"Logia-Type · Heavenly Tremor Fruit."
A feverish grin crept onto Gern's face as he bestowed an outrageously grand name upon his Devil Fruit.
Lowering his gaze, he stared at his palm as his fingers slowly spread apart.
Bzzz—
In an instant, countless fine vibration particles gathered in his hand, compressing into a pure white sphere of energy.
Shockwaves constantly burst from its surface, twisting the surrounding air, like a miniature seismic core compressed to its absolute limit.
"Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit is a Paramecia. He relies on his physical body as a medium to trigger vibrations," Gern sneered.
"But the price is that his own body has to endure the backlash of those vibrations."
His fingers suddenly clenched.
The white sphere collapsed instantly, dissolving into countless quivering particles that wrapped themselves around his arm.
"My Heavenly Tremor Fruit, on the other hand—
lets me become the very source of vibration itself."
Gern raised his left fist sharply, subconsciously mimicking the posture etched into his memories.
Vibration particles surged forth, condensing around his knuckles.
The air at the tip of his fist warped violently, as if a world-shattering impact could erupt at any moment.
But he didn't throw the punch.
Instead, he slowly reined the power back in.
There was no need to imitate anyone.
His ability already stood above the Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
"What Whitebeard can do, I can do," Gern murmured, eyes sharp as blades.
"And what he can't do… I can do that too."
Among all known Devil Fruits, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was famed as the most destructive, with the greatest attack range—hailed as the "Strongest Paramecia."
Now, layered with the traits of a Logia, Gern wasn't merely capable of striking the world itself and shaking space—
He could directly command the tremors of the sky, the atmosphere, and even the sea.
This wasn't just about shaking the world anymore.
It was about turning vibration itself into a weapon in his hands.
As Gern immersed himself in this realization, the western side of God Valley burned with lingering flames of war.
The remnants of the Rocks Pirates were retreating in chaos. Through the smoke, figures like Whitebeard and Golden Lion flickered in and out of view.
Gern spared them only a cold glance before turning his eyes toward the very center of the island.
That was where Rocks had fought Roger and Garp.
"Now…"
A faint smile tugged at Gern's lips as invisible vibration particles began to ripple around his body.
"It's time to bring back some real spoils."
…
The central region of God Valley.
The luxurious viewing platform once used by the Celestial Dragons to watch their hunting games had long since been reduced to rubble.
At the bottom of an enormous crater lay Rocks D. Xebec, sprawled on his back, blood pooling beneath him into a dark crimson lake.
The king who once dominated the seas was now gasping for breath, every inhale accompanied by fragments of shattered organs coughed from his mouth.
After Roger and Garp had grievously wounded him, the God's Knights escorted the Celestial Dragons away.
The World Government, meanwhile, left him behind—alone—to face the coming island-erasing Buster Call and perish on his own.
"Pirates and Marines… working together…"
Rocks bared his bloodstained teeth in a bitter grin.
"How… utterly ironic…"
"Roger… Garp…"
Just as he was about to close his eyes and await death—
Boom!
The ground suddenly trembled. Small stones bounced and danced under the vibrations.
Rocks' clouded pupils contracted slightly.
That familiar way the ground shook…
Footsteps approached from afar.
A Marine-uniformed youth stepped into this forbidden zone of death.
Sunlight streamed from behind him, casting a long shadow across the crater.
"Newgate?" Rocks thought faintly. "No… that man would never come back."
Straining his eyes and focusing his Observation Haki, he realized the newcomer was merely a short-haired boy—around fourteen at most.
Yet what truly caught his attention was the peculiar vibration rippling around the boy's body.
That wasn't Newgate's power.
At the same time, Gern was busily using his ability to precisely shatter bits of rubble, hoping to dig up something valuable to sell.
After a long while, he came up empty-handed.
"That's weird," Gern muttered. "The Celestial Dragons' hunting rewards can't be this stingy, can they?"
He sighed.
"But damn… Rocks' and Roger's Conqueror's Haki was terrifying.
If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been knocked out over fifty times…
Well, gains and losses, I guess."
At the bottom of the crater, Rocks' pupils shrank to pinpoints.
This Marine boy—only fourteen—had been knocked unconscious over fifty times by the clash of his and Roger's Conqueror's Haki?
Even ordinary Headquarters vice admirals would've been out cold for an entire day under that pressure.
Yet this boy had woken up again and again at astonishing speed.
What did that mean?
It meant that during that earth-shattering clash of kings, this kid had regained consciousness once every two minutes on average.
"A terrifyingly ignorant monster…"
As that thought crossed his mind, Rocks suddenly spoke with what little strength he had left.
"Hey! Marine brat!"
The shout wasn't loud, but it rang clearly.
"Stop searching. What you're looking for isn't here. Hahaha!"
"No way…"
Gern swallowed hard and slowly turned toward the voice.
He stepped forward unsteadily, stopping three meters from the edge of the crater.
"You're still alive…"
He looked down at the true ruler of this era—the strongest man of the age.
Rocks D. Xebec.
"Rocks…" Gern murmured.
Rocks forced his vision into focus, and what he saw only confirmed his suspicions.
Especially the boy's eyes.
There was no pity for a dying man.
No reverence for a king of the seas.
They were too clear.
Clear enough to resemble… someone examining a museum exhibit.
As for Gern, looking at the dying Rocks stirred little more than mild reflection.
To him, Rocks felt less like a real person and more like a figure separated by the barrier between reality and fiction.
"Hey… Marine brat…"
Rocks' voice was hoarse.
"Are you here… to witness the changing of the era?"
"I'm just here to find something valuable," Gern replied flatly.
"Hahaha! Something valuable…"
Rocks burst into laughter, blood spilling from his mouth with every chuckle.
"Marine brat… you're interesting."
His gaze sharpened.
"Your power… it's not like Newgate's."
"It's Heavenly Tremor."
Gern raised his right hand, palm facing upward.
The air around them twisted violently as a purer, more fundamental vibration gathered in his grasp.
This wasn't the kind of tremor that shattered space like Whitebeard's.
It felt closer to… a primal force.
Realization flashed through Rocks' eyes.
"So that's it… Heavenly Tremor…"
He laughed weakly.
"Even more terrifying than Newgate's."
"Didn't you say you wanted something valuable?"
Rocks continued.
"Make a deal with a dying man."
"A deal?" Gern frowned.
"Yes."
Rocks shifted his gaze.
Following it, Gern saw a pitch-black longsword embedded diagonally in the scorched earth, its blade gleaming coldly.
Without hesitation, Gern walked over and pulled it free.
It wasn't a traditional katana, but a straight, double-edged black blade.
About one and a half meters long. No scabbard.
The blade was abyssal black, crisscrossed with dark crimson cracks that faintly glimmered from within.
"This sword is—"
"One of the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades."
"Use your power…"
Rocks' voice grew weaker.
"Give me… a dignified burial.
I don't want to die under the World Government's filthy Buster Call fire…"
"When it's done… the blade is yours…"
"The name?" Gern asked.
"You'll give it one."
Rocks coughed up blood again.
"…Alright."
Gern studied the black blade in silence before nodding solemnly.
"As you wish. I accept the deal."
Bzzz—
Vibration particles gathered and compressed wildly in Gern's palm.
"Hahaha…"
Rocks let out a rasping laugh.
"Interesting… truly interesting…"
"Brat… what's your name?"
"Gern," he answered calmly.
"Gern Reginald Sigma."
When he didn't hear a middle initial of "D," a strange glint passed through Rocks' eyes.
"Not a D, huh…" he muttered.
Images of Roger and Garp striking him together flashed through his mind. Then he looked back at Gern.
Pirates and Marines…
Then I'll be selfish one last time.
Take my blade—
and shake the world again.
A terrifying, ignorant monster…
Gern Reginald Sigma.
The vibrating sphere descended slowly.
In an instant, overwhelming tremors shattered Rocks' body along with the surrounding air itself, burying him completely within the depths of God Valley.
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