One Piece: Path to Power

Chapter 23: [23] Birth of a Titan

[2520 words]

Haki Leveling and Power Leveling chapters are out in the Auxiliary Volume detailing their respective fields.

Note: They are different from the original story. For example, it no longer goes Low-Mid-High-Top but simply Bottom/Middle/Top for Yonko Commanders and Yonko.

Also, as clarification, any stats shown with "↑" do not mean that Damien just got them, it simply shows any upgrades since the last time the stats panel was shown.

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[A Week Later]

"Pirates catch a marine patrol fleet by surprise; thousands dead."

Damien rolled his eyes at the headlines and skimmed through the report.

The name of the Rocks Pirates was once again not mentioned, rather it was more focused on the marine genocide headed by the four evil pirates.

< KAIDO >

< 'Hundred-Beast' >

< 𝔅 350,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< EINAR⋅D⋅DAMIEN >

< 'Sin Incarnate' >

< 𝔅 420,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< SHAKUYAKU >

< 'Black Death' >

< 𝔅 700,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

-----< WANTED >-----

< EDWARD⋅NEWGATE >

< 'Whitebeard' >

< 𝔅 1,846,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

----------------------------

"Nearly two billion on Whitebeard, the number is probably lower due to his neutral nature, at least compared to the others in the Rocks Pirates," Damien surmised.

"But this news cover-up is a little too blatant, not even mentioning the presence of an Admiral, rather annoying."

Damien's eyes soon shone with a different light, a curious one.

{Come to me.}

The voice echoed through the calm seas as Damien sat at the edge of the worn-down island.

*Squack*

*Chirp*

*Creet-Creet*

One by one, tens, hundreds, thousands of birds and other flying mammals descended, flying around the young pirate in a tornado of multiple colours.

Some sat on his shoulders, some on his head, while the others chirped in a musical spectacle.

{Spread out through the Grand Line and look for the headquarters of the World News Agency.}

*Squack*

*Chirp*

*Creet-Creet*

The birds sang in agreement as they burst out in every direction, some heading further into the New World while many back towards the Red Line.

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

[Operation Nexus]

[ Find the World News Agency Main Base - ❌]

[ Find Replacement President - ❌]

[ Bring the replacement under control - ❌]

[ Have the Agency exit the World Government's Grasp - ❌]

[Time Limit - 1486]

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

The first goal was to find the HQ of the News Agency. As for finding a replacement head for him to control, that may take some time.

'There are some news-focused islands I read about, I'll have to pay a visit there and see if I can find someone worthy,' Damien thought.

He then gazed up at the sun; it was noon, also the time for when the ship was to be completed.

…

Damien saw some familiar faces as he arrived at the old man's decrepit house.

He had used the port by his home to build the ship's frame and drop it into the shallow water to finish construction.

As of now, there was a ginormous ship that eclipsed over the entire area. Dozens of meters tall.

It was covered with a dull-brown cloth that for some reason came in such absurd sizes. Perhaps shipwrights had a thing for carrying ship-sized cloths around.

The crazy thing was that Hammer had built the entire ship alone, seven days to build his best creation.

.

"He looks like he hasn't slept since we handed him the materials," Damien said as he stood side-by-side with the three other pirates.

Shakky sighed, "That's because he hasn't, what a crazy guy."

Hammer's eyes were bright red and his eyebags had bags. The man's face was slicked in sweat yet his droopy eyes shone bright.

"Hamu-Hamu-Hamu! She's ready, I've done it!" he roared.

He then yeeted the entire cloth off with a single motion, revealing the beauty hidden under the veil.

Whitebeard stepped up and saw the encased ship, "It's almost twice as big as a marine battleship."

 Shakky nodded with some surprise.

The ship was more magnificent than she imagined.

Damien also heard the comparison and could confirm.

A marine battleship is around the size of an Ancient Giant such as Little Oars Jr. That is, around 60 meters tall (~200 feet). This ship was a little under twice as large, at around 100 meters in height (328 feet).

[A/N: For the Americans: 100 meters is equivalent to the Statue of Liberty with Kaido standing on top of it.]

The mighty vessel had two main masts, with 2-3 sails each. The front of the ship had a W-shaped frame with a giant skull at the helm.

A large structure sat at the center-back of the ship, capable of housing thousands of men.

The main decoration of the golden-framed ship was the lowest sail at the front: it was black in colour, unlike the other white ones.

It read a single word in large font: [ R O C K S ]

With a red, flaming skull in place of the 'O.'

[Image of the Ship (in Discord)]

.

Kaido also raised an eyebrow at the ship created with the grandiose materials.

Hammer cleared his throat and began to introduce the vessel.

"The ship's frame is naturally made of the Adam's Oak, tough and strong enough to hold up a mountain."

He continued, "I lined the entire ship with a thin sheet of the Eternal Ore, this should allow any small point of force to be equally distributed to the entire ship, leaving absolutely no weak points. It is solid enough to conquer this turbulent sea!"

Hammer's eyes shone with tears, "The ship is my finest creation!"

The man fell to his knees due to both fatigue and joy.

"I-I did it, my son, I did it…"

"Does it have a name?" Damien asked the weeping man.

Hammer looked up and slowly shook his head.

This prompted the pirates to give their thoughts.

Shakky: "Mighty Ship-chan."

Kaido: "World Killer."

Whitebeard: "Shamu."

Hammer froze for a second, though he didn't want to interfere with the naming ceremony, he still felt that his creation deserved a fitting name.

Damien sighed at his fellow companions' naming sense.

He tapped his chin with some thought and concluded, "Since it's a vessel born to be a titan amongst ships, why don't we go with…"

"The Titanic."

The pirates slowly nodded their heads in unison.

"The Titanic," Hammer reiterated with a dazed expression. "Yes, that speaks to me! The Titanic is born!"

Shakky saw the satisfied Hammer and could only break the joyful moment.

"Hammer, you should know what is to come once we set sail this ship."

The words caused the shipbuilder to reply with a small chuckle.

"Hamu-Hamu-Hamu! I have long accepted my fate from creating this ship, I regret nothing!"

He stood up with resolve, "I can die fulfilled."

Shakky nodded at his words and walked into the ship to familiarize herself with the steering.

Whitebeard and Kaido went to bring the supplies to the ship, leaving Hammer and Damien behind.

"Damien-lad, I have a favour to ask of you."

The pirate in question looked up at the towering Hammer and saw signs of lost hope.

"My son, Quentin Kraft, if you ever meet him in some miracle, can you just tell him that his pops did it? He built a ship that can carry the world!"

Damien saw the burning gaze of the shipbuilder. 

The flame that was suppressed into a lost spark over decades of pain rekindled once again.

"You have my word," Damien agreed. 

The old man gave a short sigh of relief, his body swallowed by fatigue as he fell to his knees once more.

The desperate grip on life to die without regret had finally amounted to something.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure the world knows of your craft."

Damien then walked up the ramp and into the ship's quarters, leaving the lone shipbuilder.

Hammer remained seated, watching the virgin Titanic set sail for the first time.

...

Many hours passed. The Titanic was long gone; the sun had set and night had arrived.

Hammer remained seated by the edge of the island, smoking a cigar. A satisfied and content look on his face.

*Vvooo!*

An ominous breeze whistled past the weathered shipbuilder. Sending a chill down his spine.

A long line of warships on the far horizon. Ten of them.

They came like a wave of destruction, extinguishing any hopes of survival.

The bright lamps hung from the battalion of battleships lit up the dark seas, creating a disastrous sight. A powerful and indomitable aura surrounding their arrival.

Thud!

A dark shadow fell behind the seated shipbuilder.

A marine. Purple hair, muscular build, powerful.

Hammer didn't even flinch as he softly spoke up, "Zephyr, been a while."

The Vice Admiral gave a short sigh and stood behind the man.

"Hammer, it seems you've made your choice."

The shipbuilder gazed at the marine, "You came all the way here to lecture me?"

Zephyr shut his eyes.

"I was the one in charge of escorting the Celestial Dragons who did this to your island, I shouldn't have let it happen."

Hammer broke out into a laugh.

"Hamu-Hamu-Hamu!"

"Zephyr, you're a good guy amongst the top dogs of the Marines. You helped many of our residents out before the bounty hunters arrived, you don't owe me anything."

The marine shook his head slightly with an inexplicable expression and took out a transponder snail.

Hammer saw the device and paid it no mind.

"Zephyr, can you at least tell if he's still alive?"

The purple-haired marine glanced at the longing expression on the lone shipbuilder and slowly nodded.

Hammer just smirked and returned his gaze to the battalion of ships, almost as if welcoming the cold embrace of death.

"Was that ship worth it?" Zephyr asked.

The old shipbuilder gave out a crazed grin, "That ship will be the spark that will light the fire that will burn the World Government down!"

"…"

"Farewell, Hammer."

Zephyr soon jumped into the sky and landed at the leading warship.

He put the golden snail before himself, its brilliance was quite the contrast to the hell it wrought.

Darkness had entirely hidden Zephyr's face as he gave a single order in a robotic voice, "Commence the Buster Call."

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[A Day Later]

"The news is out, Naufragium Island was destroyed by pirates and will be removed from any future maps henceforth," Shakky broke the news while bringing out lunch.

The pirates were in the main hall of the Titanic.

Whitebeard didn't pay it much mind, after all, Hammer was content with this fate and it would be dishonourable to pity him.

Damien leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling.

'A Buster Call, a single order that will decide an island's fate within moments.'

He then resumed eating the copious amounts of food laid on the table.

Shakky also sat down on the rather new and shiny chair.

They too, were made of Adam's Oak.

"We will arrive at Hachinosu in three days," she stated.

Kaido, who was busy devouring meat like a vacuum, seemed excited, "I wonder if the captain will declare war right away. WORORORO! I can't wait!"

Whitebeard took a mouthful of meat and saké, rolling his eyes at the battle-crazy ogre.

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[Four Days later]

Damien now stood at the front deck of the Titanic.

The towering Whitebeard was also present.

The man slurped down his saké as Damien spoke up: "Tell me more about the crew, Newgate-san."

*Gurrup*

"That bastard Golden Lion Shiki who's always flying around like an annoying fly, throwing islands down," the pirate began.

"The crazy woman Linlin is always going off about eating while popping out a dozen brats."

"The wily, two-faced fox Captain John. Always scrounging for treasure and looting every village and island in his path."

"Nothing more than a collection of scum standing under each of them and their ships."

He took another heavy sip of his drink.

"As for Captain Rocks? Let's just say he's a monster amongst monsters."

Newgate sighed at the memory of Xebec who came to mind.

"Rocks rules through fear and absolute strength, even with the other bad names under his flag, most of which are Conquerors Haki users. The fear he spreads has led practically everyone to call him by his surname, rather than as Xebec."

"Gurarara, a crazy guy."

Whitebeard soon finished his saké and gave out a sigh.

"Only breath of fresh air is from leaving that vile island, this is the most enjoyable journey I've had in a while."

The two then looked at the horizon and saw an island.

It had a giant skull-shaped mountain at its core. Also called the 'Pirate Paradise' of Hachinosu!

The name translated to "Beehive" and explained the bee-like nature of the landmass: a single enemy ship and the pirates on the land would rush out like bees to obliterate them.

[Image of Hachinosu (in Discord)]

"We're here, get ready, Rocks will probably want to meet you," Whitebeard announced as he walked back onto the ship.

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[Hachinosu, New World]

The island reeked.

A mix of blood, alcohol, sex, trash, and smoke.

A few corpses lined up through the streets of the pirate island, some fresh, some old.

Small fights and skirmishes broke out here and there as more and more pirates fell. Some lost limbs, some their lives.

It was every man for himself.

As long as there wasn't a riot, the top dogs could care less.

"What'd you say about my mother?"

The burly pirate was smashing the face of another Rocks pirate with a shovel, a disfigured body left behind.

He kept pounding the corpse, the blood pooling out and splashing onto the killer's face.

Boom!

A fire suddenly blazed on the opposite side of the street.

A group of pirates grinned and laughed musically as they tossed flaming bottles of Molotov cocktails.

They revelled in the screams that followed.

"Move along, brats, it's just a little flame."

This voice belonged to a tall and lanky pirate as he pulled on a chain.

It was linked to the necks of six fearful children, yanking them like slaves.

Suffice to say, this was a place for the absolute worst of the worst the world could offer.

Even as a fellow crewmate, your fate was unknown. A 'friend' of one day may become your killer.

The newer pirates had to sleep with one eye open. 

It was the den of scum, Hachinosu.

…

"Oye, there's a ship coming~!" a drunk voice bellowed near the terribly managed port.

The island was naturally surrounded by dozens of pirate ships, an enemy coming here would be met with a hail of firepower.

"Stand down, the ship has our flag!"

"Even better, fire away!"

The crazy man was soon met with a blade and his head fell to the ground under a fountain of blood.

"Let them in."

The nearby tens of pirates had a change in expression.

Some with fear, some with craze, some with anger, some with excitement.

"What a gorgeous ship, is this what the Shakky-sama went to get?"

"One of the Division Commanders went too, Whitebeard!"

"And the latest news, it seems they also brought back some super-rookie!"

"It was that monstrous Kaido a year ago, now it's someone even worse? Great!"

"I wonder what his blood tastes like?"

Alas, the newly-born Titanic docked, dropping its anchors to the sea floor.

The platform was soon connected by some fodders as the four pirates stepped off.

Damien took in the gloomy and horrid atmosphere of the island.

A small grin across his face, 'Time to meet the man who struck such fear in the Government that they had to erase him from history!'

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

In the previous work, Rocks also came and ran into Damien, stringing him along. They made the crew a little later, whereas here, it is more canon-accurate with the group already standing by this time of year.

Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q