Amidst the billowing smoke of the capital of Cang Country.
The tenryuubito tribute battleship departed elegantly. Rocks had also conveniently plundered the royal treasury of Cang Country, seizing countless treasures.
At the island ruins of the former Guyue Village, Rocks drove all the prisoner soldiers off the ship.
Even the dozen or so young soldiers who had initially become sailors and handymen wanted to leave the ship and return to their homeland.
Ultimately, only six orphaned soldiers with no families or anyone to rely on remained on board to serve as sailors and handymen.
The World Government flag on this tenryuubito tribute battleship was removed and destroyed by Rocks, replaced by a black flag bearing the name Rocks D. Xebec.
And he named this tenryuubito tribute battleship the gibecks sword.
But now, due to a lack of Executives and powerhouses, Rocks did not want to raise the skull flag of the Rocks Pirates just yet.
He wanted to witness the establishment of the Rocks Pirates together with those powerful future subordinates!
However, for now, the World Government had long since defined Rocks as a pirate—the most evil pirate at that!
A bounty had already been issued.
A few days later.
"worororo! Fang Huo, your bounty poster is out too!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, personally executing the general and king of the Member Nation Cang Country—your personality is truly wicked."
"You know, when I kidnapped those five kings at the Holy Land Mary Geoise before, I didn't kill a single one of them."
Rocks grinned and laughed, teasing Fang Huo, but he made no mention of the heinous act of him killing a Marine Admiral.
"What a garbage title!"
Fang Huo was frantically developing his two Devil Fruit abilities, finding ways to train and strengthen his soul worms.
During a break, he took a moment to glance at his own wanted poster.
['Murder and Arson' Koyuki Fang Huo, bounty: 80,000,000 Berries! Only Alive!]
Damn it, the fire in the capital of Cang Country was clearly set by Rocks, so why was it blamed on him?
"worororo, 'Murder' Fang Huo—this infamy isn't bad!"
"However, with this level of strength and bounty, you still can't become my Executive. You'd better work hard!"
Rocks took a deep look at Fang Huo. He knew that this special mutant indeed possessed the potential of a world-class powerhouse.
A future user of nine fruit abilities—the mere thought was terrifying!
And on Rocks' wanted poster, there was a long string of zeros.
['The World's Evilest Pirate' Rocks D. Xebec, bounty: 3,811,540,000 Berries]
In this era, this bounty already far exceeded the Great Pirates of the New World!
This showed how much importance the World Government placed on Rocks.
Currently, the famous Great Pirates of the New World generally had bounties around 1 billion.
Charlotte Linlin, who went to sea several years ago, had her first bounty of 50 million Berries at age 6. In five years, her bounty rose to 500 million Berries.
Now 12 years old, Charlotte Linlin already possessed a very large reputation in the New World.
By the time of the God Valley Incident, the Rocks Pirates' Executive Kiel Bastard had a bounty of 970 million Berries.
Fellows like Captain John, Silver Axe Fierce, and Ganzi, who were similar to him, were also likely around 1 billion Berries.
Stronger ones like Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Big Mom should be a level higher than 1 billion, between 1 to 2 billion Berries.
After all, inflation in that era wasn't that high yet!
Only when these Great Pirates went independent one by one, founded their own crews, became regional overlords, and entered the era of the Three Legends and the Four Emperors of the Great Pirate Era, would bounties soar to four or five billion.
"Fang Huo, didn't you say you wanted to go directly find strong people! Why are we still lingering in Paradise!"
Rocks was impatient to gather all his powerful future subordinates under his command and then launch an assault on the Holy Land Mary Geoise!!
"Because some people haven't grown up yet!"
"For example, this Charlotte Linlin, who possesses the iron balloon physique and is a Paramecia Type Soul-Soul Fruit user. She is a future Four Emperors powerhouse and one of the top Executives under your command."
"But she's only 12 years old this year!"
"Maron, the leader of the West Blue Mafia, has already grown up now and can be recruited!"
"Gangster Shiki, a Paramecia Type Float-Float Fruit user, is already making a name for himself in the New World. He can be brought on board, but he is very arrogant and conceited..."
"The pirate Edward Newgate, a Tremor-Tremor Fruit user, is currently a pirate combatant on someone else's ship. We must win him over; his strength is immense!"
"The smuggling Great Pirate Ganzi, a Paramecia Type Bomb-Bomb Fruit user, is already very famous and can be forcibly recruited!"
"Pirate Patriarch Wang Zhi—this guy will betray you later. Do you still want to recruit him?"
"Captain John, a Paramecia Type Magnet-Magnet Fruit user—this guy will also betray you. I've set my sights on his Magnet-Magnet Fruit ability!"
"Of course, sailing in Paradise now is mainly to seize the demon sword I've set my sights on. That's not a problem, right?"
Fang Huo listed a long string of names of strong people for Rocks.
He had already checked intelligence on these guys to confirm their recent situations.
All of them had already obtained their Devil Fruit abilities.
So Fang Huo wasn't worried that he would interfere with the future in which they obtained their Devil Fruit abilities.
However, as for Stussy the scientific bandit, there was no news at all currently; she seemed to have gone into hiding.
"worororo, just hearing about these Devil Fruit abilities tells me they are powerful."
"As for betrayal! We'll see about that when the time comes!"
"But, Fang Huo, have you really only set your sights on the Magnet-Magnet ability?"
"Soul-Soul Fruit, Float-Float Fruit, Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Bomb-Bomb Fruit... these are all powerful abilities. You're not tempted?"
Hearing so many accurate names, Rocks immediately grinned and laughed.
Finally, he suddenly licked his lips and spoke grimly to Fang Huo.
He didn't believe Fang Huo could resist giving up so many powerful Devil Fruit abilities.
"Whoever betrays, I kill! Is that a problem? My Captain!"
Fang Huo looked Rocks in the eye without fear. He knew his special talent couldn't be hidden from Rocks at all.
In that case, it was better to be direct and lay his cards on the table with Rocks.
This D Clan member Rocks seemed to also possess Observation Haki similar to the Voice of All Things; his inner thoughts could directly appear in the consciousness of Roger and Garp.
"worororo, that's fine!"
"As long as you are strong enough to help me defeat the king of the world, you can kill these guys as you please! Anyway, none of them are on the ship yet!"
Rocks erupted with a powerful Haoshoku. He was confident he could suppress this little monster Fang Huo.
"I'm not interested in the position of king of the world. My goal is the sea of stars beyond this world!"
"As for this world, you should go play with Imu and that sun god nika!"
Fang Huo spread his hands and spoke indifferently.
Whether Rocks believed it or not, he believed it himself.
Rocks and Fang Huo stared at each other for a long time, as if trying to see through Fang Huo's true thoughts.
But he chose to laugh magnanimously and ultimately did not refuse Fang Huo's personal request to sail in Paradise and search for the demon sword.
Coincidentally, he could follow his original plan to first play around with the pirate crews in Paradise.
To see if he could find any strong people other than those Fang Huo mentioned.
After all, the future Fang Huo saw wasn't a complete one either.
---Several weeks later.
The gibecks sword sailed along, thrashing every pirate crew it encountered.
Fang Huo also took action multiple times to practice and develop his Moonlight Ability and Gravity Ability.
Finally, they arrived at Fang Huo's destination, Asuka Island.
Fang Huo and Rocks barged in and quickly found the ancient village guarding the Shichiseiken.
Fang Huo didn't waste time with the guardian Priestess; he directly opened the altar stone platform and snatched the seven star demon sword.
"worororo, it seems this demon sword isn't much worse than my own blade!"
Seeing Fang Huo erupt with powerful soul power to forcibly subjugate this eerie double-edged demon sword, Rocks immediately laughed.
His little brother seemed to be getting stronger and stronger!
However, only by becoming stronger would he be qualified to be his subordinate.
"He actually really subjugated the seven star demon sword!"
The Priestess looked at Fang Huo in disbelief as he took the seven star demon sword away, not appearing to be controlled by the demon sword at all.
That meant the destiny of her Priestess clan to guard the Shichiseiken had vanished.
They no longer had to worry about the seven star demon sword breaking its seal.
---After Fang Huo obtained the Shichiseiken, he swung a terrifying slash across the sea, looking very satisfied.
Having a monster like Rocks to protect him was truly refreshing.
In the future, Fang Huo would do his best to help Rocks change his fate to repay Rocks for his protection.
He made a scabbard for the Shichiseiken and suddenly looked toward the East Blue.
He wondered if he should tell Rocks about Roger. With Rocks' charisma, would there be a chance to recruit Roger and Rayleigh?
But currently, Roger and Rayleigh seemed to not have gone to sea yet in Loguetown, and their strength was likely insufficient.
When Fang Huo was collecting wanted posters and intelligence, he hadn't found a wanted poster for Roger.
In the original timeline 52 years ago, when Brook was sailing in Paradise near the Florian Triangle, Roger really was just a rookie who had just entered the Grand Line.
Entering the Grand Line from Loguetown shouldn't take four years; Roger should still be in Loguetown and hadn't gone to sea yet.
Fang Huo did find news of the Rumbar Pirates sailing in the West Blue. Brook had already quit the kingdom's guard and boarded a ship as a pirate for music or some other reason.
When Gunko was a child, she and Brook had spent some time together.
Now Gunko had become a young woman, serving by Imu's side.
When Rocks invaded the Room of Flowers to meet Imu, Gunko was also there.
---