A gust of wanted posters fluttered down across Whitebeard's deck.
Little Diamond Jozu didn't know who anyone was yet—but he thought the fellow on that poster, Sharn, looked ridiculously cool.
Marco picked up the sheet and studied the face.
"It's him—Sharn! The kid who shone at God Valley!"
His blue flames nearly sputtered in surprise. Around him, crewmembers clenched morning stars and braced themselves.
"Hey, Marco—do you know that man? Who is he?" one asked.
As one of Whitebeard's crew, Marco had been stationed on islands encircling God Valley during the war. From the maps and the rumors, the God Valley cluster had been broad and dotted with large isles—perfect for staging Whitebeard's forces. Marco swallowed and answered carefully.
"That kid… he's something else. He stood out in the God Valley fight. Rocks himself appointed him an apprentice."
"He even—rumor says—struck at the Celestial Dragons. Because of the circumstances, it wasn't fully reported."
"If things had been normal, Sengoku and the Admirals would've hunted him down."
"Sharn was only fifteen when Rocks picked him—just like Kaido in his day. A monster among the new generation."
"It's not only strength—his ambition matches Rocks' kind. A pirate who dares to attack a Celestial Dragon openly? That's the sort of new breed the Admirals would want erased."
Marco was still only seven. The phoenix fruit inside him made him powerful for his age, but beside someone with Sharn's résumé, he felt small.
"Sharn and Kaido?" another crewmember muttered. "Even Kaido's been tamed by him?"
"What if that man and Chinjao team up? Pops will be in trouble!" People worried and hurried down to the docks—dozens of Whitebeard men gathering, ready to reinforce their captain.
Marco flexed his flaming wings and kept his eyes locked on Sharn. In their heads, the line between youth and legend blurred.
"If we beat him, we could be the new generation's strongest!" someone whispered.
Whitebeard sat easily, amused by Kaido's dragonfire. A gust of air was enough to snuff it—mere warmth against a man whose punches made the sea quake. He laughed heartily. "Sharn! Kaido! Long time no see—Gurararara!"
He wasn't impressed by Kaido's Heat Breath. It was too small a thing; a tremor-sphere would wash it away.
Kaido's mood soured. Whitebeard's presence made every distance irrelevant—his Tremor still affected the air. Kaido glared at Sharn, nostrils flaring. He wanted to smash him with his kanabō. "When I return to the New World, I'll form a crew in no time," he snarled.
Sharn waved him off. "If you quit the Sharn Pirates, you can start over. But you just became vice-captain—don't waste it. Or next time Moria might boss you around for seniority."
Kaido snapped, but Sharn collapsed quietly to the deck.
This time the change was different. A new lineage factor was forming inside him. He slept with a calm smile as the Demon Compass turned, finishing the final choice for his multi-path fate.
[Set sail and form your own pirate crew] — Completed!
Reward acquired: [Paw-Paw Fruit — Lineage Factor].
"Molly! Protect the captain!" Moly hefted her shovel and planted herself beside Sharn. Her skirt fluttered in the gusts whipped up by the surrounding clash.
"Don't stare under my skirt!" she scolded, blushing at the leering sailors.
"Captain's asleep! I will protect him! Change the menu!" Wolf announced, plopping down and casting a vast shadow over the harbor. For a heartbeat, Whitebeard's forces—riding their moment—felt the tide shift.
"Hey! Don't sleep on me now!" Kaido barked, though he still stood in front of Sharn, kanabō humming with Armament Haki.
"Hahaha," Sharn slapped his forehead. "I won't sleep forever—just a little. Kaido, I only lay down for a moment."
After the body mutation, sleep didn't touch him like before. He'd lost the need in part; brief rests were all he allowed.
While captain and vice-captain traded quips, apprentice Moria hunted for purpose. He bit into a fruit from a cracked crate—a strange, black-skinned Devil Fruit streaked with faint crimson veins, wrapped in a leaf. He spat it out, disgusted. It tasted foul.
A wave washed over the deck; Moria shivered like he had a fever. Strange—he had not fallen ill since age five. He looked at the floating remnant of the fruit and felt a tremor within. Something in him stirred—shadows gathering at his feet.
"Devil Fruit?" Kaido muttered. The crate had not been meant to open—currents would have taken it to some small port. But Moria had eaten it. He'd gotten lucky.
Moria's eaten fruit was the Shadow-Shadow Fruit (Kage Kage no Mi)—a Paramecia that manipulates shadows.
Sharn dragged the now-weak boy to the dock. "You're a Devil Fruit user now, Moria."
Moria glanced at the receding fruit and felt darkness coalescing in his palm—an instinctive tremor. For a flash, Whitebeard and Kaido's eyes tightened. Moria's shadow twitched—but the stir passed: it was only a false alarm. Rocks-era fruits had different peculiarities; this one wasn't the kind that turned the world upside right away.
"He's cultivating a whole crew of Devil Fruit users," Whitebeard joked, smiling with a familiar unease. "That feeling is uncanny."
Whitebeard waved his sons off to buy supplies. Sharn rubbed his shoulders, the Paw-Paw power already nudging at him. He fancied the idea of bouncing a few people around—though the lineage factor only worked for places he'd been, random launches were still possible. Where they landed? That was fate's whim.
"Mister—uh—Captain!" Moria shivered. "What's that look in your eye?" He felt a chill run down his spine and turned—only to be cut off by a furious charge.
"Brat!" Chinjao thundered. "This is Happo Navy territory! This isn't a reunion for the Rocks' remnants!"
Chinjao slammed into Sharn with full force—he could knock down Whitebeard, but could he stop a newly minted hundred-million-berry pirate?
Sharn's palm compacted into a cute, round shape—an instant contrast to his feral grin. He compressed the air in his hand until it hummed, the docks answering with a strange vibration.
"Pressure Cannon!" he called.
◇ I'll drop one bonus chapter for every 10 reviews (leave a review/comment!)
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon: patreon.com/KageNaruto