One Piece: Path to Power

Damien saw the giant piece of earth simply poof out of existence and disappear, leaving a giant gap in the wall.

Shakky giggled as she saw Damien's surprised appearance.

"The mountain… where'd it go?" 

The woman winked in reply, "To Marineford, of course~"

Shakky held up her trusty pistol, showing it off to her young friend.

"My gun ate the Roulette-Roulette Fruit and can shoot six different types of bullets."

She began listing them out, counting with her fingers:

"Piercing rounds that can rip through thick steel like butter,"

"Incendiary rounds that burn upon impact,"

"Explosive rounds that go boom-boom,"

"Medicinal rounds that can heal non-fatal injuries,"

"Storage rounds that can create a little space to store things,"

"And lastly, warping rounds that can teleport objects to a place I've left a marker behind."

Damien gave a wry smile, "Let me guess, you can combine them all as you please."

"Ara~ You're giving away my secrets now."

Both of the pirates halted in talk as another voice resounded the battlefield.

.

"Dreaded Devastation!"

.

A giant cone-shaped column of earth shot forward at speeds faster than a normal human could react to. It shot towards the giant pirate as he smashed his fist to meet the attack.

*Crack*

A crack broke through the air as the coming earth began to crumble away.

"You don't learn, do you, Basara?" Whitebeard said with an annoyed sigh.

The Admiral gritted his teeth in impatience as he saw the results.

His eyes were then drawn to the now-opened gap in his mountainous defence as the Rocks ship sailed ahead.

A marine warship was about to commence bombardment but instead was pummeled by a flying figure that crashed upon it.

"WORORORO! You're falling apart, Navy!"

...

"Looks like you couldn't protect them."

Newgate pointed his naginata towards the Admiral and gave an ultimatum: "You can either send Garp to take them down, but that would leave the other marines to sink from our fight. Or you let them go and we fight another day."

Basara's face twisted with a scowl.

Being threatened by a pirate in such a manner brought great shame to his position as an Admiral.

Yet it was also his position as an Admiral that calmed him down.

He pulled out a transponder snail, expressionlessly sending an order: "All forces, stand down."

Whitebeard gave a small grin as he shot forward to the pirate ship, leaving behind a disgruntled Basara.

Garp who was extinguishing the tsunamis left, right, and center also got the order. He saw the Rocks' ship reach beyond the canyon and could only sigh.

"A battle at sea against a quake-man is never easy."

A nearby Vice Admiral began to instruct the marines, "Look after the wounded, the rest of you, rescue the ones who fell to sea befo-"

"No need."

Basara raised his hands with an annoyed face.

*Rumble*

The ground shook incessantly and under the eyes of the shaken marines was hope. A giant platform, equal to the size of the entire canyon, over a handful of kilometers in radius, rose from the depths.

The men, the ships, and even the Sea Kings below were uplifted and placed on the hard earth, rescued from sinking into the depths. A single motion to birth a spanning landmass.

Garp walked ahead and began directing, "Look after the wounded and collect the martyred, they deserve a funeral!"

""""Roger that!""""

The Vice Admiral then ordered a rookie marine, "Go get me my rice crackers."

"Y-Yes sir!"

It seemed this little skirmish had come to an end.

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[A While Later]

Damien rested at the edge of the ship.

They had sailed beyond the ring of earth, leaving the marines behind.

"An Admiral is quite the challenge."

Whitebeard was devouring litres of saké as he heard the words.

"Gurarara! That Basara is like a mad dog but he has enough sense not to gamble too many marines just for us."

"Especially considering the state of the New World now," Shakky added.

Damien's ears perked at her words and he asked, "Can you give me some more details on that?"

The woman hummed in response and began the info dump.

"Well, quite a few big names are roaming the seas. The Government ranks each with their World Threat Index."

"It outlines a pirate's threat level from one to five," She said. "There are quite a few in the highest level, but three of them take the cake."

"The Overlords of the Seas," Damien said from his past knowledge on the subject.

Shakky nodded, "Mhm, nowadays people are claiming a fourth, being Captain Rocks, but the Rocks Pirates aren't all that centralized like the Overlords."

"The boss is on the Pirate Island of Hachinosu (Fullalead; Beehive) with a pack of rabid dogs, but they aren't the type to go around conquering lands, rather, they prefer to loot, kill and destroy everything in their path."

Whitebeard grumbled at her words, not disagreeing with them but not liking the reality either.

"The Government's hands are full with all these bad names and things are getting even more hectic, I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to take down an Overlord or two to calm the seas a little."

"Are we headed to Hachinosu to build the ship then?" Damien asked.

Shakky shook her head, "We're going to Naufragium Island."

*Puff*

A cloud of smoke swarmed out from her mouth as she continued:

"A man reached out to Captain Rocks a few months ago, saying he would fulfil his wish to make a behemoth of a ship if we could gather the proper materials."

Damien raised an eye at the news, "Is he credible enough?"

Shakky nodded, "Naufragium Island was once called the Haven of Shipwrights."

"Was?"

A look of pity appeared on the woman's face as she explained:

"It was reduced to rubble in an unknown siege that took place under the cover of night a couple of decades ago, most of the shipwrights either died or fled to Paradise, I hear many were recruited to Water-7."

She gave out a small sigh, "One man still remains there, he's the one who called the Captain. His name is Quentin Hammer."

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[Four Days Later]

[Fleet Admiral's Office, Marineford]

Seven people were seated upon a wide, round table. Each had a marine uniform, six men and one woman.

The room was white with blue accents, each side had an open window aside from the entrance.

*Fwoo~* A cool breeze of fresh air entered the room while the marines sat in solemn silence.

"Garp, Basara," a deep voice bellowed. "One of you better tell me why there was a damn mountain in my office!"

Naturally, the one who spoke was Fleet Admiral Kong.

The Admiral in question sat in silence. The other man, however, wasn't in the same dull mood.

"Bwahahaha!" a boisterous laugh broke apart the seriousness. "Kong-san, don't get so angry, these things happen now and then!"

Garp was munching on his favourite rice crackers as he, rather rudely, devoured the snacks amongst such prestigious marines.

A vein popped in Kong's forehead, almost as if it was about to burst.

"Garp, show some respect to the Fleet Admiral!"

The man voicing his annoyance was Garp's good friend, Sengoku.

"These Rocks Pirates are getting far out of hand."

It was a different voice, one calmer and softer than Sengoku's.

It came from a muscular man wearing sharp marine attire. Short purple hair alongside a heroic posture.

Vice Admiral Zephyr!

[Image of Zephyr (in Discord)]

.

"What is your input, Tsuru?"

The Fleet Admiral looked at the woman to his side, she was a beautiful woman with turquoise hair tied in a ponytail.

She held the title of Vice Admiral yet she was known not for skills as a fighter, but her brains as a tactician.

[Images of Tsuru (in Discord)]

The woman squinted her eyes, "We have tried to hide their emergence... but it's getting more and more difficult. Many Reverie Attendants have shared their impatience with our handling of the situation."

She gave out a slight sigh, "The Overlords have already kept our forces stretched, and now the Rocks have grown stronger with the addition of the two demonic rookies."

*Flutter*

Tsuru placed two bounty posters on the table.

"With the big names already under Rocks' flag, I'm afraid only the crew's terrible camaraderie can slow them down. At this rate, they will amass a force that can rival the world itself!"

"..."

Kong exhaled while tapping his finger on the table.

Sengoku then chimed in, "With the intel from CP-1 about the 'Black Death' gathering materials to build a ship, we can infer their next moves."

Zephyr looked to the side of the Grand Line map and zoomed in on a single island.

"The island of shipwrights that was left in the dust, that's their goal," he chimed in.

The intel brought a silent man to speak up.

"Send me, I'll go and destroy that island once and for all," Basara declared.

Kong looked at the brown-clothed Admiral and shook his head, "I need you and Sengoku on standby, it seems Borealis is making a move."

He then glanced at Zephyr and took something out of his pocket.

It was a transponder snail, bright-gold in colour. Kong gave it to Zephyr.

"You know what to do."

The purple-haired Vice Admiral just sank into his seat without a reply, pocketing the device.

Tsuru saw the expression and ignored it, "It seems we need to review the bounties of the Rocks, especially that of the demon-rookies duo."

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[The New World, The Ruins of Naufragium Island]

The constantly-repaired Rocks ships eventually docked onto the Naufragium Island.

The four pirates stepped off and glanced at the island.

"Reduced to rubble was an accurate description," Damien muttered.

The tiny island was quite ruined.

Nothing but cracked earth and broken land. The trees were long dead, and the grass receded, leaving behind a barren land. It was quite obvious that a flourishing population once existed here by the sight of the ruined and revenge buildings and homes.

The overgrown moss and vines were the only colours left in this place.

.

'The nature here is void of colour and life,' Damien thought as he felt the silence of the Voice of all Living Things.

"Looks like the tavern has some life," Whitebeard said, though he was already walking towards it from the start.

Kaido joined in as the two went into the pub.

Shakky poked Damien in the ribs, "Don't even think of bailing on me, you're coming with me to find this Hammer fellow."

She dragged the rookie pirate towards the ruined town for the shipmaker in question.

…

[A While Later]

"This should be it," Shakky announced.

The two were standing before a broken-down house with pieces of the walls missing. A small well and ruined fences nearby.

"At least the grass here has some life," Damien said.

[Image of the House (in Discord)]

.

The pirate duo walked ahead and towards the door.

*Creak*

Damien had locked onto the man's presence for a while now.

He was seated on a barrel by the front yard, gazing at the sky.

With a size of around 12 feet (3.66 m), a burly figure with muscles.

Damien asked:

"Are you Quentin Hammer?"

The man looked down with a stern expression.

"Depends who's asking."

"We're asking."

"Who's we?"

"Depends who's asking."

"I'm asking."

"Who are you?"

"Depends who's asking."

"We're asking."

"Who's we?"

"Depends who's aski-"

Shakky broke the loop with a single word, "Rocks." 

The man narrowed his eyes on the pirates, taking a strong puff of his cigar.

"You've got the right guy."

Damien shrugged at Shakky, "He would've given in soon either way."

The woman rolled her eyes and then glanced at the man.

The dark-skinned man had a wild look. Overgrown beard and hair that linked together to give a rather feral look. His forehead was popping with veins from madness. 

He breathed out clouds of smoke through his nose, revelling in the cigar's taste.

'He's missing a few screws.'

[Image of Quentin Hammer (in Discord)]

.

"You got the stuff?"

Shakky eyed the man's crazed eyes and slowly nodded.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Her pistol fired as a small thrice a triangular portal-like construct appeared in the ground.

*Plop*

Soon, a handful of giant logs of thick wood shot out. Alongside a rain of crimson ore, separated into large blocks and set in neat rows.

Hammer slowly walked ahead and eyed the goods.

"Adam's Oak, nice stuff…"

His eyes then locked on the blood-red ore. "This is-!"

*Gulp*

An unconscious reflex from the shipbuilder resounded as he touched the ore with his blistered and scarred hands.

The previous weariness was instantly replaced with delight: "Oh, it's beautiful!"

Shakky saw the man grab the ore as if it could grow legs and run away from him and rolled her eyes.

"Ahem," she audibly cleared her throat, drawing the man's attention.

"Can you make do with this? I don't want to come all the way here on a man's delusion."

Hammer looked at the woman and squinted his eyes.

"Hamu-Hamu-Hamu!" he broke out in a laugh. 

"You're not wrong to call it my delusion, but that was before the tragedy of this island."

Hammer shook his head and elaborated, "You see, I was once a young lad with dreams to make a ship that would conquer the seas!"

The man's crazed eyes soon grow melancholy in nostalgia.

"But it fell apart; I couldn't make the final leap to conquer this chaotic sea. I grew old and tired, so I departed all my knowledge to the new generation, my son who I picked up from the sea!"

"We father and son were happy…"

Hammer's eyes returned to their frenzy state, almost glowing red in anger.

"But they came, the Celestial Dragons! They wanted a ship fit for a God!" 

Boom!

Hammer's fist crashed onto the ground, enough to draw blood.

"I rejected them and directed them elsewhere, but they didn't even hear me out."

"Those bubbled-headed scum, they ordered the dogs of Cipher Pol to take my 7-year-kid as a slave and dragged him away!"

Fury flashed by Hammer's face as he spat out, "My punishment was what followed: they set an Island Bounty! The next morning everything was in ruins! My entire life's work was ripped apart over a single night!"

The giant man fell to his knees in a moment of weakness.

"My hate for them has built up for decades, I'm old now, my son is probably long dead, and now I only have one purpose: I want to see the World Government burn!"

The manic expression mixed with the maddened eyes left Hammer a broken man yet his words carried an air of determination.

.

Damien heard the soliloquy and felt a hint of pity.

Shakky continued to smoke while questioning, "You want to bet that Captain Rocks will fulfil your purpose?"

Hammer looked up and nodded.

"Yes, if I have to make a deal with the devil then so be it. I will do what he wants, I'll make him a titan of a ship to conquer these seas and bring hell to the World Nobles!"

Damien still had some doubt, "You couldn't make it then, how can you make it now?"

Hammer stood up.

His eyes now shining bright in lost hope and maniacal. A pulse of pressure soon rippled out of the broken man in grey-coloured waves. The mad shipwright balled his fists so hard that it began to draw blood.

An insane grin spread across his face: "Because now I can put my life on the line for it!"

"..."

Damien and Shakky both felt the booming presence of the shipbuilder who had fallen from grace.

A few crows on the nearby dead trees had fallen to the ground, unconscious.

Shakky eventually nodded, "Very well then."

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

Bit of world-building with the World Threat Index and the state of the New World, we like to see it.

Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q