Baichuan's opponents were mostly small fry, the kind on the Whitebeard Pirates you could not even name. For characters that unimportant, Baichuan had no reason to hold back.
Maybe it was because Baichuan was being too ruthless, but a division captain soon appeared in front of him, intercepting his attack.
"You look unfamiliar. A new member of the Roger Pirates?" the man asked in the middle of battle.
"That's right. My name's Baichuan. Who are you?"
"I'm Blenheim, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Ninth Division. Remember it," he said. The moment he finished speaking, a force surged along his blade, pushing Baichuan back a full step.
"Ninth Division commander, huh? Perfect. A worthy opponent."
If it were the captains from Whitebeard's First to Fifth Divisions, Baichuan was not their match. But from the Sixth onward, he would not dare say he would definitely win, yet he also would not lose quickly.
Baichuan's gaze sharpened. A fierce aura burst from him, and the Sword of Damocles above his head materialized in an instant.
"What the hell is that?" The Whitebeard Pirates who were seeing that sword for the first time jolted in fear. If that sword fell, they would suffer massive losses.
In a heartbeat, everyone's attention locked onto Baichuan, Whitebeard included.
"Roger, I didn't expect you to have such an interesting brat on your ship," Whitebeard said, even pausing his clash with Roger.
"Hahaha! He's one of the crewmen I'm most optimistic about!" Roger laughed heartily.
"But right now, he's still just a kid who hasn't grown up yet."
Hearing Roger say that, Whitebeard's impression of Baichuan deepened. There were very few people who could earn words like that from Roger.
"Is that so? Then I'm looking forward to seeing what he grows into."
"Relax. He won't be worse than you or me." With that, the two of them resumed their fight. The Whitebeard Pirates saw their captain moving again, so of course they had no reason to stop and watch the show.
Even so, they still spared part of their attention to the sword hanging high in the sky.
"A Devil Fruit user?" Blenheim said gravely. This was the first time he had ever seen such an ability, so he could not help being cautious.
"More or less," Baichuan replied. "But you don't need to worry about it. It's not that useful."
"Is that so?" Blenheim shot back, clearly not believing him. A sword that huge being "not useful" would be a joke.
The clash between Roger and Whitebeard was enormous. No one dared come close to the area around their battle. Once Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor ability went wild, it did not distinguish friend from foe.
Every strike split the ground. The island itself, not small by any means, had already been cleaved into two halves by the two of them. One half became Roger and Whitebeard's exclusive battlefield, the other half belonged to everyone else.
"Pops is really going crazy," Marco muttered in the middle of fighting, though he clearly was not taking it seriously. Even Gaban, who was facing him, was only going through the motions, firing a few shots and nothing more.
Rayleigh and Kozuki Oden's battlefield was the same. Their attacks were all probing. You could say that on this whole battlefield, the only one seriously fighting a Whitebeard commander was Baichuan.
"Tch. Not simple, kid," Blenheim said. He was starting to regret it. Why did he have to pick such a troublesome brat? If he had picked someone else, he could have slacked off and played it easy.
Now it was different. If he did not fight seriously, he might end up with a cut somewhere, any second.
What was even more infuriating was that the kid in front of him was not getting hurt. Or maybe he had an ability similar to Marco's, recovering from injuries just like that.
After the stalemate dragged on for a while, Blenheim finally could not take it anymore. If your strength was not enough to crush the other side, then someone like this kid could keep dragging it out with you forever.
"What? You don't want to fight anymore?" Baichuan asked, confused when he saw Blenheim jump back. Baichuan was in the zone, having the time of his life. He had not spared a thought for how the other side felt.
"Marco, let's switch. I think you'll be very interested in this kid," Blenheim called out to the leisurely Marco.
Even if he could not beat Gaban, at least it would not feel as miserable as fighting Baichuan.
"Fine." Marco glanced at Baichuan and grew interested too.
"You're going to play with Baichuan?" Gaban had naturally heard them. He pushed up his sunglasses. "Good. Then I can rest a bit too. That kid's ability is pretty similar to yours."
"Is it?" Marco's interest deepened at that.
"Aren't you worried about him?" Blenheim moved to face Gaban, but neither of them attacked. Blenheim was not Gaban's opponent, so he was not about to ask for a beating. And Gaban not attacking was something Blenheim was more than happy to see. That way, he could at least claim he was tying down one of the Roger Pirates' main forces.
"His ability is far stronger than you think," Gaban said. He pulled a bottle from his waist, took a swig, and let out a satisfied groan. "If you drag it out, you really aren't his match."
"Is that so?" Blenheim looked unconvinced. The fight was not over. No one knew the final result.
"Just keep watching."
"Hearing you say my ability is like yours," Marco said as he stopped in front of Baichuan, wearing that dead-fish-eyed look, his tone flat and calm.
"Marco the Immortal Phoenix, our abilities really are similar," Baichuan said. "But I feel like mine is a bit stronger than yours."
"Is that so?" Marco replied.
The next second, Marco was in front of Baichuan. He kicked out, sending Baichuan flying back dozens of meters.
"And you're still not worried?" Blenheim swallowed, looking at Baichuan instantly losing ground, then looking at Gaban drinking leisurely. He could not help feeling jealous. He regretted not bringing a whole barrel of booze down from the ship.
"Not worried," Gaban said. "He'll be fine."
Sure enough, once the smoke and dust cleared, Baichuan appeared again, perfectly intact in front of everyone.
"Whoa. It really looks like Captain Marco's ability!" Whitebeard's crew exclaimed. A normal person would definitely have been injured by that kick.
"It does. It really is like the phoenix's ability." When Marco healed, there would be the phoenix's distinctive flames on the wound, but Baichuan did not have that.
Suddenly, Marco felt his body become heavier. Even the ground under him seemed to sink lower than the surrounding area.
"Gravity?" Marco shouted in surprise. He had not expected Baichuan to also be able to control gravity, and that gravity was suppressing his speed.
"Not good." Marco cursed under his breath.
In the blink of an eye, Baichuan was right in front of him. Since he already knew Marco could regenerate, Baichuan did not need to show any mercy now.
But just as Baichuan was about to land his attack, Marco instantly entered his phoenix form, breaking free of gravity's control and taking to the air.
Baichuan's strike cut through empty space.
/-\
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