"Don't lose your will just because you're in pain! I live with twice your suffering every moment of every day!"
"Sometimes pain itself is what truly tempers a person's resolve!"
"Wake up—and witness the dawn of a new era!"
Rocks' roar shook the battlefield. His voice carried through the storm of power, striking straight into Sharn's mind.
With a jolt, the young crewman opened his eyes.
The chaotic noise inside his head faded away.
The blood-red haze vanished from his vision, and the Moon Lion form dispersed completely.
He hadn't even had time to grasp Observation Haki when an icy chill ran through his body.
The form was gone—yet the agony remained, multiplied several times over.
Every cell screamed in protest.
This wasn't fortune born of disaster; it was a crucible.
Survive, and you'd evolve.
Fail, and you'd die on the spot.
Imagine it—a newly awakened Conqueror dying right here at God Valley.
No bounty, no record, only a rumor passed around by those who survived:
there'd been a kid named Sharn—limitless potential,
dead at God Valley from overdose and backlash.
Sharn refused to be that humiliation.
"—Khah!"
He spat blood. Facing the pain while fully conscious was torture.
His organs, bones, and brain all felt like they were exploding together.
Burning, stabbing, throbbing—the pain tore through his whole body.
His beast form collapsed; his frame shrank back to human,
burning away all the energy he'd stored.
Soon he was skin and bone, eyes sunken, face pale—
a living skeleton on the edge of death.
"Hey, rookie! Don't die here!"
Wang Zhi grabbed him and, using his Island-Island Fruit,
merged Sharn's body into the cliffside rock—
like plaster sealing a broken limb.
Now he couldn't move, but at least the falling stones wouldn't crush him.
"It hurts… gods, it hurts so much…"
Sharn could only mutter the same words over and over,
his body trembling, skin splitting open, blood spraying.
Even as his eyes rolled white, he forced his eyelids to twitch,
desperately trying to stay awake.
Buckin's slender white hands moved fast,
scribbling notes—every reaction, every tremor, every sign of life.
Only a body as abnormal as Sharn's could have lasted this long.
Anyone else would already be dead.
A physique beyond human limits.
The fur-tribe's resilience.
A mythic-beast Zoan.
The Moon Lion's lunar surge.
Multiple Hakis awakening at once.
Big Mom's food, Rocks' Conqueror's Haki, Buckin's drugs—
every factor stacked into a perfect storm.
It could never be repeated.
The only living success before bloodline-factor science was ever completed.
"I fed him every single potion and pill I made!" Buckin said off-handedly—
then blinked as Sharn's body twitched again.
His willpower was forcing his body back to life.
Golden Lion whistled overhead. "Those things? The stuff you brewed from rare beasts and plants across the New World? They either heal you—or kill you outright!"
"Lucky kid," Big Mom snorted. "Meeting you's a curse."
With that body, Sharn could've reached heights beyond imagination even without your drugs, she thought. Was it too soon?
"It hurts… my brain can't even process the pain anymore…
My soul's screaming instead—damn it, it hurts so much!"
Sharn's body convulsed, trying to break free of the stone.
"That's it—become a monster!"
"Wake up! Watch your captain's final battle!"
"Witness the coronation of the world's king!"
Rocks clenched both fists and lunged.
Garp met him with an iron punch; blue lightning burst out,
shockwaves powerful enough to flatten a town.
The blasts smashed against the cliff—
Wang Zhi ducked deeper,
but Sharn took the impact head-on inside the rock.
"Ahhh—ha ha ha ha! Feels great!"
Physical pain, compared to the agony inside his soul,
actually cleared his mind.
He could feel every part of his body again.
"You twist everyone who could stand for justice into villains!"
Garp's punches came like hurricanes.
Rocks blocked with a sneer.
"Twist? Don't joke. Big Mom and Kaido were almost bought by your Marines."
"Who funded the nuns of the Lamb's Home, huh?"
"Don't feed kids fairy tales. Sharn and Kaido know what they lived through."
Rocks was pure evil—and proud of it.
Each blow of his fist hammered Garp to the bone,
Haki bursting, cliffs cracking with every strike.
"Smooth talker! Some people, crushed by evil, think joining it will save them."
"Why not strive for justice yourself? Save people yourself!"
Garp's righteous fire wouldn't die.
He had to carry at least half of hope himself.
Rocks laughed at that kind of talk.
The world's weak needed a king—
and he would be the king of them all.
Only when every would-be ruler knelt beneath him
could he call himself King of the World.
"Time to add a few more chips," he muttered,
slamming a fist into the ground.
Darkness erupted outward, swallowing the island again.
Better to keep those Zoan-type monsters asleep,
and crush whoever was still breathing—
reshape the field to his favor.
If you want to win every game,
you have to be the one dealing the cards.
Across the ruins, Roger tilted his hat and gripped his sword.
Crimson Conqueror's Haki warped around the blade—
the sword of a king who refused all chains.
Rocks grinned. "That boy Sharn's not bad,
but he doesn't suit your crew, does he?
My Rocks Pirates would use him better."
Roger smirked. "Heh. I was about to say—
we'd rather have him on our ship."
"Oh? Trying to steal my prey?" Rocks laughed, spreading his arms.
He wasn't tall among his monsters, but beside ordinary men
he was gigantic—a beast in human form.
Darkness spilled from him without restraint,
blanketing all of God Valley.
Friend, foe—it made no difference.
When Rocks fought, everyone got caught in the storm.
His crew was long used to it.
Only Haki shields kept them alive.
The battle was reaching its peak.
"Roger!" Rocks called, opening one hand invitingly.
"How about it? Want to join my crew?"
"I refuse!"
Roger slashed without hesitation.
"Always the same answer."
Rocks clenched his fist—
and the darkness devoured every sound.
God Valley sank into eternal night.
Even the strange lights above were gone.
Inside the cliff, Sharn drew a deep breath.
His stone prison cracked.
Five fingers broke through the rock—
and his eyes snapped open.
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