Grand Line, Little Garden.
The transponder snail cutting off mid-sentence, the words Fang Huo never finished, and that final voice echoing through the receiver—all of it made the Rocks Pirates' faces turn ashen.
"At last I've found you—Gu Yue Fang Huo!"
The words stabbed through their hearts like daggers.
Was it the Gorosei?
The Gods Knights?
A CP0 Agent?
Some Marine powerhouse?
Fang Huo had clearly been relaxed, with no sense of danger.
He'd been ambushed!
"No! Fang Huo—what happened to you?!"
Charlotte Linlin snatched up the transponder snail and screamed, her eyes reddening, body trembling, Conqueror's Haki slipping out of control.
"Damn it!"
Rocks was equally furious—Fang Huo attacked again!
"How could this happen?!"
Stussy murmured in shock; she'd just heard good news from Fang Huo, only for him to vanish the next instant.
Newgate and Babel looked equally grim.
Kiel Bastard and Maron went dead-silent, terrified by the raging Linlin and Rocks.
"Move! We're going after Fang Huo!"
"I'll slaughter every last World Government and Marine bastard!"
Charlotte Linlin's killing intent flared—if Rocks didn't set sail, she'd ride Zeus off alone.
"Go! Weigh anchor!"
Rocks dropped all thought of befriending Dorry and Brogy, ending the crew's training stint.
"Rocks, Newgate—if you need us, just shout; we can build a ship and follow!"
Dorry and Brogy exchanged glances—they'd grown to respect these new friends in the Rocks Pirates.
"Finish your duel and head back to Elbaf!"
"We'll visit Harald in Elbaf soon!"
The gibecks sword couldn't accommodate the two giants, so Rocks declined their offer.
Fang Huo's crisis forced the Rocks Pirates to quit Little Garden in haste, racing back into the Grand Line.
"Fang Huo's life paper crinkled—he's wounded!"
Both Stussy and Charlotte Linlin held pieces of his life paper.
"Alive is enough! Even if the Gorosei have him, I'll drag him back!"
Rocks' eyes blazed; the World Government had pushed him too far.
Retaliation—brutal retaliation—was the only answer.
Guided by the life paper, the gibecks sword shot forward like an arrow.
Every officer aboard resumed high-speed rowing.
Even Zeus and Prometheus bit down on tow-chains, dragging the ship faster.
——Fang Huo's brief clash with Garling in Drum's snowy forest had flattened miles of woodland.
The destruction set Drum's citizens buzzing again.
Rumors spread of a hero who'd driven off a demonic shadow.
Figarland Garling—infamous Celestial Dragons Knight—was somehow hailed as that hero.
The world truly works in wondrous ways.
And Garling, ever the scavenger king, had luck that beggared belief.
There had to be something uncanny to it.
Wandering aimlessly, he'd still stumbled upon Fang Huo on Drum Island.
Later he would "find" God Valley and the Davy Clan.
At God Valley he'd casually meet a woman and father two prodigy sons.
After Roger and Garp toppled Rocks, Garling swooped in for the kill, securing the Celestial Dragons' supremacy.
The Gorosei were thought immortal, yet after centuries Satan Saint was executed by Imu.
Garling ascended, becoming the undying "Science Defense Martial God".
One had to admit: Figarland Garling's luck was extraordinary.
Perhaps he was the luckiest of all Celestial Dragons.
——Fang Huo flew on, wounded.
He carried only a log pose and Drum's eternal pose; in the surprise attack he'd lost his transponder snail.
"Damn you, Figarland Garling!"
The gash across his chest, laced with Garling's potent Haki, refused to heal, Fang Huo's gaze growing colder.
He never expected Whitebeard Newgate's legendary chest scar to appear on him so soon.
"Still, the lesson is seared into me."
"Never drop your guard—no matter how safe things seem."
He traced the wound; had Garling aimed for his heart, even his Vampire Ability couldn't have saved him.
"Great Love Immortal Venerable was right: heroes swarm like fish in a river—underestimate no one."
Fang Huo mocked himself; aiming for that pinnacle, he'd grown complacent after gaining the Gulp-Gulp Fruit—pathetic.
"Garling, thanks for the wake-up stab—this pain is memorable."
He left the wound partly unhealed, a permanent reminder.
"Looks like I need a poneglyph to boost my toughness."
Having devoured iron ore, his steel body had still buckled beneath Garling's Haki blade.
Lost at altitude, he could only follow the log pose—he couldn't turn back to Drum.
He'd find an island to recover, then let his life paper guide him back to the Rocks Pirates.
"They must be worried sick without the transponder snail."
He planned to buy a new one at the next port.
"Will the next island be Alabasta?"
Studying the log pose, he frowned—he recalled the Straw Hats needing Vivi and Robin's eternal pose to reach Alabasta.
Drum and Alabasta weren't on the same route.
"Whatever."
"I just hope they sell transponder snail and have eternal poses for Alabasta and Jaya Island…"
Relying on his Vampire and Gravity Abilities, he followed the log pose.
Days later, the furious Rocks Pirates obliterated a Marine Branch along their search.
They publicly warned the World Government: if harm befell Gu Yue Fang Huo, they would kill a hundred Celestial Dragons in revenge.
Their brazen threat shook both the World Government and Marineford.
Neither would yield to pirates.
All forces mobilized to annihilate the Rocks Pirates.
Meanwhile, Fang Huo had landed on another island guided by the log pose.
A World Government member kingdom, fairly prosperous.
The island, Ruruka, was governed by a Mayor—ranking above a village or town chief.
——
Fang Huo spotted an ancient, peculiar tower.
Inquiry left him stunned—it was called the Rainbow Tower.
Local legend spoke of rainbow mist.
"Impossible… that plot-bug nonsense exists here too?"
——