The North Blue was quiet that night. The sea stretched endlessly under the pale moon, the waves sighing softly against the hulls of fishing boats and rchant ships. But beneath the surface of peace, shadows moved.
Sowhere along that dark horizon, a ship known to strike fear into kings and pirates alike lood like a shadow from the abyss. Its black sails carried a mark the world was beginning to dread. a skull with two crossing blades and a crown split in half.
Inside the captain's quarters, Rocks D. Xebec sat in silence.
The lantern's fla flickered over a table scattered with maps, bounty posters, and half-empty bottles. On the wall, wanted posters of the most terrifying nas in the seas fluttered. Charlotte Linlin, Edward Newgate, Shiki, Captain John, Silver Axe, and more.
But tonight, his focus was on a small, blood-stained sheet of parchnt.
It wasn't a bounty — it was a report.
A massacre.
An entire noble family in the North Blue had been wiped out in their manor. No treasure stolen, no survivors. Only a crimson symbol left on the wall — a single letter A, painted in blood.
Rocks smirked. "Heh. The Crimson Shadow strikes again."
He poured himself another drink, the rum catching the lantern light like fire. "A fifteen-year-old girl takes down an entire family of nobles… and walks away without a sound. That's no small feat."
From the corner, a familiar voice chuckled.
"You makin' a habit of readin' bedti stories, Rocks?"
It was Edward Newgate, not yet the great Whitebeard — still young, still wild, though his aura already felt like the sea itself.
Rocks leaned back in his chair. "Not bedti stories. Prospects."
Newgate raised a brow. "Prospects?"
"An assassin," Rocks said simply. "One who kills nobles. Efficient. Precise. No witnesses. That kind of woman's wasted in the shadows. I want her on my ship."
Newgate grunted. "A child?"
Rocks' grin widened. "A demon in a child's body."
Two nights later, they found her.
A small coastal town in the North Blue, long forgotten by the World Governnt. The streets were silent, the air heavy with salt and blood.
The first sound was a gunshot — sharp, distant, and deliberate.
A girl no older than fifteen stood atop the ruined remains of a noble's estate, her black cloak swaying in the night wind. Her face was calm, unreadable, though her crimson eyes reflected a storm of mories. Ada Wong. To most, she was just a child. To those who knew her in whispers, she was the Crimson Shadow, an assassin who never missed her mark.
Her parents had once been ordinary folks who dread of crossing into the Grand Line. But greed and politics had crushed those dreams. A world noble had seized their lives, and left Ada with nothing but grief. From that night, she trained herself to be sothing the world would not ignore, an assassin with hands steady as the tides and a heart colder than steel.
On this night, her rifle, blackened steel polished to silence, rested against her shoulder. Another job was complete. Another noble who preyed on the weak had fallen.
When Rocks and his small scouting group arrived, they found a dozen bounty hunters lying dead on the ground. Each shot — a perfect hit to the wrist, knee, or shoulder. All of them dead except one.
And there she was, standing over them — Ada Wong, barely fifteen, her dark cloak fluttering in the sea breeze, eyes glinting like cold steel.
"Who sent you?" she asked without turning, her pistol aid at the last man still awake.
Before the bounty hunter left alive could stamr an answer, Rocks stepped into view.
"Easy there, girl. You'll put an eye out if you keep twitching that finger."
Ada turned, lowering her weapon only slightly. Her stance didn't falter, her finger stayed on the trigger. "You're not with them."
Rocks smirked. "No. I'm worse."
The voice ca from the shadows below, deep and commanding. Ada turned, sharp, eyes narrowing at the figure who stepped into the moonlight. He was massive, his aura suffocating, like the ocean pressing down from all sides. A mane of wild hair frad his face, and his grin was both nacing and amused.
"Who are you?" Ada's tone carried no fear, only calculation.
The man laughed. "The na's Rocks D. Xebec. Rember it. I'll be the king of this world one day."
Ada studied him carefully. She had heard that na before—muttered by pirates, feared by marines. A man who gathered monsters and misfits, who believed the seas themselves would bow to him.
"And what does a man like you want with ?" she asked, shifting her stance subtly toward her rifle.
Rocks' grin widened. "You're wasted here, girl. The way you move, the way you shoot—there's more in you than revenge. You've got the hunger of soone who lost everything, and the strength to take it all back."
Ada stayed silent.
Rocks continued, his voice like rolling thunder. "Sail with . Join my crew. I'll give you power, riches, freedom—hell, I'll give you the chance to put your bullets through the hearts of the world's so-called kings."
Newgate and Linlin erged behind him. Linlin's booming laugh filled the air, echoing off the walls. "MAMA MAMA! This the little killer the papers talk about? She's adorable!"
Ada's eyes flicked between them — the sheer size of Newgate, the manic grin of Linlin, and finally back to Rocks, whose very presence distorted the air like a storm waiting to break.
She holstered her pistol slowly. "You're the Rocks Pirates."
Rocks spread his arms. "The one and only."
"Ill ask again, what do you want?" she asked.
"You," Rocks said.
The word hit harder than a gunshot.
Ada narrowed her eyes. "You think I'm for sale?"
"No," Rocks said calmly. "I think you're wasted killing small fry. You want revenge — I can see it. The world took sothing from you, didn't it?"
A flash of pain crossed her eyes. She didn't respond, but that silence was all the answer he needed.
Rocks smiled — not kindly, but knowingly. "You've got the look of soone who's already lost everything. That's the kind of fire I like."
They walked along the docks as the moonlight shimred off the water. Newgate carried a barrel of rum on his shoulder while Linlin chewed noisily on a roasted leg of sothing that might have once been a cow.
Rocks continued talking to Ada as if she had already agreed.
"You're good with that pistol," he said. "But I've seen n who can cut steel, and won who can split mountains. You've got a spark — but you need a storm."
Ada tilted her head. "And you think you're that storm?"
He grinned. "No. I am the sea itself."
That actually made her smile, faintly. "You talk big."
Newgate barked a laugh. "He always does. But he ain't lyin', girl. Man's crazy enough to fight the world governnt barehanded — and he's got half of us stupid enough to follow him."
Linlin slamd her aty fist into her palm. "MAMA MAMA! Speak for yourself, Newgate! I'm only here for the sweets and the screams!"
Ada shook her head. "You're all insane."
Rocks leaned close, his grin turning sharp. "That's why we're winning."
She looked out at the ocean, where the ship waited like a dark beast. "If I say no?"
Rocks shrugged. "Then we finish our drink, walk away, and you keep killing nobles in the shadows. The world will never rember your na."
His smile curved slow and dangerous. "But I've got a bad habit of asking twice. Or until you pull that trigger."
A tense beat passed. Then Ada pulled out her pistol — and fired.
The bullet grazed Rocks' cheek, cutting a thin line of blood.
For a mont, no one breathed.
Rocks chuckled, wiping the blood with his thumb. "Good aim."
The wind carried silence between them. Finally, Ada lowered her weapon. Then, Ada spoke — her voice low, steady, and cold. "If I sail with you, I'm no one's pawn."
Rocks threw back his head and laughed, the sound booming across the waves. "Good! I don't want pawns. I want wolves. And you, Ada Wong, are a wolf dressed in silk."
Newgate muttered under his breath. "Damn, kid's colder than ice."
Linlin burst into laughter again, wiping a tear from her eye. "MAMA MAMA! I like her already! She's got bite!"
Rocks nodded slowly. "Then it's settled. You're coming with us."
He turned and started walking toward the ship. "Let's go. She'll follow."
Newgate blinked. "You sure?"
Rocks didn't look back. "If she wanted dead, she'd have aid for the eye."
Ada stood still, her pistol lowered, the echo of the gunshot fading into the waves. Then, after a long pause, she sighed — and followed.
And so, under the cold stars of the North Blue, Ada Wong took her first step onto a path that would shake the seas. Beside Rocks D. Xebec, she would carve her legend not as a child, not as a victim—
but as the woman destined to stand at his side, feared by the world as the Crimson Shadow of the Rocks Pirates.
By dawn, the ship cut through the North Blue waters like a blade of shadow. Ada stood at the rail, the wind whipping her cloak behind her.
Rocks appeared beside her, arms crossed, staring at the horizon.
"You've got the eyes of a killer, girl," he said. "But under that — I see sothing else."
Ada didn't look at him. "What's that?"
"Soone who's still looking for aning."
She was quiet for a mont, then said softly, "And what about you? What are you looking for?"
Rocks grinned. "The world's heart. And when I find it… I'm gonna crush it."
Ada finally looked at him, her crimson eyes glinting. "Then I guess I'll stay long enough to see if you can."
Rocks laughed, the sound rolling like thunder.
"Welco to the Rocks Pirates, Ada Wong."
The crew erupted into cheers below deck. Linlin's laugh bood, Newgate raised his cup, and even Shiki fired his pistol into the air in celebration.
Ada looked out at the rising sun — for the first ti, not as an assassin in the dark, but as a pirate about to shake the world.
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