"WHAT THE HELL! WHERE DID HE GO!" Atlas roared in rage as his clawed hand tore through one of the scientists to his side.
Any attempts to answer him were just empty excuses or blubbering failures to explain what had happened.
His one chance to finally kill him and it failed. Somehow Saturn had sensed his attack coming before his hand had even finished transforming into this clawed form.
Blackened skin met hardened talons as his hand went numb and every bone shattered under his own force. Whatever that was it was not normal.
Saturn had simply raised his palm and watched from a distance like nothing.
"Hahhh, failure. Such a shame, I had such hope that you would succeed." With that the man disappeared in a flash.
With nowhere left for his rage to go, he turned it on the scientists that had willingly helped Saturn in their endless torturous experiments.
It was all too easy as he distorted his body, making him faster and stronger.. and deadlier. These aging scientists, who'd never experienced true hardship in their lives, didn't stand a chance.
Soon the fountains of blood flowing from their broken forms joined up and formed a pool as the closed door kept it all in, sloshing footsteps ran out as he raced about tearing the few remaining apart.
Rolf remained last, his hard faced handler having been the most vindictive of them deserved aore personal ending.
Grabbing him by the throat and raising him up to his face he stared into his terrified eyes one last time before..
Snap.
He had expected to feel satisfaction at seeing them die, atleast a feeling of retribution. Instead all that he felt was disgust. He didn't know what at but he hated it all the same.
"Kukukukukukuku!"
Laughter filled the room Atlas had emptied apart from himself. He stiffened involuntarily to the eerie sound that left them all him on edge as his hair stood on end.
"Well, what do we have here.." turning his head, he finally looked at the group responsible for his opportunity of escape.
A whole host of massively varying people filled his sight. Each one wild and unique, yet clearly none of them were weaklings.
A feeling of lingering fear crept up his spine as he looked at each one of them, some of them causing it to spike increasingly.
Until his eyes stopped on the one who had spoken. He wasn't the most impressive looking at first glance but Atlas' gut was screaming at him to run away as fast as he could.
Even Saturn hadn't made him feel this level of fear before. Whoever this guy was, he was not someone he could mess around with.
The pregnant pause only causing the already insane tension to nearly reach a breaking point. Already some of the less patient amongst the Rocks were looking ready to shout out in frustration.
"Who are you?" Atlas' calm voice broke the silence as he kept his tone steady and inquisitive. The question managed to stump the others as they looked at him as if he had grown another head.
"Who are we?!" They repeated in a confused anger at such a question. They were the scurge of the sea, everyone knew them and feared them, yet this kid had no idea!
"Kukukukuku! This gets better and better." Rock's deep voice echoed out as he seemed more amused at the lack of recognition from Atlas.
"Look, I don't know who you all are. But clearly you were for Saturn right?" Atlas responded to the lack of answer as the feeling of a biting chill in his spine grew stronger and stronger.
The crew tensed at his words, focussing back on him in an instant and forgetting all about the earlier question.
Even Rock's relaxed posture disappeared as his eyes lost any mirth, ready to kill at a moment's notice.
"He's gone, disappeared when I tried killing him!" Atlas rushed to say as he watched their reaction to his words, realising now was not the time to withhold anything. The anger and frustration in his tone making it clear he was still pissed off at failing to take down his persecutor.
That seemed to stop the crew as they gave him an appraising look. In the end though their reaction was not what Atlas was expecting.
Several of them broke out into chuckles and some of them even into full blown laughs.
"Kukukuku, a brave one aren't you? Taking on someone even we would find difficult.. although clearly you have some skill." Rocks spoke up yet again as he eyed Atlas with unbidden joy.
These were all seasoned warriors, their senses heightened beyond any normal level. With just a glance they could easily feel how powerful the person standing before them was.
With that they could all sense that, while he was certainly strong, he had not been trained in haki at all. If he had, their senses would be blaring at them to tread carefully.
The idea of this kid trying to kill Saturn, the elder known as 'warrior god of science and defence', was kinda funny for them.
Like watching a five year old try to beat up an MMA champion. The fact he was even still alive probably meant that Saturn decided killing him would allow them to catch up before he could escape.
Atlas however was not amused. He failed to kill the man who had made his life a misery for years and now these people showed up and laughed at his attempt at revenge.
"I would stop laughing now if you don't want to join these scientists.." his biting words dripped out of him in a cold fury, his quiet voice cutting louder than any shout.
The crew all stopped but not out of any fear from Atlas, annoyance shone on their faces as his words ticked them off.
Sensing their own rising emotions, Atlas decided to not wait for them to make the first move, rage had shrouded any survival instinct he had as the need to crush anyone and anything nearby to vent.
His body surged as it grew rapidly in size, muscles lengthening and doubling. Soon he was already scraping against the ceiling his shoulders pressing up.
Before long even that couldn't hold his new height, cracks lined the roof like spider webs as it caved under the intense growth spurt Atlas was going through.
As the large chunks of concrete rained down on the Rock's pirates, who all just stood watching in undisguised interest, Atlas straightened to his new full height.
The others now seemed like mere ants compared to him. Each one of his fingers were larger than most of them as he stood ready for the clash he expected to come.
Instead though he was met with intrigued expressions clear of any real fear. Clearly this form did not create the impression he was expecting.
Instead it was Atlas who felt more on edge now, anyone who could look at a literal giant and not look worried was clearly someone you didn't wanna mess with.
Again silence reigned as the stare down continued. On one side was a group of warriors all looking at him like he was a new play toy and on the other Atlas who refused to become another person's lab rat.
It didn't take long though before one of the group moved forwards, too bored by the waiting. Kaidou raced forwards before leaping into the air.
Being the youngest in the crew and having yet to properly train in haki too, he was too excited at finding someone who he might actually be able to spar with on equal footing to care about anything else.
His spiked club raised up in wide arc as he swung it towards Atlas' face at full power, the wind whistling as it was torn apart by his sheer power.
As Kaidou flew through the air towards him, Atlas threw up his arms defensively as he saw the horned kid manically smiling at him as his club came crashing forwards.
A massive 'BOOM' echoed out as club met giant arms, neither giving ground as the stalemate held them in place.
Kaidou huffed as he looked at the untouched skin of the giant, the spikes barely even managing to press into his skin let alone break through. He pushed down with all his might as he tried to topple him instead.
Atlas cracked a smile though, the others left him feeling a chill down his spine but this kid? He felt much better about his odds here.
Still, he could tell he was no pushover either, the force behind that attack could easily crush most buildings into dust. Instead he shifted his feet slightly as he decided to end this fast, before the kid might actually manage to hurt him.
After all a fly could hurt you if it flew into your eye, just because he was confident in his victory didn't mean he should play around especially with the others just... Watching.
With that he braced his knees and pressed down on Kaidou, swinging his arms out from their defensive position. Kaidou tried to keep up the pressure against him but it was a losing battle, even he couldn't truly match a giant in pure strength.
Like a kite with its string cut, he was sent smashing back down into the ground leaving a crater around him. The only sign of him being sent flying was a thin line of blood tracing down from his mouth.
Atlas stood ready for any retaliation, Kaidou may be shaking off that attack for now but his crew mates were definately capable of doing much worse to him.
Instead though, they all seemed to not care as their comrade was sent packing, laying bruised in his own crater. The apathy towards one of their own making Atlas even more unnerved.
"Not bad, not bad. It's decided, you will join the crew." That same sinister voice from earlier broke Atlas from eyeing the downed Kaidou apprehensively as the brute shook off the rubble and stood back up smiling like a mad man.
"What? Why would I join you, you didn't even ask." Atlas said before he could think it through. A sudden wave of dread washed over him as his skin prickled with the feeling of incoming death.
"You will join because I said you will." Rocks spoke out in a quiet voice, barely hiding his annoyance at Atlas questioning his words.
Atlas swiped away the cold sweat that trickled down his forehead as he nodded slowly to the much smaller man.
It didn't look like he would be given a choice, either he joined them or... Well probably best not to think about might happen if he refused.
Clearly this guy wasn't the type to accept no as an answer. Instead he stood there, refusing to shrink back down yet as he tried to calculate his chances at running away.
That lasted all of a few seconds as they were currently on an island surrounded by an eternal chaotic storm specifically chosen for its ability to make even the best navigators meet and early end.
Sighing loudly as he both figuratively and literally shrunk, slowly returning back down to his still impressive size, he met the gaze of the man who could only be their leader.
"I accept, but I still don't know who any of you are yet." He said deflatedly as he gave in to what was quickly becoming clear was his only option, atleast for now.
That made the man grin as the feeling of dread disappeared as quickly as it came. Atlas could have sworn that he saw the shadows reced back too as light seemed to grow stronger, but he chalked it up to just some trick of the mind.
"That's simple, we are the Rock's pirates, the most feared and despised pirate crew that sails any of the seas of this world!" With that he raised his arms as he splayed them at his crew.
Atlas let the words sink in as he realised just what he had accepted. Well it wasn't like attacking Saturn was gonna leave him in the World Governments good books anyway.
"And I.. am Rocks D. Xebecs, the Captain of the Rocks pirates." The creepy smile that split the man's features left Atlas rooted to his spot as goosebumps lined his skin.
He may not truly understand the meaning of that name just yet, but he could tell he would learn it all too soon.