Seeing the Marines retreat, Kurokam and Uristin collapsed to the ground without any regard for appearances. There was no denying it—the pressure of fighting Admirals was immense.
In the later stages, those two Admirals had fought like madmen, their attacks growing increasingly ferocious. If Wend and Abro hadn't stepped in to help, the two of them would undoubtedly be sporting serious injuries right now.
"Thanks, Rayleigh," Shirakawa said to Rayleigh.
If Rayleigh hadn't shown up, there was no way Garp would have withdrawn so readily.
"It's nothing, just a small matter. Still, I never expected your strength to have grown to this extent!"
Hearing Rayleigh's sigh of admiration, Shirakawa smiled.
"Isn't that thanks to your guidance back then? Without you showing me the way, I couldn't possibly be this strong now."
"Heh, you make it sound so nice. I'll count this as you owing me a drink."
"Don't worry, I'll definitely treat you next time we meet. By the way, Rayleigh—have you seen Shanks around here?"
"Shanks? No. I've only caught glimpses of him in the newspaper from time to time. He probably hasn't made it here yet."
"Is that so? Rayleigh, when you see Shanks, could you let him know for me—I'll be waiting for him in the New World."
"Rest assured, when I see him, I'll pass your words along exactly as you said them."
Truth be told, Shirakawa was somewhat looking forward to seeing Shanks's current strength. To become one of the future Four Emperors, his power must already be formidable—at the very least, he should be at the level of a Marine Admiral by now.
As for Buggy, Shirakawa held no expectations whatsoever. His strength was genuinely trash. There was none of that hidden power the fans from his past life had speculated about. He'd probably only made it onto the Roger Pirates through sheer luck.
After all, sometimes luck was a form of strength in itself.
Perhaps the Roger Pirates' ability to escape every predicament was inseparable from Buggy's contributions.
In any case, over the past few years, Shirakawa hadn't caught wind of any news about Buggy—not even a scrap of a report in the papers.
He was probably off in the East Blue playing an obscure little pirate, or performing in some circus.
It would probably be a few more years before Shirakawa got any word on Buggy.
Although the Roger Pirates' members had deviated somewhat from the original story due to Shirakawa's arrival, Shirakawa felt that Buggy hadn't changed in the slightest.
"Then we'll be off, Rayleigh."
"Yeah, smooth sailing." After Rayleigh finished speaking, Shirakawa saw him turn around, rubbing at his eyes with his fingers.
"Say, is that bubble coating you put on actually sturdy? It's not going to shatter once we hit the sea, is it?"
"If you don't trust me, you can go find another coating mechanic."
The touching mood of their farewell was instantly dispelled by Shirakawa's remark. Rayleigh replied without any amusement in his voice.
"Haha, I was just joking with you, don't take it to heart."
Shirakawa trusted Rayleigh completely. But even if the coating did break, it wouldn't matter—he could instantly expand his Sanctuary, and they'd still reach Fish-Man Island safely.
After that, the Silver Pirates exchanged their farewells with Rayleigh and departed.
"To think I'd experience the feeling of parting ways once again..."
Watching the Silver Pirates' departing figures, Rayleigh felt as though he were seeing the former crew of the Roger Pirates. A tear welled up at the corner of his eye before he could stop it.
"Getting sentimental now that you're older?"
At some point, Shakky had appeared beside Rayleigh.
"Haha, you saw that? How embarrassing."
Rayleigh quickly wiped his tears away. He'd felt he still had a few good years before truly becoming an old man, yet now he seemed to have entered his twilight years ahead of schedule.
"If you can't bear to let them go, you could always set sail again. With your reputation, putting together a new pirate crew would be easy."
"Forget it."
Rayleigh rejected Shakky's proposal outright. Back then, he'd only gone to sea because of Roger—one could say Roger had dragged him into it.
Without Roger, Rayleigh had never had any intention of setting sail on his own.
"So this is the bubble coating? How fascinating."
When Shirakawa and the others reached the Silver, they saw the ship enveloped in a layer of membrane.
"Pretty sturdy."
Moll stepped on it a couple of times and bounced around, but the bubble coating showed no signs of bursting.
However, moored near their ship were many other pirate vessels—none of them coated—and their crews all wore expressions of panic.
Clearly, they had no intention of heading to Fish-Man Island.
"Hey, isn't that the pirate crew that struck the Celestial Dragons? Why do they look completely fine?"
As Shirakawa's group arrived, several pirates immediately noticed them and exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, that's them! The Admirals made their move—how are they unscathed?"
"Could they be related to the Fleet Admiral or something? That's why the Admirals didn't go all out."
"That's probably it."
The pirates speculated endlessly about the Silver Pirates' situation.
"That's impossible," an older pirate interjected. "Don't forget, five years ago they were nearly wiped out by the current Fleet Admiral."
"You know about them?"
The younger pirates turned to him.
"Of course. I first set sail right when they were at the height of their fame."
With that, the veteran pirate sank into reminiscence. Back then, he too had been a pirate captain, leading the men of his village out to sea.
But through all manner of hardships along the way, he'd ended up as an ordinary combatant on a rookie pirate crew, moonlighting as their navigator.
Having been at sea for five years—and having roamed the Grand Line for just as long—he knew far more about the Grand Line's ins and outs than the average navigator.
"Then tell us about them."
The other pirates grew interested.
"Saying too much won't do you any good. I'll just tell you this—their captain was once a great pirate with a bounty of one billion, and their crew's combined bounty exceeded two billion."
"Two billion?!"
Naturally, Shirakawa was in no mood to listen to their chatter. His gaze was fixed on the warship in the distance—if he wasn't mistaken, that was Garp's vessel.
"Captain, didn't they leave? Why are they back?"
Jora asked, puzzled.
"Could they be looking for another fight with us?"
"Who knows?"
Then, the warship opened fire—but its target wasn't them. It was the pirate ships surrounding them.
"Seems like they're not satisfied leaving empty-handed, those Marines."
Uristin understood their intent perfectly.
If they couldn't capture the Silver Pirates, then they'd capture every other pirate crew around the Sabaody Archipelago instead. That would still count as a major achievement.
Then they could simply say they'd wasted time capturing the other crews, which gave the Silver Pirates the chance to escape. A perfect excuse.
Come to think of it, this was already the second time Shirakawa had inadvertently screwed over the pirates of the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Captain, should we set sail now?" Moll asked.
"Let's wait a bit. But move the ship out of this area first, so we don't get caught in the crossfire."
"Yes, Captain."
Before long, every pirate crew had been captured—not a single one slipped through. If any pirates could escape from two Admirals, then those Marines would truly be useless.
Then came a spectacular sight: a warship towing several pirate ships behind it, each one manned by Marines, while the original pirates were tied up.
As the Marines departed, they fired a few more shots in Shirakawa's direction, looking thoroughly resentful. But Shirakawa and his crew deflected them with ease.
"Haha, those Marines are hilarious."
"Those shots were probably Garp's orders."
Even if they couldn't capture them, they'd at least give them a bit of grief.
At last, the sea fell calm. Aside from them, not a single ship remained in sight. One could say the Marines had made quite the haul today.
They'd probably pin the crime of striking the Celestial Dragons on some unfortunate scapegoat.
"Everyone, after five long years—let's set sail once more."
"YEAH!" The entire crew roared the word with soaring spirits.
Now, this was the true beginning of their voyage.
/-\
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