The pirate ship's deck was now silent, with only the crackling of burning wood and the pungent smell of blood remaining.
Quentin Seven strolled casually past the piles of dead pirate crew members, ignoring the chaos he had just created. His goal now was to explore the ship's contents before sinking it to the bottom of the sea.
As a time traveler who arrived empty-handed, looting enemy ships was a necessity to gather information.
He entered the captain's cabin, which was quite luxurious. There, he found several chests filled with gold coins, jewelry, and a stack of high-quality fabrics. His eyes fell on a roll of black fabric and some dark cotton cloth.
Seeing those fabrics, an idea flashed through his mind.
Seven removed his rough, smelly animal-skin cloak. He took sewing supplies from the captain's desk drawer. For the next few hours, he was busy cutting and sewing. His hands moved with a dexterity that, strangely, felt very familiar.
While sewing, Seven pondered. The Sharingan in his eyes, the ability to use the fire element, and fragmented memories of the war against the Otsutsuki Leader. All of that pointed to one logical conclusion regarding his past life in the Ninja World.
"If I can use these eyes and such powerful fire techniques… there's no doubt about it, I used to be a member of the Uchiha clan," Seven muttered to himself.
To honor the past life that had given him such a foundation of power, Seven decided to reclaim that identity. On the back of his new dark-colored garment, he carefully embroidered a symbol: a fan red at the top and white at the bottom. The Uchiha clan crest.
He then wrapped his body in an elegant, long black cloak, covering his high-collared garment. Seven's appearance had now changed drastically. He no longer looked like a stranded primitive human, but rather a swordsman or elite assassin exuding a mysterious aura.
Once his attire was sorted, Seven began rummaging through the pile of documents on Captain Sparrow's desk. He found a somewhat crumpled wanted poster. The face of the bird-beaked man he had just killed was displayed there, complete with the text "Dead or Alive: 100,000,000 Berries."
"Not a bad entry fee," Seven smirked as he folded the poster and slipped it into the pocket of his cloak.
However, what truly caught his attention was a stack of old newspapers lying in the corner of the desk. Seven picked up the papers and scanned the front page.
His eyes narrowed instantly as he read the publication date in the upper right corner of the paper. Year 1496 of the Sea Calendar.
It wasn't just the date; the newspaper's headline was written in bold letters dominating the entire page:
"ROCKS D. XEBEC KICKS OFF DAVY BACK! SEA MONSTERS GATHER!"
On the next page, there was another news column discussing a commemoration of a past tragedy: "Remembering the Mary Geoise Tragedy: The Death of a Navy Admiral in the Holy Land Uprising Several Years Ago."
Seven's heart beat a little faster. Her mind immediately pieced together these fragments of information.
Not the era of Monkey D. Luffy. Nor the era of Gol D. Roger.
"The Rocks Era," Seven whispered, his tone a mix of surprise and excitement.
He knew exactly what era this was. This was the time when the strongest monsters of the seas gathered under one banner to challenge the rulers of the world. And if his memories from his life before his reincarnation were correct, the Rocks Pirates would eventually meet their end in a battle against Garp and Roger at a place called the Valley of the Gods.
Whether that was what actually happened or what secrets lay behind the Valley of the Gods incident, Seven wasn't entirely sure. But one thing was clear: the seas were currently teeming with monsters from the old era who would go on to dominate the seas for decades to come.
"Interesting… this is far more interesting than I imagined," Seven smiled widely. His eyes gleamed sharply.
He quickly packed up the valuables he could carry, grabbed the remaining water and preserved food from the ship's galley, then dragged Captain Sparrow's corpse—its throat slit—out onto the deck.
Down below, his raft was still moored quietly. Seven tossed the sack of his loot onto the raft, then flung Sparrow's stiff body into a corner of the raft as if discarding a sack of trash.
Seven jumped down, landing smoothly on the raft. On his left shoulder, Matatabi sat gracefully, while Shukaku perched on his right shoulder, chewing on a piece of jerky.
"Done with the nostalgia, Uchiha?" Shukaku teased, glancing at Seven's new cloak and the fan emblem on his back.
"Shut up, Shukaku. At least these clothes are more comfortable than leopard skin," Seven replied casually. He picked up his wooden paddle and began to row the raft away from the side of the pirate ship.
Once they were at a safe distance, about fifty meters from the ship, Seven turned toward his left shoulder. "Hey, Matatabi. That ship is too conspicuous if left floating as a wreck. Can you take care of it?"
Matatabi's yellow and green eyes blinked slowly. The blue fire cat stood up, stretched its tiny body, then grinned with a condescending look toward Shukaku. "Watch closely, fat Raccoon. This is how the strongest Cat destroys things."
Matatabi leaped from Seven's shoulder and soared through the air. He opened his tiny mouth.
The air around him suddenly trembled violently. Points of light—red and dark blue—materialized out of nowhere, gathering and condensing in front of Matatabi's mouth at an incredible speed. The ratio of positive and negative energy merged perfectly, forming a pitch-black sphere that emitted a terrifying purple glow.
Although the sphere was only the size of a marble, the density of the chakra within it made the surrounding space appear distorted. A high-pitched, screeching hum filled the air, causing the instincts of any living creature to scream in fear.
It was the destructive technique of the tailed beasts. The Bijuudama.
WUUUNG!
Matatabi fired a Bijuudama of extremely high density. The projectile streaked through the air, leaving a vacuum trail in its wake, striking the hull of Captain Sparrow's pirate ship directly.
A single, tense second of silence fell.
Then… the world seemed to end.
KABOOOOM!!!
A colossal explosion in the form of a dark energy dome erupted from the center of the ship. Its blinding light engulfed the entire three-masted wooden structure, leaving nothing behind. A terrifying shockwave swept across the ocean, creating a water column soaring hundreds of meters into the sky. The deafening roar of the explosion echoed through the clouds and shook the sea.
Seven's raft was violently tossed about by the waves it had generated. Seven had to channel Haki into the soles of his feet to stay firmly anchored to the raft's wood.
In the blink of an eye, the pirate ship vaporized into ash and small, burning wood chips floating on the ocean. No ship's hull remained. No masts remained. Everything was swept clean.
Matatabi landed back on Seven's shoulder with elegance, licking his front claws as if he'd just brushed off some dust. "Done."
Shukaku swallowed roughly, a hint of envy in his thoughts, but his pride refused to acknowledge the attack's brilliance. "Pfft, showing off. If your chakra's stable, you'd probably fire one the size of a hill, right?"
Seven merely chuckled. He turned to gaze at the vast ocean before him. His red Sharingan eyes glinted with ambition under the blazing sun. His hand reached for the sail rope, letting the wind catch the wild beast's hide.
Behind him, a ship had been reduced to ashes. And on this small raft, he carried the corpse of a fugitive worth one hundred million Berry.
"Our next destination," said Seven, letting his black cloak and the Uchiha clan crest on his back flutter in the sea breeze. "The West Sea Naval Base."