The warship cleaved through the waves, its engines roaring across the open sea.
With the legendary strongest rookie KING and Colonel Smoker aboard, this force could sweep aside almost any threat in the supposedly weakest sea.
For KING, however—
this was hell.
Ugh—
A sour pressure lodged midway up his throat, refusing to rise or fall.
In his previous life, he had gotten earaches from riding elevators too quickly. He had vastly overestimated his sense of balance.
This wasn't a warship.
It was a vibrating steel torture device with a wave mode.
To preserve his newly established reputation from being washed away on his first voyage, KING adopted the safest posture possible.
He gripped the steel railing at the bow.
His body tensed.
Center of gravity lowered.
Legs braced wide.
From a physics standpoint:
maximizing stability.
From Smoker's perspective:
subjugating the sea.
The twin cigars in Smoker's mouth had long gone cold.
He stood five meters behind KING, feeling the pressure radiating from the man's unmoving silhouette.
For three full hours, from departure onward, KING had not shifted even a millimeter.
His Justice cloak fluttered violently in the wind.
He remained like an anchor welded to the deck.
"…He's defying the sea."
Smoker's brow furrowed deeper.
Ordinary sailors adjusted with the waves.
Veterans bent their knees to absorb motion.
Only KING chose the most physically punishing method:
to resist the ocean directly.
When the ship rose, he pressed downward through his stance.
When it tilted, he forced balance through raw stability.
"He's telling the sea… he decides the rules aboard this vessel."
Smoker's respect climbed from three parts…
to seven.
He had heard of using Haki to intimidate enemies.
But taming waves through presence alone?
Arrogant.
Absurdly arrogant.
Yet on KING—
it felt natural.
Gulp.
KING swallowed acid rising in his throat.
Smoker's eyes sharpened.
"Even his breathing rhythm is changing… gathering strength?"
"Preparing for something beneath the surface?"
Then—
the sky changed.
Dark clouds rolled in without warning, swallowing the sunlight.
The gentle breeze turned violent, tearing at the sails.
"The pressure's dropping!" the navigator shouted. "Storm front forming fast!"
Before he finished—
a wave three stories high crashed over the bow.
BOOM!
Tons of seawater slammed onto the deck.
The entire warship shuddered with metallic groans.
KING's stomach clenched violently.
Pain twisted his face.
His eyes reddened, locked onto the raging sea.
(Stop shaking… one more hit and I'm done…)
But to observers—
that face resembled a demon reborn.
A fury directed at the heavens.
A challenge to nature itself.
"Mr. King is angry…"
Smoker instinctively stepped back.
KING's fingers had sunk into the railing, leaving deep impressions in the steel.
Was the storm enough to provoke him?
Or had nature itself offended him?
Lightning split the sky.
Fifty meters off the starboard bow—
the sea exploded.
A roar drowned even the thunder.
Water cascaded downward, revealing a massive serpentine body armored in bluish-black scales.
A colossal Sea King.
An apex predator rarely seen this close to coastal waters.
Its neck rose over a hundred meters above the waves.
Its jaws opened wide, lined with barbed teeth.
The stench of rotting fish filled the air.
"Y-you've got to be kidding…"
"Why is a monster like that here?!"
"Hard to port! We'll be eaten!"
Marines collapsed in panic. Rifles slipped from shaking hands.
Before a true ruler of the sea, human strength felt meaningless.
Only the man at the bow remained still.
KING froze.
If before he didn't want to move—
now he couldn't.
Terror overwhelmed his nervous system.
The Sea King's maw grew larger in his vision.
The stench hit him like a wall.
(It's over… I'm dead… Mom… I want to go home…)
His thoughts vanished.
Only instinct remained.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints.
Muscles locked.
His body radiated cold stillness.
To the Sea King's primitive mind—
this human was wrong.
Prey fled.
Prey screamed.
This one did neither.
He stood unmoving.
His gaze contained no panic.
Only abyssal stillness.
An unmoving void.
The Sea King hesitated.
At that instant—
KING's stomach lurched again.
A muffled groan escaped his throat.
"…Hmm…"
To Smoker, it sounded like thunder.
KING lifted his chin slightly.
He did not draw a weapon.
He did not strike.
He simply stood—
venting irritation at the storm and the beast before him.
Just as the Sea King lunged—
BOOM!!!
A brilliant bolt of lightning split the sky and struck the creature squarely in the skull.
Electric arcs raced across its scales.
Its massive body stiffened.
Eyes rolled white.
Without a cry, it collapsed back into the sea, trailing smoke.
The surface churned.
Then stilled.
The wind died.
The waves settled.
The clouds broke apart.
Sunlight returned.
As if the apocalypse had been an illusion.
Silence fell.
Only the gentle slap of waves against the hull remained.
Marines stared at the sea, minds blank.
Smoker's cigar fell from his lips.
It burned his boot.
He didn't notice.
His pupils trembled.
What had happened?
Did KING move?
No.
Did he attack?
No.
He stood.
Looked.
And lightning fell.
"This… isn't coincidence," Smoker whispered hoarsely.
Lightning does not strike with such precision.
Lightning does not answer emotion.
"Devil Fruit…? No. Records say he has none…"
A more terrifying thought emerged.
"…the realm of the gods."
Smoker stared at KING's back, throat tight.
Is this the strongest rookie?
Nature itself yielding before his will?
Lightning becoming his blade?
And he had worried about the ship capsizing?
Ridiculous.
As long as this man stood here—
this ship was the safest place on the sea.
An unfamiliar heat rose in Smoker's chest.
He had defied superiors.
Ignored Admirals.
Followed only his own justice.
But now—
pride transformed into something purer.
Reverence.
He bowed his head.
A gesture he had never given anyone.
"Mr. King!"
His voice rang across the deck.
"From this day forward, I, Smoker, and my men will clear all obstacles before you!"
"Loyalty!"
"LOYALTY!!!"
The oath thundered into the sky.