[12] The Status Quo

[2200 words]

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'Shakky, the future wife of the Dark King: Silvers Rayleigh', Damien thought with surprise.

[Her Image (in Discord)]

The woman watched in intrigue, blowing a cloud of smoke.

Finally, Damien spoke up, "What do you want to talk about?" 

Shakky beamed a thin smile and said, "You should know whose flag we're under~"

Damien slowly nodded and gave his thoughts, "Rocks Pirates."

Shakky nodded at Damien's answer and slowly walked to a deserted seating area at the local cafe. 

The younger pirate followed suit, seating himself in front of the lax woman.

A short silence arrived between the two as the background booms were apparent; Shakky's companion continued wreaking havoc in the distance.

The young woman, in between some puffs of smoke, asked, "Do you know the major forces of the Grand Line so far?"

Damien shook his head, the information regarding the Grand Line, let alone the New World was heavily controlled.

The World Government did not want the public to know the lack of control they had in those waters and chose to keep the status quo unknown.

.

Shakky hummed, not surprised by the answer.

"In terms of pirates, there is one overwhelming force that has existed for quite some time," she said. "They are called the 'Three Overlords of the Sea'!"

Damien squinted his eyes at the newfound knowledge but chose against interrupting.

Shakky nodded with a hint of approval, before continuing: "These three have held the reins to the New World for decades."

'A primitive version of the Yonko, then,' Damien concluded in his mind.

"Thaddeus Enigma,"

"Esso Borealis,"

"Pryde D. Sol."

She then tapped her cigarette with her finger and proceeded to take another puff.

"The World Government has six main powerhouses to combat these Overlords…"

She then listed them out once more.

"Fleet Admiral – 'Strange Beast' Kong."

"The Three Admirals – 'Buddha' Sengoku, Basara 'the Mountain', and 'Kurowashi' Masao."

"Alongside the two new rising stars, Garp 'the Fist' and 'Black Arm' Zephyr."

She then showed a slightly annoyed expression, almost that of pouting, "That man-ape Garp even chased me down not too long ago, what a pain he can be."

*Huuuu*

Damien took a deep breath as he stored the data in his mind.

He was unaware of all three Overlords and two of the Admirals. In other words, they were extraneous to the story and ended up lost in the annals of history!

.

Damien then picked up a vital missing piece of information, "So the Rocks Pirates want to challenge the status quo…"

Shakky smiled in agreement, giving an alluring smile, "Mhm, our captain would never allow such pirates to exist, after all, his end goal goes far beyond such petty notions of 'balance'."

Though another moment and the woman's demeanour flatlined as she muttered, "The Rocks Pirates, to say the least, are simply a collection of pure evil."

Damien saw a pang of ambivalence flash in the woman's eyes, a certain helplessness.

He then addressed the elephant in the room, "And you've come all the way here, why?"

Shakky gazed at the young man's eyes, and spoke after a second:

"Our captain wants to change the world, but before that, he needs a mighty ship."

She continued, "A ship that can carry the weight of the world. And its ingredients are rather rare…"

Shakky then glanced at an alley to the far right, a few seconds before a black-clothed man slowly walked out.

Damien watched as the man soon stepped in front of their table.

"Shakuyaku," he nodded as a gray portal-like construct opened by the wave of his hand.

*Thwonk*

Large stacks of wood slammed onto the ground, piling up to a huge amount.

"Our deal has concluded," the mysterious man said, disappearing into a similar portal of his own.

Meanwhile, Damien eyed the wood and immediately felt its great durability.

"Wood from the Treasure Tree Adam."

Shakky nodded, "One of two main things we need."

.

She then fixed her focus on Damien and smiled.

"I see great ambition in your eyes, Damien-chan."

The young pirate in question couldn't help but twitch as he heard her way of addressing him.

"You should know the state of the seas is not something you can easily subvert, especially at your age."

She then waved her hand, "You are alone and have no one to rely on, no navigator to guide your path and no ship to carry you."

Damien squinted his eyes in return, "Where are you going with this?"

She shrugged, "It's very simple, the captain took in a new apprentice on the ship a couple of years ago, I can give you that same invitation."

"..."

Shakky eyed Damien's pause and flashed a smile, "You bear the surname D. like the captain, plus, he favours the young and feisty~"

Boom!

Their conversation was then interrupted, however.

A large shadow dropped, throwing shards of earth out of the ground and spiking out. A dull echo boomed through the emptied area, shattering glass in its wake.

"WORORORO!" a laugh thundered out, originating from a hulking figure at the core of the crater.

The deep voice came alongside a curious tone: "You're the one who they suspect to become a top-tier Supernova, I wasn't expecting to run into you here!"

Damien glanced at the grinning figure of the beast-like human, it was the future Emperor of the Seas – Kaido!

Though he didn't have his Azure Dragon Fruit as of now, he was still an imposing figure; standing at a towering height of 19 feet (5.79 meters)!

[Image of Kaido (in Discord)]

The beast-like pirate was grinning and glaring at Damien, deep lust for battle evident in his eyes.

The chair screeched as Damien stood up.

Matching the bone-chilling glare with one of his own, returning it to the pirate more than twice his own height.

"..."

A short standstill erupted as the two young men of similar ages simply eyed one another. Almost like a duel of fates.

.

Shakky gave out a small sigh and picked up her pistol.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* 

Three bullets were fired, though not someone, but rather around the piles of wood.

The bullets formed a triangle that soon was connected with black lines, and soon everything inside the triangular net went purple and sucked in all the wood!

The purple void-like ground soon disappeared as the wood was nowhere to be seen.

'A devil fruit?'

Shakky, as if she expected the question, tapped her gun and said with a wink, "My pistol is a little special~"

She then walked away from the two.

"I'll watch from the side as you boys play around," Shakky said as she sat by the edge of the peer.

Though she seemed quite curious about the coming duel.

*Rumble!*

The ground shuddered as the 19-foot tall monster grabbed his mace that was wedged into the ground and placed it on his shoulder.

Damien smirked in return, breathing in the tense atmosphere, "Bring it on," he waved.

Kaido broke out in a grin and raged forward without care.

Loud gong-like steps went off following the hulking mass of the pirate.

The mace was raised into the sky, intending to crash into its opponent.

Boom!

The air whistled as the heavy weapon slammed into Damien's position.

'He wants to take it head-on?' Shakky thought as she saw the response.

Damien raised his left fist clad it in Haki and returned a punch.

*Clang!* 

The sound of metal-on-metal erupted as the ground between them was torn asunder, a wave of shock followed and left all nearby windows in pieces.

A grinding noise soon followed as the two attacks struggled to give way to one another.

Damien smirked as he felt his Haki waver, but enough to stop the descending mace.

*Whizz*

Damien's body disappeared and reappeared at eye-level with Kaido and shot four fingers into his opponent's chest.

The fingers that were wrapped in air and Haki dug into the beast-like pirate's skin and left a bloody graze.

Kaido took a step back and saw his bruised chest.

"The Navy's little tricks, they tickle!"

He once again raised his club but this time he jumped into the air with a loud bang, reaching nearly 20 meters in the sky.

*Grrrr*

The air groaned as Kaido shifted his weight, holding his weapon up with both hands.

*Fwwm!*

Damien readied both arms as they were wrapped in a dull coat of Haki, armouring his defence.

BAM!

A resounding explosion went off as Damien gritted his teeth, holding up the coming mace. His fingers creaked at the metallic texture, trying to drill themselves in.

A huge weight fell onto the red-eyed pirate as he held up the weight of both Kaido's attack and weight; both pushing forth, wrestling for victory.

*Rumble*

The ground under Damien was cracked like a mirror as the shockwave continued to erupt.

Kaido gave up the assault and landed a handful of meters away.

He gave no chance for recovery and swung his club forth once more, a roar of refusal following it.

Damien once again returned a powerful left fist as he clashed head-on with the absurdly large mace.

'What power!' he thought with some struggle as his feet tore into the ground to maintain his balance.

'But my Armament Haki is growing fast!'

Damien then released his attack in retreat, causing Kaido to stagger a few steps forward due to inertia.

*Whizz*

Utilizing Soru allowed Damien to once again appear in the air in front of the momentarily immobilized pirate; a fist ready.

BAM!

Damien slammed his fist into the very sternum of the future Emperor, driving all his physical power in without mercy.

"Ugh!" Kaido gave out a groan as he felt his ribs tremble.

He was then shot forth at great speeds from the hit and crashed into the buildings a few hundred meters away.

Kaido went through three walls as the debris rained down everywhere.

.

Damien narrowed his eyes at the crash and saw a predictable result.

Kaido stood up in no time, throwing off huge piles of concrete and earth with ease, eliciting a deep rumble.

His chest was purple with some bruising but nothing worth mentioning.

"WORORO! Again!", he roared out with a wide grin.

He picked up his fallen mace and rushed forward with a thunderous charge.

*Crackle*

Purple lightning flashed around the weapon as if it was awakened from slumber, the smell of a beast emanated from the young pirate.

'His Haki is combusting the air into lightning?' Damien thought as he saw the flashing spectacle.

.

"Raimei Hakke!"

.

Kaido drove his thunderous mace without mercy as the air was ripped apart; the sheer pressure sent out tornadoes of wind as the giant weapon neared Damien.

Damien smiled in response as he ran head-first into the attack.

*Purrup*

His black fist was soon covered with a bubbling crimson mist.

Another stream of energy was helically wrapped around his arm while the main one gathered at his fist.

*Fwooo!*

Suddenly the energy around his arm shot forth like a spring, driving the one gathered in his hand like a rocket.

Flames sparked from the increased friction from the crushing ability as it blazed its way to the coming mace.

.

"Fury Road!"

.

BOOM! 

The erupting fist clashed with the black mace dancing with electricity as a booming shockwave pulsed out. The air screeched in return as the overpowering strength of Kaido collided with Damien's crushing powers.

The ground shattered apart in a spectacle of red and purple as the two sides refused to back down.

The two young pirates roared out in unison, loud enough to overshadow the torrents of air whirling out from their collision.

Boom!

Another explosion rattled the island as the two were soon sent flying in opposite directions and crashing into the walls at the expense of Severa Island.

Dust rained down and debris befell the land, more resembling a battlefield than a peaceful island.

*Cough* *Cough* 

Damien slowly stood up from the pile of debris as some blood dribbled from his mouth.

He glanced at his broken arm which had turned purple.

Kaido, on the other side, got up as well, his right arm was bruised and his wrist seemed to have cracked from the clash.

However, both young pirates had something in common, a grin plastered to their faces!

Damien's broken arm creaked as it was soon put back together and the recovery began.

Kaido's physical condition was surely better but his beloved club was cracked.

The two were about to rush at each other once more but…

"Ahem," a voice broke out.

"That's enough for now, the marines from nearby branches will be here soon and I can't gamble the wood on your little game," Shakky said as she walked in between the two.

Kaido grumbled, "To hell with those marines!"

Shakky was not amused.

"You can play later, right now we have a mission to complete and you'll have to hunt and cook your own food, Kaido-chan."

The horned youth scoffed in return as he lowered his fighting desire in silent surrender.

.

Shakky then turned towards Damien and said, "Your strength went beyond my expectations~"

She then winked in question: "Well, what do you say, do you want to come under the Rocks Pirates as an apprentice?"

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q