After drifting for days, Dimon was fine. Kaido, though—he was starving.
The man was tearing through the galley like a hurricane—bread, fruit, anything that didn't bite back vanished into his mouth.
"You're not hungry?" Kaido mumbled mid-chew.
"I'm good." Dimon peeled a banana and took a slow bite. "Honestly, we're lucky. Only a few days at sea, and already someone shows up."
Considering the odds of meeting a random ship in open waters, it was like winning the lottery.
Kaido smirked. "This ship's flying the World Government flag. Probably a Cipher Pol vessel."
"Cipher Pol?" Dimon raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
The CIPHER POL agencies—spies and assassins, doing the government's dirty work across the world.
Kaido's expression soured. "I've been on one of these ships before."
Right. Dimon remembered the story—Kaido once hailed as his country's strongest warrior, then sold by his own king to the Government as tribute to the Reverie.
He'd escaped mid-transfer, then kept sneaking back aboard the ships for food whenever hunger struck.
Naturally, that earned him his first bounty—70 million Berries.
"So… a CP ship, huh? Maybe they're hauling treasure."
Dimon's eyes gleamed. "Keep eating. I'll go treasure hunting."
He left the mess, strolling the hallways like he owned the place.
Not five steps later, a man in a black suit rounded the corner.
They locked eyes.
"Who are you? Don't think I've seen you before," the agent said suspiciously.
"You haven't. I'm Dimon," he replied casually.
The agent frowned, mind racing through the names he'd heard lately—until realization dawned.
"You're that bre—"
He didn't finish.
Dimon's hand clamped around his neck, lifting him off the ground. "Easy. Question time. Who's on this ship?"
"C–CP… Four…"
"And what's the cargo? Devil Fruits?"
Face turning red, the man gasped, "N–no… just… transporting… someone…"
"No Devil Fruits?" Dimon sighed. "Shame. Guess luck has limits."
"Who's the someone? A slave?"
"N–no… a child…"
Now that was interesting.
A kid important enough to have CP escort him? That wasn't ordinary cargo.
"Show me."
Dimon loosened his grip—but the agent suddenly twisted away and bolted down the hall.
Dimon blinked. "Huh. Knows Rokushiki too. Neat."
He didn't bother chasing. Where's he going to run, the ocean?
He closed his eyes, extending his Observation Haki. The world hummed; a faint, weakened life-sign flared below deck.
Dimon smiled and walked toward it—anyone in his path got sent flying with one lazy punch.
Ten bodies later, he found the brig.
Chains clinked. A small figure was shackled to the wall—a child, skin bronze, hair snow-white, strange markings on his forehead… and black wings folded at his back.
"...Lunarian?" Dimon murmured, eyes lighting up. "Hey, kid. Name?"
The boy stirred, half-conscious. "A–Abel… you are…"
So it was him. Abel—the future King the Wildfire. Kaido's right hand in another lifetime.
He looked barely eight or nine. Caught this young—the Government wasted no time.
Dimon gripped the iron bars and ripped. The steel screamed, splitting apart.
He stepped through, crouching beside the boy.
Abel looked up, dazed. "You tore that with your hands… are you a monster?"
"Calling your savior a monster? That's rude. It's Lord Dimon, got it?"
Dimon grinned and snapped the chains one by one—metal twisting like wet rope under his fingers.
After devouring three Sea Kings, ordinary steel didn't even count as resistance.
Abel blinked, stunned, still not quite believing he was free.
"Well? Standing there won't make you safer. Let's go."
Abel dropped to his knees and bowed. "Lord Dimon—thank you!"
When they returned to the galley, Kaido was still eating. He looked up, bread in hand. "The hell's the kid?"
"Lunarian. Just picked him up," Dimon said, sitting down and grabbing an apple. "He's called Abel. And we're the Rocks Pirates."
Abel bowed politely. "Lord Kaido… my name is Abel."
Even he'd heard the name—Rocks Pirates, the strongest crew on the seas. Legends already in their own time.
"Lunarian, huh?" Kaido studied him. "Heard your people used to live atop the Red Line. So this ship was hauling you."
"Looked pitiful," Dimon said with a shrug. "So I saved him."
The door burst open—a dozen armed men stormed in, rifles leveled.
Leading them was the same CP4 agent from before, neck red with bruises.
"There! The Rocks Pirate brewer—Dimon! And—Kaido!?"
His eyes went wide. "OPEN FIRE!"
Gunfire thundered. The room filled with smoke and lead.
Abel reflexively unfurled his wings, shielding himself.
When the echoes faded, Kaido was brushing crumbs off his shoulder.
"Annoying," he said simply.
He looked up—and unleashed.
A wave of Conqueror's Haki burst outward, invisible but crushing; men dropped like puppets with cut strings, eyes rolling white.
The entire squad collapsed.
Abel gawked. So this is the Rocks Pirates…
Dimon sighed. "Why'd you knock them all out? Who's gonna steer the ship now?"
Kaido blinked. "…Good point."
The silence that followed was filled only by the sound of Abel's wings fluttering—and the creak of a ship now completely crewless.
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