I will traverse countless worlds and become a god entirely on my own!

Zombie White Night: [God Valley is indeed dangerous. The Knights of God, Roger, Garp, and the Rocks Pirates... later on, it seems God Valley was directly split in two, right? Silver Axe, Captain John, and others all died, and then one half of God Valley became Thriller Bark? I don't want you to be living as a zombie years later!]

The Valley of the Gods is extremely dangerous; Silver Axe and Captain John died there.

Years later, Moria also found half of the Valley of the Gods and discovered the corpses on it, subsequently creating his own zombie army.

Naruto Byakuya: [By the way, can you not go? What's the situation with you at Rocks's place right now?]

It seems that everyone only knows that he is in the Rocks Pirates, but no one really knows the specifics.

Pirate Byakuya: [To put it simply, the Rocks Pirates were actually more like a large fleet, similar to the Straw Hat Grand Fleet in later times. Rocks had his own pirate crew, and everyone else joined later, like Shiki, Whitebeard, and Big Mom. I'm similar; although my strength is only that of a Rear Admiral, because I joined early, I also have my own squadron!]

Daily White Night: [Holy crap, Rocks was pretty generous to you! You're only a Major General-level fighter and you've already joined a squad!]

Byakuya actually invested in Rocks, and when the Rocks Pirates were just about to take action, he led his own pirate crew to join them immediately.

The main problem is that the timeline is awkward; he didn't have any special abilities back then, so he needed to rely on powerful figures.

In this era, the navy's survival environment was precarious, and Bai Ye did not want to be a dog of the Celestial Dragons, so he immediately rejected the navy's duties.

After all, he was a time traveler. If he only wanted stability, he could have easily become a lazy navy officer in the four seas, but he was unwilling to do so.

Since there's no Revolutionary Army at the moment, the only option left is to become a pirate.

Currently, there are only two forces among pirates worth joining: the Roger Pirates and the Rocks Pirates.

After being defeated by Rocks, Roger's pirate crew left the New World and began wandering the seas. It was clear that finding them would not be easy for Byakuya.

The Rocks Pirates had been based on Beehive Island in the New World, so Byakuya made a tough decision to join them.

Pirate Byakuya: [In the initial stages of a team, even if you're not very strong, the boss will still give you a decent position. I'd guess it's similar to Burgess, who's with Blackbeard, but my potential is greater. Actually, I started out with the strength of a colonel; it's all thanks to training with Rocks lately!]

The key to Bai Ye's rapid improvement in strength was training with Rocks.

He was able to become the captain of the squad not only because of Rocks's care, but also because he improved his strength from colonel to major general in just one week, and his strength continued to improve rapidly after that, which made Rocks see potential in Byakuya.

Since Bai Ye was the first person to respond to him, he would naturally take better care of Bai Ye.

Naruto Byakuya: [So your pirate crew is all here now?]

He was a little curious. If all the people were gathered, wouldn't that be close to the Valley of the Gods?

Pirate Byakuya: [Not yet, Kaido hasn't arrived yet. Currently, the first division commander is Whitebeard, the second division commander is Shiki, the third division commander is Charlotte Linlin, I am the fourth division commander, the fifth division commander is Wang Zhi, the sixth division commander is Captain John, and the seventh division commander is Silver Axe.]

With a total of seven divisions, plus some other pirates affiliated with each division, the framework of the Rocks Pirates has been formed.

Even if Kaido joins again, he won't become a squad leader. After all, Rocks already said that there will only be seven squad leaders in total, and that won't change.

Yokai Byakuya: [That's great! Even if you're the weakest of the seven captains, it still looks pretty good!]

This is the Rocks Pirates!

They were probably the strongest pirate crew of their time. Even Roger and his crew had other forces with them when they destroyed the Rocks Pirates, and even then, so many of their men still escaped.

After so many people ran away, three of them became the Four Emperors, and two became legendary pirates who stood shoulder to shoulder with Roger. The Rocks Pirates can be said to be full of talented people.

Pirate Byakuya: [I thought so at first too, but Rocks gave me a month, saying there would be a captain's challenge tournament later, and whoever wins will become the captain. I'm speechless!]

Nima!

He initially thought he could get away with it, but now he feels he can't possibly do it.

The captain's challenge is about to begin, and everyone is definitely watching my skills.

People like Whitebeard's group probably wouldn't dare to challenge them, and even among Wang Zhi's group, few would dare to do so; most people would come to challenge themselves.

This is why Byakuya is so eager to find the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Daily White Night: [Well, you're pretty unlucky, but you can always use the Kaleidoscope!]

Pirate Byakuya: [I can activate the Kaleidoscope, but my stamina can't keep up. Besides, I feel the Rumble-Rumble Fruit is currently the biggest upgrade I can get, so I can't just sit here and wait to die. This past month or so is probably all time Rocks gave me; if I don't reach my goal, he won't care about our past relationship!]

During this period, Lockes has been guiding his cultivation. If he fails, Lockes will probably stop guiding him in his future cultivation.

Therefore, Bai Ye cannot sit idly by and wait for death. In the world of One Piece, teachers are very important. For example, Kaido taught Luffy an ability with just one blow.

"Hey! Bai Ye's been looking for you for ages, let's go for a drink!"

Just as Bai Ye was talking in the chat group, Captain John grabbed him and seemed about to drag him to a banquet: "Hey kid, forget about your cultivation. I heard that Rocks sent Whitebeard to bring back a very talented kid!"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 22 John, I Don't Want to Lose! (Please continue reading)

"Captain John, you son of a bitch!"

As he spoke, Bai Ye gave Captain John the middle finger. This guy was the most clown on the ship, and Bai Ye had the best relationship with him in the pirate crew. They would often joke around with each other.

However, Bai Ye couldn't stand it after Captain John said those words. This was clearly a lack of confidence in his own strength!

Similarly, Captain John also gave Bai Ye the middle finger. He didn't know what it meant before. When Bai Ye gave him the middle finger, he just laughed and didn't care. But after he learned the meaning of the gesture, he couldn't stand it anymore and would give Bai Ye the middle finger anytime he wanted to respond!

"I'm serious, there's a brat named Kaido, that guy seems to be from the Oni clan, Rocks specifically requested him, and he sent Whitebeard to pick him up!"

Captain John glanced around, then told Bai Ye as if revealing a secret, as if afraid that others would find out.

This was something he had finally managed to hear.

"Don't overthink it. The captain probably didn't tell you this because he was afraid you'd overthink it. Speaking of which, besides Kaido, you have a few other rivals who are also eyeing your position!"

Captain John took a swig of his drink and casually remarked.

Upon hearing his words, Bai Ye also fell silent.

In the original storyline, there were probably only six captains. Besides himself, it is estimated that Rocks later held similar captain challenges.

However, these six people are indeed very strong at present.

Golden Lion, Whitebeard, and Big Mom are currently the three monsters of the Rocks Pirates.

Wang Zhi is a great swordsman, and Captain John is also top-tier on the ship with his domineering aura. Similarly, Silver Axe has monstrous strength, capable of splitting a mountain with a single swing, and possesses formidable Armament Haki.

These six would not be a match for Kaido at this time. Kaido himself was not particularly strong at this time. Kaido's real rise to power came after he ate the Blue Dragon Fruit.

But Byakuya couldn't wait that long. The Azure Dragon Fruit was stolen by Big Mom during God Valley and then given to Kaido.

With his current strength, he couldn't guarantee that he could snatch it from Big Mom. Even Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit was beyond his reach, and even if he did get it, Byakuya wouldn't really want it.

His ideal combination is for Blackbeard's physique to eat three Devil Fruits: the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the Paramecia-type Op-Op Fruit, and the Mythical Zoan-type Nika Fruit. Of course, if the Nika Fruit doesn't work, he has three Mythical Zoan options: the first is the Vampire form, the second is the Tanuki form, and the third is the Nue form.

The first one came from the Red Earl, endowing it with longevity and the ability to restore life.

The second one comes from the tanuki beside the Red Earl. It can turn any name or pattern written on it into a real object and give it special abilities. Even Devil Fruit users can create such objects. It's similar to the magic paintbrush of Ma Liang!

The third Devil Fruit belongs to Torajiro from Wano Country, a dragon-like creature that can distinguish between good and evil and is enveloped in fire.

In Bai Ye's opinion, none of the three Devil Fruits are weaker than Nika's, but of course they can't compare to Nika's, since Nika's is the most ridiculous fruit and also the one Oda gave his favorite character a power-up.

However, Nika can influence users and will make its own choices. For eight hundred years, the World Government has never found Nika. Even when it was found later, it was taken away by Shanks.

Ultimately, this was Nika's own choice.

Therefore, Bai Ye didn't really have much hope of finding Nika.

However, in the current situation, what Bai Ye needs most is the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

The most noticeable increase in combat power is seen in the early stages for Logia-type characters.

Whether it's the Op-Op Fruit or a Zoan-type Devil Fruit, the initial boost is definitely not as good as that of a Logia-type Devil Fruit, let alone the top-tier Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

After learning that the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was in Piccolo's possession, Byakuya could no longer hide his excitement. With the captain's competition about to begin and only a little over a month left, Byakuya was eager to give it a try.

"What are you thinking? You don't actually believe you can improve a lot in a month, do you? If you really think that, you should go find Locke!"

"I don't want to sit here and wait to die, becoming a laughingstock of the Rocks Pirates, John!"

Bai Ye looked at Captain John very seriously. He was promoted by Rocks, not by his own strength.

In fact, to a large extent, it was partly due to his own potential, and partly because Rocks wanted to show others that as long as they followed him sincerely, they could be like Bai Ye.

As a result, Bai Ye felt envy, but even more so, jealousy.

Everyone knew that Bai Ye's strength when he first joined was only that of a colonel. After being trained by Rockster, he gained the strength of a major admiral, but that was far from enough. The other captains were at least at the level of a mid-tier Shichibukai, but Bai Ye was only a major admiral.

Naturally, after the captain competition was announced, Bai Ye became the target of everyone's criticism.

To become a captain and gain Rocks's favor, defeating Whitebeard would be the best option, but if they all had the strength to defeat Whitebeard and the others, they would have been appointed captains by Rocks long ago.

That is because their strength is simply insufficient.

And Bai Ye is the best breakthrough point!

"Phew, you're really stubborn!" Captain John shook his head, then took another sip of his drink, and looked at Bai Ye with a serious expression, saying, "Do you need my help?"

When a man of the sea earnestly recounts his experiences to you, even the most unreliable pirate will listen attentively, let alone when that man is your friend!

Captain John sensed Bai Ye's determination. Since he didn't want to give up, he naturally wouldn't drag Bai Ye into drinking with him anymore.

"I need to leave the pirate crew for a while. Captain John, you've been to many places, could you give me a way to get to Skypiea? I need to go to Skypiea!"

Byakuya is gambling that if the Rumble-Rumble Fruit is with Biga, then after he eats it and combines it with Byakuya's abilities from the Naruto world, he is confident that he will make a name for himself in this battle.

However, even without the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he wouldn't panic too much, since he still has the Mangekyou Sharingan, which is powerful enough. As long as he can maintain his stamina to use the Mangekyou Sharingan continuously, he can remain invincible.

However, given more possibilities, Bai Ye naturally wouldn't cling to just one kaleidoscope ability.

"Yes, but I have a map to Sky Island. How are you going to get there? To find that guy Shiki?"

Captain John loved collecting treasures, so naturally he kept permanent markers in various places to help him find them.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 23 The Man Who Climbed to an Island 10,000 Meters Above Sea Level! (Please Read On!)

"No, I just need a sky island that's relatively close to me, and a way to get there!"

The great pirates of the New World all know about the existence of Skypiea, and even the World Government knows about it.

However, if you're not going to live on a Sky Island long-term, you might feel a bit uncomfortable when you first arrive. Also, life on the Sky Island isn't as free as on the open sea, so not many people would be interested in going there.

Bai Ye doesn't want, or rather, doesn't want to have any business dealings with Jin Shi Zi right now.

Having the Golden Lion escort him to Bika is obviously the fastest way.

But first, he would owe Shiki a huge favor, just like Kaido was able to get the Blue Dragon Fruit from Big Mom.