One Piece: Fist of the Full Moon

As the massive fist filled his vision—

Memories suddenly flooded Waldo's mind.

The ambition he once felt as a child, dreaming of the sea.

The bold declarations he made to his brother about carving out a place in the world.

The hardships of his first voyage.

The twisted mix of fear and exhilaration after taking his first life.

The first time he received a bounty—how he had proudly shown it to his brother, only to see that complicated look in Binjack's eyes.

And the moment he stepped onto this irreversible path, with no way back.

His gaze drifted into the distance.

There sat his older brother, Binjack, in his wheelchair.

Binjack's expression twisted. His skeletal arm lifted into the air, eyes wide, tears streaming down his face. His lips moved desperately.

Even from afar, Waldo could read them.

He was calling his name.

"I'm sorry… brother."

"Perhaps… you were right from the start."

Binjack had never stopped advising him.

But Waldo had been stubborn. He believed his overwhelming strength could face any enemy.

And now?

His arrogance had cost him his life.

Worse—

His subordinates. His brother.

They would all pay the price for his foolishness.

If he begged, perhaps there would still be a sliver of hope. After all, a pirate with a 734,000,000 Berries bounty had value.

But reason could not overpower pride.

A man like him—

How could he beg?

He had seen how vast the world was. He had felt the boundlessness of the sea.

And the price for that realization—

Was his life.

—

Roldy's fist effortlessly shattered the remaining fragment of rock.

Earth and debris exploded outward.

Waldo's true body was revealed.

His eyes rolled back. He lost consciousness instantly.

But Roldy did not stop.

His expression remained calm as a storm of punches rained down, mercilessly crushing Waldo's last traces of life.

He did not hold back his Armament Haki Coating.

To kill an enemy worthy of acknowledgment with his proudest method—

That was the final respect he would show.

The Shima Shima no Mi was indeed a formidable ability.

But Roldy had no fondness for a man who provoked him without reason and committed countless atrocities.

Waldo's end—

Was nothing more than a pile of shattered flesh.

The moment he died, the long-hidden Sheen made his move.

Waldo's crew had no particularly noteworthy fighters. The strongest among them barely approached a 100 million Berries bounty—and even that was inflated by atrocities rather than true combat power.

Before Sheen—fully recovered, forged through Roldy's brutal training, and in the prime of his life—they were insignificant.

More importantly—

Sheen was a Great White Shark Fish-Man.

One of the strongest fish-man lineages.

With his natural talent and Roldy's guidance, he tore through the pirates like a storm.

Roldy did not interfere.

It was good for his companion to shed some blood.

Killing a criminal worth 734 million Berries stirred no emotion within him.

He turned toward the kingdom's commander and gave what he believed was a friendly smile—

Which nearly scared the man's soul out of his body.

"Tell your king the matter's been handled. As for what happens next—that's your problem."

Roldy had no ulterior motive.

But the commander naturally interpreted it as:

This wasn't charity.

Such arrangements were common in the New World.

Surely the king would gladly pay. Compared to the destruction of an entire kingdom, money meant nothing.

Under the commander's reverent gaze, Roldy sat down on a rock and lit a cigar.

As he watched Sheen rampage across the battlefield, he began thinking about the future.

—

Since the fall of the Rocks Pirates, the New World had grown increasingly unstable.

Not only there—even pirates from the first half of the Grand Line had become more active. Recently, a considerable number had entered the New World. Many foolish upstarts had attempted to challenge their authority.

Still—

That wasn't entirely a bad thing.

The Golden Lion's forces had grown stronger as a result.

Including Roldy's own flagship, the Melbis, the Golden Lion Pirates now possessed seventeen large pirate ships.

A fleet of significant scale.

Without exaggeration, Shiki's power was now among the most outrageous in the New World.

Aside from that freak Whitebeard, who roamed the seas "adopting sons," no pirate crew dared confront the Golden Lion head-on.

Two Admiral-tier combatants.

That alone was enough to project absolute dominance.

If they wanted territory—they took it.

If they disliked someone—they erased them.

The Golden Lion Pirates were reckless, bearing a shadow of the former Rocks Pirates.

But that wasn't entirely accurate.

Shiki's innate ferocity had been fully unleashed. In some ways, he was even more unrestrained than Rocks D. Xebec had been.

True, the Golden Lion Pirates did not rival the Rocks Pirates in overall strength.

But did that really matter?

Whether it was two Admiral-tier monsters or even more—

It was beyond what any other New World force could challenge.

The entire New World lay beneath the Golden Lion's ferocity.

Except for one crew.

The Roger Pirates.

At the thought of that name, Roldy's teeth ground audibly.

Leaving aside their history—

At God Valley, Gol D. Roger had slashed him once.

If not for that strike, how could there be a scar on his face that would never fade?

Across his left cheek, the scar cut through his lip.

It added a savage edge to his appearance—

But he preferred his original, perfect face.

Still…

If he remembered correctly—

Shiki had mentioned something.

The Roger Pirates were currently sailing some distance away from their territory.

But judging from their route—

There was a high probability they would pass through Golden Lion waters.

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