The roar of the beast Kaido echoed across God Valley. The momentum bursting from his body was so overwhelming that the Celestial Dragon in his grip collapsed on the spot, his heart stopping from sheer terror.
"You like war so much? Then I'll start a world war—one that will destroy the Celestial Dragons and the World Government!!!"
Kaido's black hair whipped wildly in the wind as he roared his conviction. His belief, his rage, and his ambition finally pushed him past the threshold. His aura erupted, shaking the battlefield.
The surge swept across the entire island. Kozuki Oden and Fisher Tiger, fighting nearby, froze with wide eyes.
"He really did it…" Oden whispered, his swords trembling in his hands.
"He awakened…! He really awakened!!!" Tiger shouted, his blood boiling.
All around them, the Hell Pirates stood stunned. What Brook had promised had come true.
"Kill the Celestial Dragons and awaken the Conqueror's Haki!!!"
That cry spread like wildfire. In an instant, the crew's ambition ignited. Their eyes turned blood-red, not with fear, but hunger. Every Celestial Dragon became a key to power, a path to kingly aura. The whole crew charged forward with a single belief in their hearts: kill them all!
Kaido's awakening unleashed a wave that infected the entire army like a violent buff.
"Kaido! Out of the way—this one's mine!!"
Oden rushed forward, both Enma and Ame-no-Habakiri in hand. His eyes burned. He refused to be left behind. If Kaido had awakened, then so would he.
"Move aside, I'll do it too!" Tiger bellowed, his Seastone gloves gleaming as he broke through the navy's line. Fish-Man Island needed a hero, and today he would prove himself worthy.
In the Hell Pirates, awakening Conqueror's Haki was the only path to rise higher. With Kaido's breakthrough, they now had six kings among their ranks. The very air of the battlefield trembled beneath their wills.
The navy reeled in horror. More and more of these monsters bore the will of kings. What kind of pirate crew was this?
Even Rocks, locked in a three-way clash with Roger and Garp, felt the sudden flare. His jaw clenched.
Another awakening? Who was it? One of his own? Or worse… another one of Brook's men?
For a heartbeat, doubt clouded his mind. No. Impossible. How could that bastard Brook gather so many kings beneath his flag?
He, Rocks D. Xebec, was the ruler of this era!
Yet not a single one of his own crew had awakened Conqueror's Haki.
Why?!
The rage boiled inside him. His blade howled with black energy as his jealousy twisted into fury.
"Roger! Join me! Be my vice-captain! With your crew and mine, no one will stop us!"
Roger's laugh rang out, sharp and fearless even as their blades clashed. "Wahahahaha! You're dreaming! I live for freedom! I'd rather die than kneel to you!"
"Shameless fool!" Rocks snarled. "I'll kill you and take back what's mine!"
He struck with his blade, but his body screamed with the toll. Twice today he had invoked his secret art—once to kill the God Knights, once to resist Coss Davo. To do it again would carve away what remained of his life. Yet Roger and Garp pressed him harder with every breath, their fists and blades burning with the fire of the D clan's will.
Why, Rocks thought, must the D clan always fight among themselves? Why couldn't they unite under him, to overthrow the World Government and claim their destiny?
But he knew the truth. The D would never bow. Each carried their own unbreakable will.
Elsewhere, the Hell Pirates' battlefield descended further into madness. Every officer with ambition rushed at the Celestial Dragons. None wanted to be late, none wanted to miss their chance.
A gunshot cracked. The shimmering air shield of a Celestial Dragon shattered, and a neat hole blossomed across his head. Blood sprayed across the inside of the bubble. The noble collapsed like a broken puppet, brain matter leaking from the hole.
"No! Lord Kenidi!" a CP agent screamed. His world collapsed with that death. Master dead meant servant dead—whether by the World Government's decree or their own despair.
"Pirates! Die with me!!!"
The agent lunged in desperation, his blade aimed at the nearest foe: the fish-man Tiger. If he could drag one down with him, it would be enough.
But before his strike landed, his skull burst apart in a spray of gore.
"I'll claim every enemy from a thousand meters away. I'll become the world's greatest sniper."
On Golden Island, Hiruba whispered into the scope of his rifle, his voice calm, his hands steady. Since the day he sailed with Brook, he had sworn to become the strongest gunman alive. Every comrade grew stronger by the day. If he did not, he would be left behind.
Celestial Dragons? Nobles of the world? He no longer feared them. His bullets would pierce anyone.
Even the hammerhead shark, Scaredo, tore through the navy's lines, his massive fists eager to smash the nobles himself. The promise of kingly power was too tempting to ignore.
Affiliated captains like World and Woonan hesitated only briefly. Kaido's awakening, the sudden explosion of Conqueror's Haki—it all added up to a terrifying thought.
Could it be true? Could killing Celestial Dragons awaken the will of kings?
Their blood ran cold, but their eyes burned hotter. True or not, they would find out today.
And so the Hell Pirates descended into madness.
Even the Baboon King—the so-called King of Copycats—charged with a deafening roar, his fur bristling, his eyes alight with greed.
"Who says baboons are beneath men? Today I'll show you! I'll even copy the will of kings!"
--------------
When the navy saw the Hell Pirates' madness, some sharp-minded officers thought the unthinkable: Could killing Celestial Dragons truly awaken the Conqueror's Haki?
The thought alone terrified them. If there were such a shortcut—an instant path to the power of kings—who wouldn't be tempted? But the moment the idea surfaced, they forced it away.
That kind of path couldn't exist. Not for them. Certainly not for the navy. To even imagine it was dangerous.
These nobles of the world, the Celestial Dragons—already loathed for enslaving civilians and stirring endless resentment—now seemed to serve as a trigger, granting pirates a terrifying buff. Morale cracked. A wave of unease spread like wildfire through the navy ranks, their confidence faltering.
Admiral Hoss and Sengoku immediately sensed the change. That creeping doubt weakened their defense, letting the Hell Pirates smash through their lines.
The Celestial Dragons, once untouchable, were now lambs dragged into the slaughterhouse, screaming as they were skinned alive by the pirates.
"Brook! You've committed a sin against the Celestial Dragons so great you'll taste true despair!" Admiral Hoss shouted, fury and dread twisting his face. He could already see it—the retaliation to come. The Celestial Dragons' wrath was unlike anything else in the world. Even an admiral trembled at the thought.
Brook's laugh rang out, cutting through the chaos. "Before I see the Celestial Dragons' national treasure, I'm far more interested in your devil fruit, Hoss. Yohoho!"
There was no turning back. Brook knew revenge would come for what he had done. His only answer was to grow stronger, faster, before the hammer fell.
"You'll drive the world into war and ruin!" Hoss roared, his blade flashing. If the Celestial Dragons unleashed their secret weapon, countless civilians across the world would die.
Brook's smile sharpened, his eyes cold. "If the World Government holds weapons that can end the world at a whim, then shouldn't we destroy them first? Such power should never exist."
Then the battlefield shook.
Another burst of Conqueror's Haki erupted, drowning the screams in silence.
"Hahaha! I, Kozuki Oden, have never been beneath anyone in this world. I too bear the will of a king!"
The boy stood tall on a pile of Celestial Dragon corpses, twin blades in hand, his orange kimono soaked in blood. He threw back his head and laughed at the sky, his aura surging outward like a storm.
Gasps echoed. Another one?
"Impossible!"
"Someone else awakened?!"
"Don't fight me for it! I'll kill one myself until I awaken!!"
Kaido and Oden—two eleven-year-old newcomers—had awakened Conqueror's Haki back to back. The navy froze in disbelief. Pirates trembled, too. Was this coincidence? Or fate?
If two of them could do it, why not more?
Ambition burned hotter. World, Woonan, and countless others surged forward with blood-red eyes. If killing Celestial Dragons could awaken the king's aura, then they would kill ten if one wasn't enough. The Hell Pirates went utterly mad.
In moments, over a dozen Celestial Dragons lay dead, yet no more awakenings came. Still, the frenzy did not fade.
The navy's hearts crumbled further. If all the Celestial Dragons here died, what reason was left to fight? Was it too late to abandon the navy now? Who wanted to die alongside nobles who had only ever scorned them?
"I killed one! Why can't I awaken?!" Fisher Tiger bellowed, rage boiling in his chest. He had crushed a Celestial Dragon's life with his own hands, yet no spark came. Kaido and Oden had both succeeded—why not him? Was he truly lesser?
No. He clenched his fists tighter. He would not accept it. He would become Fish-Man Island's hero. He would awaken.
"It must be numbers," Tiger muttered, veins throbbing in his arms. "Kaido killed three. Oden killed four. That bastard hogged them all! I need more!"
He howled, charging deeper into the palace ruins, desperate for another target.
World and Woonan seethed with the same obsession. Each had killed one noble, but no awakening stirred in them either. Their eyes gleamed with madness as they abandoned the navy entirely, racing into the palace complex.
They would not miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Admir Hoss hesitated, his resolve faltering. All the Celestial Dragons here were already dead or dying. What point was there in continuing? Every clash only fed the pirates' insanity.
Brook's laughter split the air. "Trying to run, Hoss?" His eyes gleamed as Kaido and Oden's auras surged behind him. "Yohoho! The world's strongest pirate crew is only getting stronger. Soon, no one will dare oppose us. Seven tyrants stand together—who can challenge us?"
"You—" Hoss's voice cracked. His hands trembled. "You Hell Pirates… you are the greatest threat the World Government has faced in eight hundred years. The Five Elders, the Celestial Dragon elders—they'll destroy you utterly!"
Brook raised the Seven Star Demon Sword, its edge humming with death. His soul slash cut through the air, aimed straight at Hoss.
But Hoss flinched back. He soared upward, abandoning his comrade at the last moment.
"Wait—" Bloody Hand Braver staggered forward, his severed palm still bleeding. He hadn't expected Hoss to dodge, leaving him alone to meet Brook's blow.
The sword bit deep. Agony seared through him, his consciousness slipping. He swung his last remaining hand, striking Brook's chest with all the force he had left. The blow dented Brook's ribs—yet the man laughed.
"You think pain frightens me? You take my heart, and I'll take your soul. A fair trade, yohohoho!"
The Seven Star Demon Sword twisted, tearing a hole clean through Braver's chest. His spirit wrenched free, only to be caught in Brook's grasp.
Before the horrified eyes of the navy, Brook's underworld power twisted it. A spectral figure rose—Bloody Hand Braver, now a ghostly general shackled in chains of the underworld, enslaved for eternity.
The marines recoiled in terror. To fall here meant not just death, but eternal damnation, bound to Brook's will. None of them wanted that fate.
"You… you monster…" Hoss choked, his voice breaking. "You'll never die clean. You'll never rest. I will curse you. Your end will be ruin."
But his words sounded hollow against the hellish laughter that rolled across the battlefield.
[New Fanfic Release:
Title: One Piece: Copying Talents ]
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Title: Demon Slayer: I Became The Demon King
Title: Jujutsu Kaisen: Starting With Dual Kamui]
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