"Captain Marco actually transformed into his phoenix form?" the Whitebeard Pirates exclaimed in shock. None of them had expected that harmless-looking kid on the other side to have this kind of strength.
"Looks like I overestimated you a little."
"What do you mean?" Marco shifted back into human form. Baichuan's words had clearly carried a hint of contempt. Was he saying Marco was not as strong as he had imagined?
"I mean exactly what I said. At first, I thought that as Whitebeard's First Division Commander, you should have pretty impressive strength. But looking at it now, it is all because of your Devil Fruit ability."
Before this fight, Baichuan really had believed Marco possessed formidable strength. He had always been thinking of the Marco from the Summit War twenty years later. But the current Marco was only a young man in his early twenties, not much older than Baichuan himself.
If Baichuan trained for another two or three months, he believed his strength would not be any weaker than Marco's current level.
"Is that so? If you look down on me, you'll pay the price." For the first time, real emotion appeared in Marco's eyes. It was anger.
"Then let me see what kind of price that is." A startling aura suddenly erupted from Baichuan's body. Even the ground around him cracked apart like a spiderweb.
"Oh? He's going all out now?" Rayleigh, who had been fighting Kozuki Oden, also stopped attacking. Gaban watched the battle with great interest as well. If there was anyone on the Roger Pirates who understood Baichuan's strength best right now, it was undoubtedly Gaban.
Because Baichuan had been studying Observation Haki lately, he had spent most of his time with Gaban, who had also acted as his sparring partner. Naturally, his strength had improved by leaps and bounds. Compared to when he faced Rogue last time, he was much stronger now.
"He's been on the ship for less than half a year, right? I still remember when he first came aboard, he was about evenly matched with Buggy. But now I can only look up at him."
One of the Roger Pirates who had a bit of strength sighed. You could say they had watched Baichuan grow into his current level step by step.
"It feels like watching your own kid grow up."
"Yeah, except this kid grew a little too fast. It feels like before we even had time to witness the process, he was already fully grown." The Roger Pirates all sighed in regret.
"At least Shanks's growth is still within an acceptable range." Shanks was also a genius, but at least he was not a monster on Baichuan's level. Most of the Roger Pirates could still beat him.
"Then why don't you mention Buggy? Buggy's even better. Absolutely unchanged forever."
"That's true, hahaha." The moment Buggy was brought up, the Roger Pirates all burst out laughing. Of course, it was not mocking laughter, but warm, heartfelt laughter. At the very least, Buggy was not one of those geniuses. He was just like them, only now he happened to have eaten a Devil Fruit.
Buggy could practically be called the Roger Pirates' happy pill. He was always performing little acts for the crew. Especially after eating the Chop-Chop Fruit, he had even more tricks, and they were far more thrilling than before.
Marco transformed into his phoenix form again. For most Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, taking on their Beast form allowed them to bring out greater strength. Naturally, Marco was no exception. Marco's Devil Fruit is the Phoenix Fruit, known for its regenerative blue flames.
"Kid, do you really think you can hit me now?" Marco flew into the air and looked down at Baichuan from above.
"You're underestimating me too much, Marco." Baichuan rose into the air as well. Lifting the blade in his hand, he slashed out a flying slash. The sharp sword energy instantly tore through Marco's wing, but it had no real effect. As soon as the slash passed, Marco's wing restored itself to normal.
"As expected. Without Armament Haki, my attacks against this kind of enemy still aren't strong enough."
Baichuan sounded a little helpless, but Marco could not do anything to him either.
The two exchanged several rounds of attacks, but neither side suffered any injury.
"I suddenly realized something," Marco said darkly, hovering in the air. "I think I'm starting to dislike you."
"Same here." Baichuan was finding Marco increasingly unpleasant to look at. Maybe it was because he could not defeat him. If he were strong enough to beat Marco, he probably would not feel this way.
Then both of them dropped back to the ground, entering a ceasefire. After all, aside from Roger and Whitebeard, the others from both pirate crews had already stopped fighting long ago. Some had even gone back to their ships and brought down food and alcohol.
"So this is what it's always like between our two crews?" After landing and seeing the lively scene, Baichuan asked Marco in confusion.
"Yeah. You'll get used to it eventually. Better enjoy this break while it lasts. I doubt we'll get to keep resting for much longer."
"What do you mean?" Baichuan asked, puzzled. Were they going to start fighting again? The two pirate crews were already drinking and chatting merrily together now. Even though loud booming sounds still kept coming from the nearby island, and from time to time they could feel tremors like earthquakes.
"If I'm not wrong, the Navy should have gotten the news already. They're probably on their way here now. And once they arrive, a fierce battle with the Navy will be unavoidable."
"Is that so? Then I'm really looking forward to it." Baichuan sounded excited.
"You really are a battle maniac." Marco shot Baichuan a sidelong glance. Just then, a whole stretch of trees behind them collapsed.
"Pops' fruit really is dangerous." Blue flames rose from Marco's body, while a shield appeared in front of Baichuan, blocking the aftershock.
"So this is the battle between Whitebeard and the captain? It really gets the blood boiling."
"Yeah. We really aren't the same kind of person."
Although Marco was a pirate, he did not actually like fighting. Maybe it had something to do with his Devil Fruit being more like a healing type.
Marco's Phoenix Fruit could not only restore his own injuries, but also heal others' wounds. So sometimes, Marco even filled in as the Whitebeard Pirates' ship doctor.
At this point, the scene between the Roger and Whitebeard Pirates was almost absurd. Two people who had just been crossing blades a moment ago were now sitting together with arms around each other's shoulders, drinking happily. Some were even singing and dancing.
Even Buggy, who had hidden in the shadows during the battle just now, came out openly and brazenly. He split off his upper body and flew around in circles above the two pirate crews.
"Well, well, if it isn't Red Nose. So you ate a Devil Fruit after all."
At that moment, someone from the Whitebeard Pirates recognized Buggy and called out to him.
"You bastard, who are you calling Red Nose?!" Buggy immediately split off his hands as well and grabbed the man by the collar.
"So you still refuse to accept that red nose of yours, huh? Hahaha!" The pirate completely ignored Buggy's angry insults and kept laughing at him.
They were all far too familiar with Buggy by now, so jokes like this were common. And Buggy was not the only one who got teased. The Whitebeard Pirates themselves were often made fun of by the Roger Pirates too.
/-\
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