'm more of a lone wolf..."

Rocks seemed uninterested in his words. "It doesn't matter what you think, brat and I don't care if you hold a small count of pirates under you."

He took another deep inhalation of alcohol.

"Those pathetic Overlords are always throwing around their divisions and battalions, Xahaha! If it helps draw in more dogs under my flag, then I'll have nine of them!"

The man then walked away without a care in the world, tossing his empty gourd to shatter on the treasured floor.

.

Damien let out a helpless sigh while Shiki grinned with an evil smirk.

"You bear the name of 'D.', like our captain, I look forward to seeing what level you reach!" the Golden Lion spat out before flying away.

Shakky shrugged at the situation, leaving Damien with a single comment. "Captain Rocks sent a hundred or so fresh meat recruits to your abode at Hachinosu, you can choose which to bring under your Division, have fun!"

This left Damien and Kaido in the hall.

"WORORO! You beat me to becoming a Division Commander, Damien, I won't lose to you next time!"

Damien returned a mocking smile.

"Oh? I wonder how many hundreds of millions of berries will our bounties differ by then…"

"Hah!? Then I'll just pummel you now!"

"Try it, you overgrown ogre!"

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

Bounties up. The estimate on Discord was well-guessed.

Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q