North Blue. Blood Ox Pirates.
On board the ship.
Boom!
Boom!
A figure with the head of a bull and the body of a man was once again sent flying, crashing into the ship's cabin.
The captain of the Blood Ox Pirates, Blood Ox Johnny, struggled to his feet.
Looking at the dead crewmates around him, and at his brother who had taken a blade for him and died—
Thinking of the joyful days they had shared at sea all these years—
Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face, his eyes bloodshot.
"You bastard! What did I ever do to offend you?!"
"Why?!"
"Why?!"
"Goddamn demon!!"
Rage tore through his reason. His body transformed into that of a wild ox, and he charged at Sakazuki in a frenzy.
Sakazuki watched the three-meter-tall bull storm toward him, and said coldly:
"Why? Obviously because all of you deserve to die."
Sakazuki's right arm turned into blood-red magma, condensing without dripping.
A closer look would reveal magma faintly flowing beneath his skin.
When Johnny closed the distance, Sakazuki leapt up with both legs and slammed his fist downward onto Johnny's head.
The instant fist met horn, magma erupted wildly from his fist.
Boom!
The three-meter-tall bull was smashed into the deck, engulfed in a flood of magma.
Johnny was knocked unconscious and reverted from his ox form to human.
But the magma covering his body scorched him awake in an instant.
On the brink of death, he could no longer fight back.
He could only cry out in agony:
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Sakazuki walked up to Johnny and gripped his neck with one hand.
He lifted him into the air.
Controlling the magma to slowly wrap around him, he spoke:
"Three years, over ten villages slaughtered."
"Go to hell and repent."
"Trash."
Once the magma had fully engulfed Johnny from the bottom up—
All movement ceased, and he was encased in a cocoon of magma.
Sakazuki turned and entered the ship's cabin, gathered up some treasure, and tossed it into his small boat nearby.
He pulled out an Eternal Log Pose, raised the sail, and set off.
Just a hundred meters after leaving the Blood Ox Pirates behind—
The magma cocoon encasing Johnny suddenly pulsed like a beating heart, growing faster and more intense.
Suddenly—
Bang!
It exploded!
A torrent of magma burst forth, engulfing the entire ship.
As the magma burned and corroded—
The ship gradually sank beneath the sea and finally vanished.
All the wickedness was buried beneath the waves.
On his boat, Sakazuki ignored the explosion behind him.
He took out a stack of bounty posters, each one marked with a large X.
Flipping to the last one, he drew an X over Blood Ox Johnny's bounty, then casually tossed it to the floor.
"They're all gone. I guess it's time to join the Navy."
Sakazuki stood at the bow of the boat, gazing across the sea.
At this point, Sakazuki no longer resembled the frail boy who had crossed over five years ago.
After gaining his Devil Fruit power, he could easily hunt beasts.
With a steady food supply, just five years—
At only twelve years old, he was already taller and sturdier than most adults.
Wearing a red coat, his face was resolute and his physique powerful.
Strapped to his back was a long sword, a trophy from hunting down a pirate crew.
Sakazuki had spent three years in Mock Town.
While training, he also gathered intelligence—the stack of bounty posters came from those years.
After all, this was the real world, not the glamorized scenes of the anime from his past life.
Every pirate on those posters had massacred villages or wiped out towns.
Any one of them deserved to die eight times over.
What he had seen over the years had only strengthened Sakazuki's conviction.
A dead pirate is a good pirate.
Two years ago, he had set sail, hunting down bounties one by one.
In just two short years, he earned the name "Demon."
This wasn't the era of great pirates yet.
Roger hadn't shouted those famous last words before his execution.
But chaos had already begun—based on the bounties he had collected over the years—
Every year, more and more pirates were setting sail. One person alone wasn't enough.
He had ideas from his past life to develop his Devil Fruit power.
But his physical training had already reached the limit.
He knew a few martial arts techniques, and understood the basics of Rokushiki—
But without a teacher, he couldn't train them properly.
Take "Soru," for example—it required rapidly stomping the ground dozens of times in 0.36 seconds to generate explosive recoil force for high-speed movement.
From an enemy's perspective, it would seem like the user vanished.
But in practice, it was just theory—knowing how much force to use and how to apply it was another matter entirely.
Then there was Armament Haki, Observation Haki—without even basic knowledge, how could he possibly train them?
Trying to figure it out himself was a last resort.
So... join the Navy first, and set a small goal.
How about—leave no pirates alive?
...
Half a month later.
North Blue, Windflower Island, Navy Branch 194 Recruitment Office.
"Next."
"Name?"
"Sakazuki."
"Age?"
"Twelve."
Hearing this, the marine clerk recording the names looked up at the boy who was already bigger than him, twitching at the corner of his mouth before continuing:
"Why do you want to join the Navy?"
A faint killing intent radiated from Sakazuki.
"To eliminate every last pirate in this world."
The marine clerk understood immediately.
"Any special abilities?"
Sakazuki replied:
"Logia-type—Magma-Magma Fruit user."
The marine clerk froze.
"Uh... huh?"
"NANI?!?!?!"
He leapt to his feet...
(A/N: Don't be fooled by nonsense—there's no way the Admirals' fruits were given by the Navy. Chapter 42, Clause 16 explains this.)
(First time writing a novel... the early chapters may be a bit rough or slow. Some inconsistencies around the God Valley incident. It's recommended to start reading from Chapter 48.)
(Sincerely recommended. Sincerely recommended. Sincerely recommended. Start from Chapter 48.)
(T/N: I don't know anything about Chapter 42. I have not yet reached this point)