Chapter Seventeen: The Conqueror's Haki! Confronting the Five Elders! (Please keep reading!)
“Roger!!”
Kaido’s long legs kicked up sparks as he sprinted across the rocky wilderness. To keep his balance, Roa had to clutch a strand of Kaido’s hair. The scenery on both sides blurred rapidly behind them. Truly, Kaido was no ordinary man; even in his youth, his running speed far surpassed Roa’s flying pace.
Bang!
An unexpected gunshot rang out.
Roa pressed his hand to his forehead, irritated. “Who set off that firecracker?”
“Hahaha! Such a big human!”
A foolish voice called from the side.
“Hmm?”
Roa and Kaido stopped and looked in the same direction.
There stood a stereotypical Celestial Dragon.
Obese, with a runny nose, sporting a tall topknot, dressed in the standard space suit and fishbowl helmet.
Beneath him sat a muscular slave, surrounded by pale-faced guards.
“Hahaha! This one must be worth a lot of points!”
The Celestial Dragon’s trembling, smoking gun aimed shakily at Kaido. “No more hiding! If I miss again, I won’t let you off!”
The guards nearby looked ready to cry.
Wouldn’t it be better to just take shelter quietly?
The Celestial Dragon didn’t recognize Roa and Kaido, but they knew him.
They were the rookie duo from the Rocks Pirates!
Kaido and Roa!
Each notorious monsters in their own right!
“Giggling! Is this what a Celestial Dragon looks like?”
Kaido laughed, but his lips drooped involuntarily. “The ones at the top of the world are just these kinds of people?”
“What a joke!”
At that critical moment—
“Big Brother Kaido! Let me handle this!”
Roa volunteered eagerly.
He hadn’t yet tasted the Celestial Dragon’s black aura.
After a moment’s thought, Roa made his decision. “Fire punishment it is.”
In the next instant, the Celestial Dragon, his guards, and the slave beneath him—all their clothes and hair burst into fierce flames simultaneously.
“Waaah!!”
The Celestial Dragon screamed and fell from the slave’s back, writhing in agony on the ground.
“Here it comes!”
Roa inhaled deeply, absorbing the black aura emanating from the Celestial Dragon into his abdomen. “Pure!”
Even in suffering, the Celestial Dragon showed pain!
And the black aura he emitted was incredibly rich!
Though the rigorously trained guards were also in agony, they instinctively tried to rescue their master.
But—
The flames surged with unstoppable force in the next moment, the fire on everyone’s bodies erupting outward and converging into a sea of fire.
Roa’s ability was to create calamity.
He did not simply ignite their clothes but used them as fuel to cause a massive fire.
The amount of fuel didn’t matter—as long as there was some, it was enough.
So, the screams erupted into a chorus before quickly fading.
“Fire punishment still isn’t enough.”
Roa crossed his arms, self-critical. “They burned out after just two hits.”
“Giggling! Not bad, kid. For trash like this, any torment is deserved!”
Kaido laughed heartily and resumed his wild sprint.
Roa understood what Kaido meant.
Big Brother Kaido dreamt of creating a world governed by the survival of the fittest, where the strong trample the weak as the universal law.
But honestly, this world already was like that.
The Celestial Dragons ruled high above precisely because they wielded the world’s greatest power.
---
Inside the Celestial Dragons’ ranks, strength also reigned supreme.
As they sped toward the island’s center, they encountered several groups of Celestial Dragons along the way.
Roa didn’t hold back, using them as subjects for various experiments.
Wind blade slashes, meteor showers, thunder strikes, landslides—all tried.
None were very satisfying; these ordinary Celestial Dragons were too fragile, dying within a few hits, hardly worth the effort.
While Roa pondered this—
“Roger!”
“Wait! Rocks!”
Boom!!
A terrifying gale surged forward, accompanied by dark lightning shooting into the sky. The island trembled, and the clouds scattered instantly.
“Has the captain made contact with Roger yet?”
Roa’s impatience grew.
The clash between kings of the old and new eras—what a magnificent spectacle it must be!
“Giggling!!”
Kaido roared as he leapt into the sky, hurtling like a meteor toward the island’s center.
After several bounds, he and Roa crashed down at the battlefield’s edge.
Roa’s eyes widened.
Not only the captain and Roger—everyone was someone familiar!
“Roger!!”
Captain Rocks exuded fierce momentum.
“Rocks!”
The future Pirate King showed no sign of backing down.
“Roger!”
A Navy Vice Admiral charged in.
“Roger!!”
The Golden Lion descended from the sky.
“Roger!”
Whitebeard roared with all his might.
“Rocks!!”
The Underworld King’s aura soared.
“Don’t get cocky! Roger! Rocks!”
Moonhead too radiated fierce energy, monsters swarming behind him.
Boom boom boom boom!
Fearsome Haoshoku Haki waves swept across the island.
Though not large, the island seemed to endure a massive earthquake. Cracks spread everywhere, even the central mountain peak began to crumble slightly.
Simultaneously, Kaido’s own wild aura surged into the sky.
“Roger!”
Roaring, Big Brother Kaido rushed toward the battlefield.
Roa was stunned.
Multiple Haoshoku Haki waves surged simultaneously. The world seemed to lose its color; his mind blanked intermittently, unable to think.
Was he about to faint?
What a joke! I’m a time traveler! You comic characters think you can overwhelm me?
A certain chain quietly shattered.
Hum!
Roa’s eyes flared as he instinctively roared, “Roger!!”
At the same time, an invisible aura spread out.
It even resonated with his roar’s sound waves, creating an unexpected effect.
But no one noticed.
On this battlefield, Roa was just a roadside wild tiger—unseen and irrelevant. Even Kaido excitedly charged forward without sparing him a glance.
Very frustrating.
He had awakened Haoshoku Haki at seven years old—earlier than Yamato.
But why was he shouting Roger?
Never mind. You all look so lively; I’ll forgive you.
---
Roa quickly flapped his wings and retreated, speeding toward the battlefield’s edge.
He didn’t want to get caught in this chaotic melee.
“Mommy, mommy! I knew it—Little Roa, you’re a Haoshoku user too!”
Laughter came from behind.
Roa turned to see Aunt Linlin observing from the sidelines.
“Aunt Linlin, aren’t you fighting?”
Roa asked curiously.
Wasn’t Aunt Linlin also obsessed with Roger?
She even murmured his name while being washed in lava.
“I have no mood to play with fools,” Charlotte Linlin winked at Roa. “Little Roa, don’t forget our purpose here. As long as we seize the treasures, we’ve won!”
Roa glanced back.
The monsters were locked in fierce combat.
The captain clashed swords with Roger one moment, faced Karp’s fists the next, then banged away with Moonhead.
Besides the Navy and the Divine Knights standing together, it was a free-for-all brawl.
The earth fractured, mountains groaned, even the sky dared not show expression.
With his strength, just approaching the battlefield risked being wiped out by the aftershocks.
“You’re right,” Roa turned decisively to Aunt Linlin. “Let’s hurry and find the treasure!”
“Mommy, mommy! Good child!”
Roa climbed onto Linlin’s shoulder, and together they dashed toward the island’s center.
Chaos reigned at the core.
The Celestial Dragons seeking shelter remained arrogant, chattering to hasten the pirates’ defeat so they could resume their hunt.
The organizers scrambled to appease them.
No one noticed, however, that at the rear of the venue, on the treasure platform—
“Are these the two Devil Fruits?”
A tall, sturdy, good-natured boy happily examined the fruit in his hand.
“That’s right! Kuma!”
Beside him, a big-headed youth held another fruit, blue-green with scales. “It’s our—”
“Close call!”
A huge shadow lunged, slamming the big-headed youth to the ground and snatching away the blue-green fruit.
“Kuma! Eat it!”
Almost instinctively, the big-headed youth coughed up blood as he yelled.
The sturdy boy didn’t hesitate, biting the fruit in half.
“Tch!”
Charlotte Linlin clicked her tongue in displeasure.
Roa stood steadily on Linlin’s shoulders, watching the panicked flat-headed boy, sighing with some regret.
If only they had been a bit faster, they could have snatched that fruit.
Boom!
In the next moment, Kuma was blasted flying.
An old man with a cane, wearing a small hat and thick white beard, stood calmly.
“Lowly ants born to perish, dare to touch the treasures of gods.”
“You shall all die.”
Roa gripped Aunt Linlin’s hair. “Whoa, the monsters have arrived. Aunt Linlin, can you hold them off?”
The treasure was piled right there!
Besides the Azure Dragon and Meatball fruits, Roa spotted another Devil Fruit that looked formidable.
Not to mention the heaps of wealth.
But if Aunt Linlin couldn’t withstand the assault, they’d have to run.
“Mommy, mommy!”
Charlotte Linlin inspected the newcomers with interest. “Even the highest power in the world descends upon the mortal realm?”
The next enemies—The Five Elders!