Chapter 28: Clash of Wills: A Brewing Storm on the Grand Line

Newgate’s gaze grew sharp and commanding, carrying such authority no one dared meet his eyes. He surged his Conqueror’s Haki forward, pressing it straight at Karl.

He hadn’t expected Karl to possess Conqueror’s Haki as well, but now he wanted to see if pushing him would help Karl grasp it on a deeper level.

Karl felt the sudden pressure from Newgate’s intensifying Haki, so he answered in kind, letting more of his own Conqueror’s Haki burst forth. Dark ripples flared behind him, the auras radiating a terrifying energy.

Under the clash of their Conqueror’s Haki, the mood instantly turned tense, the air thick with intensity.

Karl knew his Conqueror’s Haki wouldn’t last much longer. He had to attack first if he wanted to break through this deadlock.

He quickly coated his fists with every bit of strength he had. Purple, gold, and black lights glittered on his knuckles.

With that, he launched the first strike.

Karl shot forward, swinging his fist so fast that sonic booms cracked through the air.

His movements were lightning quick. All onlookers could see were afterimages streaking by.

Karl’s punch closed in, and even before his fist touched down, a roar of air behind Newgate erupted. The shockwave hit like a fierce gale, sweeping up everything nearby.

“That’s more like it!”

Newgate honestly hadn’t thought Karl would take the initiative, but that confirmed Karl was already reaching his current Haki limits.

“Quake!”

Newgate swung his right hand forward, covering it in Armament Haki and smashing it straight out.

In a blink, their fists collided.

The force of the impact shattered distant ships, cracked the earth below them into layers, and tore up giant trees by their roots.

The little island beneath their feet couldn’t handle that power. It exploded in an instant, slowly sinking beneath the waves.

Neither of them was close to satisfied, but things were already a mess—there was no choice but to stop, at least for now.

Both leapt onto ships floating out on the sea.

“Now that was a rush!”

“We’ll have to do this again sometime.”

For Karl, this was his first truly blood-pumping battle, and he was quickly addicted to that wild rush of adrenaline.

“Count me in!”

Newgate, sounding unconcerned, replied without hesitation.

He rarely got to let loose at full strength.

“Let’s head back.”

Karl ordered Krell to set a course for Beehive Island. The fight was over—there was no point in lingering.

He needed to carefully reflect on Observation Haki and Conqueror’s Haki. He’d only just started learning and wanted to use this experience to gain a deeper mastery.

After that, things on the island fell quiet for a while.

But time passed quickly, and soon the day arrived for Rocks to launch his assault on that member nation.

The pirates were busy getting ready for the attack on Tyr Kingdom, since it was no small country.

By now, Krell had fully learned the Golden Light Spell, though his spell looked pretty weak and thin.

Still, Krell made sure to take everyone out to the woods each day for training.

Under Krell’s guidance, over a hundred orphans plus Long Yi and Long Er had made solid progress with the Five Elements Fist.

Thanks to plenty of good food, the kids—including Long Yi and Long Er—were as strong as average children now. They had the basics of Five Elements Fist down, just missing real battle experience.

Originally, Long Yi and Long Er weren’t meant to join the expedition against Tyr Kingdom—they were still far too weak for this.

But the two pleaded endlessly, convinced they’d trained enough and desperate to see the world. They had no idea that in the New World, even setting sail required serious strength.

“Please, just let us come!”

Karl looked at their begging faces and couldn’t say no. Their skills were nearing warrant officer level anyway, and with Krell watching over them, there shouldn’t be much trouble.

“But you listen to Krell. If you don’t, there won’t be a next time!”

Even as Karl spoke, his eyes flicked toward Krell. To him, the two still weren’t ready for real battles. Krell had to keep a close eye on them, or all that training would be for nothing if something happened.

“We’ll be good, promise.”

Long Yi and Long Er suddenly turned meek at that.

Only Krell knew how much mischief those two got up to when training was done—they were the little terrors of Team Six in secret.

Even though they promised, Karl missed the sly glint in their eyes as they hung their heads.

They were already plotting ways to slip out from under Krell’s watch when the time came.

Once the tasks were assigned, Karl ordered the pirates to prepare for departure.

The coastline buzzed with activity as pirates rushed everywhere, hauling supplies onto their ships.

It took plenty of firepower to take down Tyr Kingdom.

…

Meanwhile, a few days earlier on Kuro Island—the headquarters of the Giant Pirates.

“What did you say?”

“Thirteen is dead.”

Hearing the news, Jorlul—the Giant Pirates’ captain—went on a rampage in his room, smashing it to bits. With Morgans’ News Agency not yet founded, information from the press traveled slow.

Nearly a month had passed, and he was only just getting word.

The messenger standing before him trembled, cowering before Jorlul’s overwhelming presence.

“Did you find out who did it?”

“According to our informants, it was Karl—the new Sixth Division Captain of the Rocks Pirates.”

“Master Thirteen snuck out, ran into Karl at sea, and somehow ended up killed by him.”

“That’s all we’ve learned—no more details.”

The messenger knew that Krell often snuck out anyway.

Usually, if people ran into him, they’d pull their punches out of respect for his family, but Karl didn’t know—or if he did, he definitely didn’t care.

“This is provocation. Rocks is taunting us.”

“Gather all division leaders.”

Jorlul wasted no time calling all his captains together.

Soon, the division captains filed in.

“Captain, is something wrong?”

“All captains are accounted for.”

Vice Captain Fred, already aware of the news, calmed everyone down.

“Just received word: my thirteenth son, Krell, was killed a month ago by Karl, Sixth Division Captain of the Rocks Pirates.”

“What? We finally had peace—why would they start a fight now?”

Fourth Division Captain Angelo was furious. Since their alliance with the X Pirates, they figured the Rocks Pirates didn’t dare challenge them.

“Then let’s fight back.”

Second Division Captain Eloy was always ready for chaos.

To him, it was inevitable they’d clash with the Rocks Pirates—sooner or later didn’t matter.

“Should we tell X?”

Fred had his worries—he knew their crew alone stood no chance against the Rocks Pirates.

If not for their alliance, the back half of the Grand Line would’ve belonged to the Rocks crew ages ago—they wouldn’t even have a place here.

“No need. We’re just going to talk. All I want is for them to hand over their Sixth Division Captain.”

“Besides, I’ve heard Rocks isn’t even on the island right now.”

With two pirate crews working together, the Rocks Pirates hadn’t bothered them in ages. Jorlul now believed Rocks was scared, thinking himself untouchable—especially with Rocks away.

But he didn’t know it was all a trick—a trap set by Rocks.

As soon as Rocks learned that Karl had killed Krell, he spread the fake story.

He never dreamed Jorlul would take the bait. To be fair, giants weren’t much for scheming—most of them weren’t exactly geniuses.

Rocks was just testing the waters. If the giants came, he’d wipe them out. If not, he lost nothing.

Meanwhile, the Rocks Pirates were preparing to attack Tyr Kingdom—a major power in the New World with over two million people, half a million soldiers and plenty of top fighters.

So Rocks wasn’t ignoring the giants—he just had bigger priorities.

“Order the pirates to assemble. I’m going to Rocks to demand justice.”

Impatience burned in Jorlul. In his eyes, Rocks’ behavior was fear disguised as bravado.

Their alliance with the X Pirates made him feel confident, maybe even arrogant.

“Should we leave some people behind?”

Fred knew Rocks had been waiting for a chance. Heading off alone to the Rocks Pirates was like sheep walking into a wolf’s den.

If the rumors weren’t true, wouldn’t they be…?

Rocks had wanted to conquer the latter half of the Grand Line for ages, only their alliance stopped him until now.

But that didn’t mean they should just stroll into the lion’s den alone.

Jorlul was a bit too cocky, sure this was just a meeting to demand a scapegoat. He only wanted Rocks to surrender Karl.

He really didn’t intend to spark a war.

But events were already veering in a direction far beyond anything he’d planned.