Chapter One: The Young Tiger (Please Support!)
Year 1484 of the Ocean Calendar, New World, Dotorian Island.
A large sea vessel floated in the sky.
Roia, small in stature with black hair and black eyes, stood on the ship’s railing, which seemed a bit too tall for him, gazing down in wonder at the island below.
Dotorian Island, an island overrun with pirates, was enduring a catastrophe.
Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the entire island undulated like a stormy sea. The ground rose sharply, only to crash down like a tsunami moments later, layer upon layer of earth piling up repeatedly.
Towns were buried in an instant; the powerless pirates, like ants, were crushed to mud before they could even scream.
“Ha ha ha ha ha!”
The mastermind behind it all, a man with radiant golden hair, floated in the sky, laughing heartily.
He casually swung his right hand, and the island below danced along.
“Wow, amazing, Uncle Shiki! That’s it, crush them!”
Roia breathed deeply, inhaling the dense black aura rising from the island, invisible to ordinary people. He showed an expression of utter delight. “Delicious!”
The man known as the Golden Lion, Shiki, a senior officer of the Rocks Pirates, turned his head.
“Rocks didn’t send you here for you to cheer me on!”
“Huh?”
Roia’s adorable smile turned sheepish as he scratched the back of his head.
“The opponent’s a monster with a bounty over 800 million; I’m no match for him.”
“And besides—”
“Shiki!!”
At that moment, the ground cracked open, dust exploded outward, and a furious man rocketed into the air like a cannonball, heading straight for the man in the sky.
“You’re going too far!”
“Uncle Shiki,”
Roia watched the man ascending with a grin, “The enemy’s target is you too.”
“Hmph!”
The Golden Lion snorted coldly, drawing his cherished sword as he turned. The blade instantly darkened, crackling with black and red lightning.
“Wave Slash!”
The blade tore through the sky, releasing a massive golden slash over a hundred meters long, dyeing the heavens gold.
“What?”
The man leaping upward changed expression drastically. In the next instant, he was cut down by the slash, blood spraying across the sky.
The Golden Lion stood proudly in the sky, slowly exhaling a smoke ring.
“If you’re this weak and don’t just kill yourself sooner, forcing me to come here personally, you’re really pushing your luck.”
Roia clapped repeatedly.
“An incredible slash!”
A sword wrapped in the Conqueror’s Haki—that’s the stance a Golden Lion should have.
The prime-aged lion lifted his head and looked toward the other side of the island.
“Roia,”
he called out.
“Some fools are trying to run. You go take care of them.”
He glared at Roia.
“Don’t make me say it twice.”
“Yes, yes, it’s my turn.”
Roia exaggerated the tone and stepped forward as black fur sprouted over his body. Then, he jumped down from the great ship hanging in the sky.
On the other side of the island was a small bay. At that moment, a ship was fleeing rapidly toward the open sea.
Onboard, a group of pirates looked back in terror at the island being kneaded like dough by an invisible force.
“The Golden Lion himself has come!”
“It’s the captain’s fault! How dare we provoke the Rocks Pirates!”
“It’s too late to say anything! The captain’s done for, and the Golden Pirates are finished! That mad Golden Lion will destroy the entire island!”
“What’s the point of talking now? Just run!”
They had no courage to confront the lion; all they could do was flee.
But then—
A dark cloud descended from the sky.
“W-what?”
Johnny, the heavy axe-wielding senior officer of the Golden Pirates leading the escape, suddenly looked up with narrowed pupils.
It wasn’t a cloud.
It was a fierce tiger!
A black tiger over five meters long, slowly descending with broad black wings.
Besides its color and wings, it bore a pair of sharp, massive horns like those of a buffalo.
Its body was somewhat lean and lanky, even its head, which should be somewhat rounded, appeared gaunt, yet its fangs gleamed menacingly.
Roia, perched steadily above the ship’s cabin, scrutinized Johnny and the others, then spoke in a clear, youthful voice.
“Sorry, folks, this road’s closed.”
Johnny’s eyes widened incredulously.
“A Mythical Zoan?”
This form was clearly an animal type, but even ancient tigers wouldn’t have wings and horns, right?
There was only one possibility—this was a Mythical Zoan, rarer than the natural types.
“Rocks said,”
Roia folded his wings behind him, looking down at the pirates who were already terror-stricken by the Golden Lion.
“Everyone must die. I can’t help it.”
Johnny’s pupils contracted sharply.
Every Mythical Zoan user was a monster!
But—
“Die, damn you!!”
Regardless of natural or mythical type, anyone who wanted his life would lose theirs first!
Johnny truly wielded a heavy double-edged battle axe. He roared as he swung it.
“Anyone who doesn’t want to die, come with me!”
“Take him down!!”
The pirates knew if they didn’t kill him first, they’d be killed. With that in mind, they mustered their courage and charged toward the black tiger with Johnny, momentarily fierce and resolute.
Roia made no move against the onslaught. He merely blinked.
But in the instant his eyelids closed and reopened, his sharp black-and-white eyes reversed polarity—his irises turned pale, the whites turned pitch black.
He seemed to see something invisible to ordinary people.
Smiling, he said, “Fake courage doesn’t work on me.”
“Waaaaaaah!”
In the next moment, the pirates’ terrified screams echoed through the bay.
Those who had just rallied courage now trembled in utter fear, their bodies shaking so much they couldn’t even grip their weapons or stand upright. They sobbed and knelt, weapons clattering to the ground.
Many wet themselves at that moment. Some were so terrified they vomited bile and died on the spot.
“What’s happening… What is this?!”
Johnny retreated fearfully, his eyes wide.
The tiger before him seemed to grow infinitely larger, like a shadow engulfing the world, extinguishing any will to resist.
Yet, he still stood.
“Oh?”
Roia looked at the only pirate still standing with interest.
“Impressive, you mangy dog. You actually resist my power.”
Johnny’s breath nearly stopped.
Was it this guy’s power? Fear? He could instill fear itself!
What a terrifying ability!
His body shook; he barely managed to stand, let alone fight.
Unnoticed by him, a streak of blackness spread through his eyes, while the eyes of the other pirates on the ground were almost fully consumed by darkness.
“Looks like you have some value after all,”
Roia smiled, his already fierce face softening.
“Then fight to the death. The last one standing lives.”
Lives? Just by killing the others?
Amidst the intense fear, another emotion began to sprout.
Johnny instinctively gripped his battle axe tighter.
The urge to kill grew wildly like spring grass.
Kill!
If he killed everyone, he could—
No!
Johnny’s pupils trembled.
It was this guy’s power again!
Not only fear but even killing intent could be birthed?
Whoosh!
Before Johnny could think it through, a whooshing sound came from behind.
He instinctively dodged to the side as a blade slashed down in front of him.
Behind him, the pirates had begun fighting fiercely.
They were completely deranged now; fear and cowardice consumed by pure killing intent.
Kill! Kill! Kill everyone!
They seemed like madmen, forgetting fear, ignoring pain, biting their foes even if their windpipes were cut, striking back even if their hearts were pierced.
“What a joke!”
Johnny roared, swinging his heavy axe instinctively, severing the head of a pirate who had just attacked him.
What the fighting pirates couldn’t see was the faint black mist rising from their bodies.
Invisible to ordinary eyes, the black smoke drifted toward Roia.
Roia inhaled slowly, drawing the black mist into his nose.
He showed a look of disdain.
“Without reason, you’re truly tasteless.”
Meanwhile, the battle reached its climax.
After killing several comrades in succession, Johnny could no longer suppress the surging killing intent. His eyes gradually turned pitch black. His reason vanished in an instant. His axe flew wildly, swiftly decapitating two pirates before him. Like a beast, he roared:
“Kill!”
Kill all these dogs!
He no longer cared about survival or revenge. Now, only one thing mattered: kill! Damn it, kill!
Soon, the battle neared its end.
Johnny, as the ship’s senior officer, was the last survivor.
After chopping off the heads of sixteen comrades, he alone still stood.
His strength was indeed formidable, and after the chaotic fight, he bore almost no injuries.
But crucially, Johnny’s eyes were wide open, expression vacant, his irises and whites completely pitch black, like a bottomless abyss without a glimmer of light.
He staggered toward Roia, moving stiffly as if a puppet.
The black tiger nodded in satisfaction.
“Not bad, not bad. Among all my lost souls, you’re high quality.”
As for the others—
Roia glanced over the pirates sprawled on the ground.
“Fine, I’ll be merciful.”
The pair of sharp horns on his head now glowed with bronze-colored patterns starting from their base.
Whoosh!
Flames!
Suddenly, flames surged wildly from the deck, spreading at a strange speed.
Within seconds, the entire ship was engulfed.
“Ha ha ha ha! Roia! Well done!”
Laughter came from above.
The Golden Lion floated in the sky.
“Johnny the Heavy Axe is the weakest among the officers, but even he has a bounty over 100 million.”
Roia flapped his wings, lifting the black-eyed Johnny into the air, smiling.
“Because the hesitant one is weak and fragile.”
“Ha ha ha ha! Indeed, in the face of your power!”