"Yes," Dragon confirmed with a grave nod. "The Reverse-Scale Horned Serpent. The tales say it has lived for thousands of years, ruling the Serpent's Nest Island in silence. It never leaves its lair, never rampages across sea or land. Many centuries ago, warriors sought to slay it, but nearly all returned broken… if they returned at all. And yet, strangely, it seldom kills outright. It lets the living crawl away. For that reason, over time, people stopped seeking it out. They forgot. Were it not for your question, I might not have remembered it either."
Jin listened closely, eyes gleaming with interest. A monster never named in the story I once knew… His blood hummed with a dangerous excitement.
"What about its strength?" Jin pressed.
"Hyah-hah!" Ivankov's massive head wobbled as he leaned forward eagerly. "That I can answer! In the half-burned records of Kamabakka, there's a fragment about it. If we measured its power by today's standards, it would've matched an admiral centuries ago. And now, after more than a hundred years? Stronger than a Yonko, maybe even more terrifying. Its exact level? Impossible to say."
"An admiral… a Yonko… or greater?" Jin's smirk faltered for the first time. His brows pinched, mind racing.
What kind of existence lives that long, grows stronger without decline, and slumbers in silence? This world… it hides monsters I never imagined.
His pulse quickened, not with fear, but with anticipation. He could feel the edge of a thrill sharpen his hunger. Yes. This is the test I need.
At last he inclined his head slightly. "Thank you. Then I'll see this serpent with my own eyes."
Dragon gave no answer. But his silence was heavy with meaning.
Jin turned, already stepping away. "Farewell. If fate wills it, we'll meet again."
And before any could respond, he kicked off into the air, vanishing from their deck.
Back aboard the Eternal Life, his return was met with three sets of eyes waiting in a line like a tribunal. Kuina stood arms crossed, her sharp gaze scanning his body for wounds. Tina leaned lazily against the railing, pistol twirling in one hand but her eyes sharp. And Makino—Makino looked at him with worry that hadn't faded since he leapt away.
"I'm back!" Jin announced with mock cheer, sweeping a bow.
Kuina stepped forward first, examining him with the clinical precision of a swordswoman. "See? I told you he'd outlive us all, Makino. This bastard is too stubborn to die. If you're satisfied, then I'll be in the training room. Tonight—" she flicked her braid over her shoulder with a grin—"let's have lobster. If we don't have any, make Bear fetch some." With that, she walked off, blade gleaming.
Tina followed, flashing a sly smile as she passed Makino. "Relax. He'll die of laziness before anything else. Don't let him eat you alive while I'm gone." She tapped her pistol to her shoulder and strolled away.
Which left Makino, cheeks still faintly colored.
Jin's grin widened. He stepped closer, his arm snaking around her waist. "Now, now… everyone else has gone. That leaves only us, eh, Makino? Why don't we take a hot bath? I'll scrub your back, massage your shoulders. You've been tense." He buried his nose in her sea-green hair, inhaling deeply. "Mmm. You smell better than wine."
Her body stiffened at his touch. A blush spread from her cheeks down her neck. "I—I have to cook!" she blurted, wriggling from his embrace. Her hair brushed across his lips as she darted away, face aflame, movements unsteady.
Jin chuckled, staring at his hand as if savoring her scent still clinging there. "One day, little enchantress. When I've come of age, I'll devour you whole. Every last one of you little temptresses."
He sprawled back on his sun chair, arms behind his head, laughter rumbling low. Above, gulls wheeled in the blue sky. His eyes slid shut, and his mind turned inward.
This world… it's larger than I thought. I used to believe the sea was everything—the islands, the currents, the ships. But no… there are beasts that rule the land, that slumber through ages, monsters older than empires. The Horned Serpent… I need that fight. For my blade. For myself.
His hand brushed the weapon at his hip, knuckles tightening. The Overlord Blade. The techniques I've forged are still crude, still incomplete. The Phantom Script remains half-born. What I have now… it's only the beginning.
Since his breakthrough into the realm of refined force, he had learned his limits well. He pushed his body only to its edge each day, no further, careful never to shatter what must remain whole. No reckless burning of life, no shortcuts. Only steady grind. In that patience lay his strength.
Each day he honed his forms, refining the Dominion Blade Style he'd stitched together from fragments of half-remembered martial scrolls and stories of samurai. At first it was clumsy mimicry. Now it was something new, something his own.
But progress was slowing. His flesh absorbed the power of blood and meat swiftly, yet his growth lagged. Elixirs dulled in effect. He had entered what his old master once called the season of accumulation.
Patience, the old man had said, is the whetstone of monsters.
Jin's lips quirked as he murmured aloud, "Patience, huh? Maybe. But patience alone won't carve the path I want. If blood and slaughter are what it takes to awaken my blade, then slaughter it shall be."
He had hidden long enough. Two years of restraint, of shadows, of quiet strengthening. Now, with his Conqueror's Haki beginning to weave with the abyssal fury of Blood Hell, he was ready. Ready to start a storm that would stain the seas crimson.
His eyes opened, gleaming violet in the sun. "The King of the East Blue waits. And when I cut him down, this sea will remember my name."
To be continued…
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T/N :
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