It didn't take Kurogane Ren long to calm himself down.
When it came to monsters like Xu Nian, there was no point comparing himself to them.
For an ordinary person like him, it was better to rely honestly on the system to improve step by step.
At the moment, aside from his physical strength, he had a mix of sword techniques, blade techniques, boxing, several of the Six Powers, Observation Haki, and his Devil Fruit ability.
It sounded like a lot.
But in truth, none of them could be considered truly top-tier yet.
The biggest problem was obvious.
He still didn't know Armament Haki.
Observation Haki made him harder to hit, sure, but without Armament Haki, there were still enemies he could only endure attacks from rather than properly fight back against.
So Ren wanted to master Armament Haki first.
With Armament, not only could he hit Devil Fruit users properly, he could also greatly increase his own defense.
Unfortunately, there was no one around to teach him.
He could only try to figure it out by himself for now.
Still, Ren remembered hearing something in the past.
Some people claimed that Iron Body was a kind of stepping stone toward Armament Haki. If you mastered Iron Body, it supposedly became easier to grasp Armament afterward.
So Ren decided that for the next stretch of time, he would focus on practicing Iron Body and see whether he could force his way into Armament Haki through repeated training.
While Ren and the others were busy getting used to their new abilities, another ship was drawing near the ruined town on the opposite side of the island.
It was a pirate ship with a red dragon figurehead and a pair of curved horns.
"Captain, there's no one in the town. And the food's all gone too."
At that moment, a young man with bright red hair stepped off the ship.
Looking at the completely abandoned town, he frowned.
"That's strange. Three months ago, this place was still lively. How did it end up like this?"
One of the crew scratched his head.
"Captain, do you think pirates raided it?"
"Hang on. Let me check with Observation Haki."
The red-haired young man closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he opened them again.
"Found them. There's a ship and a few people on the other side of the island. Let's go ask them."
That man was none other than Red-Haired Shanks.
…
"Iron Body... Iron Body..."
Ren was repeating the technique over and over again, trying to force himself into Armament Haki through sheer persistence.
Just as he was fully immersed in practice, Xu Nian suddenly raised the 98k in her hands and said, "Captain, someone's coming."
Hearing that, Ren immediately spread out his Observation Haki.
But within his current range, he sensed nothing at all.
He looked at Xu Nian in confusion.
"There's no one there. My Observation Haki hasn't picked up anyone."
Xu Nian replied calmly, "They're still pretty far away. Around three thousand meters or so."
Ren's eyes widened.
"You can sense things three thousand meters away?"
"Yes," Xu Nian said as if it were obvious. "As a sniper, I believe I should have broad battlefield awareness. Even with a scope, I used to feel limited. Now that I have Observation Haki, it feels even more useful than my own eyes."
Ren stood there in stunned silence.
Xu Nian hadn't even had Observation Haki for that long.
Yet she could already sense things thousands of meters away while he could only cover a few hundred at best.
Was this really the difference between a genius and an ordinary person?
That was just cruel.
Then Xu Nian asked, "Captain, should I fire?"
Ren frowned.
"Can you confirm their identity?"
"No."
That made him hesitate.
From the look of things, there was a high chance the approaching group was the Marines.
After all, people had escaped from this island before. If those survivors reported what happened here, then the Marines would naturally come investigate.
And Ren hadn't erased all traces of his own activity on the island either.
It was very possible they had followed those clues here.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "Do this. Fire one shot in their direction, but don't aim at them directly. Can you manage that?"
Xu Nian lifted a brow.
"No problem."
She closed her eyes, raised the rifle, and slightly elevated the barrel.
Bang!
At that moment, Shanks and his crew were moving through the forest, following the traces left behind.
Suddenly, Shanks shouted, "Look out! There's a sniper!"
The moment they heard him, his crew scattered behind the nearest trees.
Only Shanks himself remained standing where he was.
Benn Beckman did the same.
Then—
Pfft.
"Hahahaha!"
Seeing his crew scramble in panic, Shanks burst into laughter.
Only after the bullet struck the ground more than ten meters away did the crew realize what had happened.
Their captain had played them for fools.
A moment later, a bunch of angry pirates rolled up their sleeves and stormed toward Shanks.
"Captain," Xu Nian said, lowering the rifle, "the other side has someone with very strong Observation Haki. My sniping won't be very effective."
Clearly, the reaction she had just seen told her enough.
There was definitely someone on the other side with outstanding Haki perception.
"Is that so?" Ren said.
"Then what are they doing now?"
Xu Nian paused.
"They're... fighting among themselves."
"Ha? Fighting among themselves?"
Back in the forest, Shanks was currently being beaten senseless by his own crew.
Benn Beckman finally got tired of watching, drew a short gun, and fired a shot into the sky.
The gunshot made everyone freeze.
Shanks stood back up, straightened his slightly messy clothes, and said with complete shamelessness, "Alright, boys. Since they dared fire on us, let's go rob them of all their treasure."
"OHHH!"
The crew instantly roared and charged forward again, now fully motivated.
Watching them run off, Shanks let out a long breath.
Thankfully, he had managed to redirect their attention.
But then Benn Beckman walked over.
"Beckman, aren't you going too?"
"I am," Beckman said. "But before that…"
He swung the butt of his gun straight into Shanks's head.
Bang!
"If you pull that again, I'll crack your skull open."
Shanks clutched his head and protested, "You actually used Haki on me! What if you damaged the brilliant brain of your captain?"
Beckman looked at him flatly.
"Have you ever actually used that brain of yours? I'm the one who does all the planning. When was the last time you came up with anything useful?"
Shanks puffed up indignantly.
"Haven't I ever had a good idea?"
Bang!
Another hit.
"You still have the nerve to say that? Who was the idiot who almost got us surrounded by a dozen Sea Kings last time?"
…
"Captain, they're charging us."
"Martha, prepare to engage."
A moment later, dozens of pirates burst out of the forest, shouting, "Hand over the treasure!"
Seeing them appear, Ren said coldly, "Martha, go easy. Leave them alive."
"Understood."
Since they still didn't know what kind of people these pirates were, Ren had no intention of slaughtering them outright.
Then he shouted, "Alright—let's go!"
"Hyah!"
Gripping his flip-flops, Ren charged forward atop the Serpent-Hound.
At the same time, Martha multiplied her liquid metal and shaped it into four massive tentacles, surging ahead at high speed.
The pirates all froze for a second when they saw what was coming at them—
a man riding a monster, and a silver four-legged tentacle creature charging behind him.
But the enemy was already right in front of them, so there was no point hesitating now.
All they could do was fight.
Only…
very quickly, they realized something terrifying.
Their side had dozens of men.
The enemy had only two.
And yet they couldn't win.
First, there was the silver "tentacle monster."
It wasn't limited to four tentacles at all. It could create new appendages from practically any part of its body at will.
Those appendages didn't fear blades or bullets.
They could be soft or hard, short or long, flexible or rigid.
Every attack the pirates launched was effortlessly neutralized.
Then there was the man riding the monster.
He kept darting left and right, absurdly agile in the saddle. Almost none of the pirates could land a proper hit on him.
And even when their weapons did clash directly, they gained nothing.
Because the flip-flops in his hands could easily block their blades.
Worse, those same flip-flops could even break their weapons outright.
Of course, some of them had tried to attack his mount instead.
But they quickly discovered that the monster under him simply didn't care.
Any wounds they cut into it healed before long.
Its neck could lengthen and shrink unpredictably, making attacks miss again and again.
And every time it dodged successfully, it seemed to grin at them.
That expression looked exactly like mockery.
…
"Boys! Did you take their treasure yet?"
At last, Shanks and Beckman walked out of the forest, still bickering with each other.
But the scene in front of them made both of them stop.
Their crew was sprawled all over the ground.
And in the center stood only two people, completely unbothered.
The playful grin disappeared from Shanks's face almost instantly.
Because he knew his crew well.
They weren't invincible, but in the first half of the Grand Line, they were more than strong enough to do whatever they wanted most of the time.
At the same time, Ren got a clear look at the newcomers.
The second he recognized them, the words came out on their own.
"Red-Haired Shanks. Benn Beckman."
[Author Note]
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