"If you trust me that much, then there's no need to keep your illusion active all the time, right? I don't exactly have good memories of the illusions."
"Hah? And whose fault was it for trying to rob me along with that red-nosed guy? Just making you suffer a little was already merciful. Still, the world really changes fast. When I heard you became an Emperor of the Sea, and that red nose got recruited as a Shichibukai, I was genuinely shocked."
"You really hold a grudge. How many years ago was that?"
"What do you mean, hold a grudge? That's my new achievement now. The two of you better work harder. The stronger you become, the more interesting my memoirs will be in the future."
Unfortunately, there weren't many old-timers left on the seas who had been famous for years. Otherwise, Olga might have tried to break through the space-time warrior achievement. [TN: Some kind of achievement in Chinese Dungeon & Fighter game.]
Defeating young people who hadn't yet made a name for themselves versus defeating veterans who had risen to fame long ago.
Relatively speaking, the former was much easier than the latter. Trying to farm gold from ancient monsters carried considerable risk.
Shanks didn't refute Olga's logic. He had done plenty of outrageous things in his youth. As for Olga trying to rope him into unpaid labor, he himself had done that kind of thing quite often. The Red Hair Grand Fleet could be said to be an oddity among the Emperors of the Sea. They were famous for being weak. Aside from a few subordinate crews, Red Hair was more like a protective umbrella, sheltering a bunch of problematic pirates of questionable quality.
If that kind of situation really arose, he wouldn't mind stepping in. But against this group of pirates, Shanks felt he probably wouldn't get the chance.
Although Olga said she was going to make him work, she showed absolutely no sign of letting her guard down.
"Alright, if you want to hunt for treasure, talk about it somewhere else. For now, you can go experience what opponents in the New World are like."
With a familiar snap of her fingers, a gap opened in Olga's illusion, and the pirates below who had been trying to plunder the ship successfully boarded the Shadow Fox.
However, what they saw was only what Olga wanted them to see.
"So this is what it feels like? It's really quite strange."
Watching several pirates being deceived by the illusion, Shanks even waved at them. In the past, he had always been the victim of illusions. This was the first time he experienced what it felt like to be a spectator behind the scenes.
"This ship belongs to me now! Everything on board, including you, is my spoils of war!"
A burly man stood on the deck, drenched in sweat. In his perception, he had just defeated hundreds of pirates before boarding this ship.
After putting in so much effort, he wouldn't accept walking away without proper compensation. But before he could finish speaking, he noticed another pirate with the same goal as himself.
"Aries! I took this ship down. What are you trying to pull?"
"Arvid, you stupid cat, what nonsense are you spouting? You're the one trying to take advantage of me. I haven't even told you to get lost yet, and you're already shouting? Looks like I didn't beat you hard enough before."
A man with a mohawk shot back at Aries, then swung the flail in his hand.
"Looks like I'll have to get rid of you first."
As soon as he finished speaking, the flail smashed toward his opponent, only to be blocked midair by a pair of Haki-clad tiger claws.
Tiger King—Aries, bounty 311 million Berry, Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Tiger.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. The fact that you managed to crawl out of Impel Down alive is a real disappointment to me."
At that moment, the flail that Aries had grabbed suddenly shrank like a deflated balloon and slipped from his palm. But just before it hit the ground, it abruptly expanded again and slammed straight into his chest.
"After all these years, you still haven't learned your lesson."
Trick Hammer—Arvid, Paramecia-type Inflate-Inflate Fruit, bounty 290 million Berry.
His ability allows him to pump gas into inorganic objects he touches, altering their size, though their actual mass does not change.
Just as they were about to settle things between themselves, an old woman suddenly stepped forward. With hands as withered as dead vines, she separated the two.
"This ship is large. There should be enough inside for us to split evenly. Let's deal with the immediate problem first. There are Minks on board."
Toothless Judith, bounty 295 million Berry. True to her nickname, not a single tooth remained in her mouth, and two vicious scars could be seen running down both sides of her cheeks.
In her younger days, she had worked for a long time as a broker in the Underworld before switching careers to become a pirate, so she carried a certain degree of prestige.
At her suggestion, Arvid and Aries temporarily set aside their conflict and turned their attention to the Minks in front of them.
"Troublesome. Why are there Minks on this ship?"
Although a small number of Minks still moved about independently on the seas, the vast majority had ties to the Beasts Pirates. Most pirates were unwilling to provoke this race.
Not only were they powerful, but they also tended to attract even more terrifying monsters.
But now it seemed too late. After all, they had already "fought" their way aboard. No matter how one looked at it, there was no room left for reconciliation.
"A bunch of brats. I didn't see any adult Minks earlier. What about you?"
"No."
"I didn't see any either."
"Then kill them all. I don't want to leave any loose ends. What do you say?"
Aries rubbed his palms together as he made his decision. Some things shouldn't be done, but once they are done, it is better to finish them thoroughly.
His idea was met with approval from the other two. But before they could act, a song suddenly reached Aries' ears.
Before he could react, a bubble filled with water wrapped around his head and began spreading downward.
[Seawater?!]
A wave of weakness rose from within his body. It was a water bubble controlled by Maylo using Primarina's singing, essentially the natural enemy of Devil Fruit Users. The only problem was that she was still too young.
If she could envelop Aries' entire body in the water bubble, the Devil Fruit weakness would render him completely limp and powerless. But covering only his head wasn't enough.
While he still had strength left, Aries decisively slapped himself across the face. The impact between his palm and cheek created a strong shockwave, instantly shattering Maylo's water bubble.
"Damn it, what the hell is this?!"
Watching more water bubbles surge toward him, Aries showed clear panic. Seawater posed too great a restraint on him.
"It's that little girl… Interesting ability. That should fetch a good price."
Judith noticed the connection between the singing and the water bubbles, locking onto Maylo's position.
Though her body was aged and frail, she charged forward at a speed completely inconsistent with her age. The two scars on her cheeks split open as her mouth stretched to an exaggerated size and snapped toward Maylo.
She didn't have a single tooth, but her gums were coated in a layer of Haki.
Born toothless, Judith had always despised being mocked, and thus developed this peculiar fighting style. But before she could bite down on Maylo, a sudden bear's roar erupted beside her.
ROAR!!
Crackle—crackle—
Accompanied by the powerful crackling of electric currents, Bepo's body began to swell. His fluffy, lengthened fur enveloped most of his body, and his once adorably simple expression twisted into a ferocious expression.
"You old hag, stay away from her!!"
"Sulong?! How is that possible? It's daytime!"
Although Minks now possessed the ability to enter Sulong normally, the number of times it had been used was extremely limited. Hardly anyone had ever witnessed it.
The explosive power surging from Bepo's body far exceeded Judith's expectations. She was sent flying straight into the sea by his charge, and a new round of fierce combat began in the ocean.
"He's really going all out… and he even used Sulong right away. Elizabeth, go check on him in the water. That old hag has plenty of tricks, don't let anything unexpected happen."
Olga had originally intended for them to treat this as training, but Bepo had gone straight to a full-power ultimate move and even shifted the battlefield to another area.
To deal with that, she had no choice but to adjust her plans.
"Understood."
Elizabeth, standing beside Olga, turned invisible and slipped into the water. Meanwhile, the two remaining opponents on the deck met their own opponents.
After transforming, Meowna and Wolff moved to intercept Arvid.
The invisible vines in Meowna's hands wrapped around the flail he was holding. Before he could activate his ability, she detonated the flower bombs she had secretly planted. At the same time, Wolff—his body engulfed in flames—charged in from the flank and slammed into Arvid.
As for Aries, he was stopped by Carrot just as he tried to attack Maylo.
"You damn rabbit, get out of my way!"
Aries was furious. Maylo had locked onto him, and the moment he let his guard down, those water bubbles would immediately close in.
To avoid being surrounded by seawater, he had to spend time dispersing the bubbles first.
But whenever he did that, Carrot would seize the opportunity to attack him.
If he shifted his focus to deal with Carrot, the water bubbles would swarm him again, preventing his brute strength from being brought into play.
"B*stard, if you've got guts, fight me head-on! Stop playing these tri—"
Before he could finish, a mass of seawater surged into his mouth.
At the moment, Maylo's ability only allowed her to focus on one opponent, so Aries, the most troublesome-looking of the three, had become her top priority.
Under this triple-layered pressure, the pirates driven by greed had become their targets for training. But at that moment, Shanks suddenly sensed a dangerous aura.
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