By now, the area around the harbor was packed with people.
They had all been drawn here by the battle between Teresa and Mihawk.
Most of them kept their distance. They understood perfectly well that if they got too close and were caught in the aftershock of those two swordsmen's attacks, they would likely die on the spot.
But there were still some who ignored the danger and kept trying to edge closer.
These people were swordsmen.
They wanted to get as close as possible to the battlefield so they could see more of the fight.
To them, both Teresa and Mihawk were figures far beyond their reach, but that didn't stop them from trying to study their swordsmanship.
They knew they would never surpass either of them in this lifetime, but simply watching such a battle could still help them raise their own level.
For a swordsman, that temptation was fatal.
So even though some of them were struck by the aftershocks from time to time, more still kept pushing forward.
Clang—crack!
After another violent exchange, a fracture appeared in Teresa's greatsword.
A massive crack spread all the way to the spine of the blade.
Mihawk lowered his black blade and said, "Let's stop here for today. This time, I only held the advantage because my weapon was superior. You did not lose. We'll call this a draw."
He looked at her and added, "I hope that the next time we meet, you'll have found a sword that truly suits you."
Then he tossed over a notebook.
"Your weapon lacks the nourishment of Armament Haki. This contains some of my insights on tempering a weapon with Armament. It may be useful to you."
After saying that, Mihawk turned and left, heading for his tiny boat.
When the surrounding pirates heard Mihawk personally acknowledge that Teresa had fought him to a draw, they all swallowed hard.
Teresa caught the notebook, then released her Yoki.
After that, she calmly put the notebook away.
Then she started walking toward where the man with glasses had been left.
Seeing her approach, the pirates immediately made way for her.
Among pirates, respecting strength was an eternal rule.
Teresa stopped in front of the bespectacled man and grabbed him again.
This time, he didn't make a single sound.
He was as obedient as a rag doll.
As a World Government agent, he knew exactly how terrifying Dracule Mihawk was.
Dracule Mihawk had a bounty of 568,000,000 beli.
And that number was only because he was a lone swordsman, not some mass-murdering pirate who plundered and slaughtered everywhere he went.
If he had actually been a pirate, his bounty would have been at least twice that.
Even this bounty only existed because of his reckless personality. When he fought others, he often destroyed buildings and injured bystanders.
If another ship got in his way while he was sailing, he would attack without hesitation.
The Marines had tried to arrest him before, but three years ago, he had already managed to escape from the encirclement of three Marine Vice Admirals. By now, he would only be even stronger.
And if someone like Teresa could fight a man like that to a standstill, then his identity as a World Government agent truly meant nothing in front of her.
At a certain level of strength, even the World Government had to think carefully before making a move.
He was certain of one thing—
the World Government would never come after someone like her just for his sake.
That was why he was behaving so obediently now.
He only had one life.
Splash!
At that moment, Martha finally climbed back out of the sea.
"H-Hey... wasn't that woman supposed to be a Devil Fruit user? How did she just climb out of the water?"
"Yeah! Aren't Devil Fruit users supposed to drown if they fall into the sea?"
A huge number of pirates stared at the water-soaked Martha in utter disbelief.
Everything that had happened today was already outrageous enough.
First, a woman swordsman appeared who could fight Mihawk to a draw.
Then a supposed ability user calmly climbed out of the sea under her own power.
For many of the pirates here, their hearts still hadn't stopped pounding.
"Martha, Teresa, what happened here?"
At last, Kurogane Ren returned to the harbor with Xu Nian.
Earlier, while buying supplies in the city, he had suddenly heard the chaos coming from the harbor. Later, he learned that two terrifying swordsmen had started fighting there.
That had worried him badly, so he hurried back.
But the moment he arrived, all he saw was the area around The Lucky reduced to utter devastation, as if dozens of cannons had bombarded it.
Teresa answered in her usual calm tone, "Nothing much. I just fought someone named Dracule Mihawk. It ended in a draw."
Ren's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull.
Dracule Mihawk?
If Ren remembered correctly, that was the name of the future world's greatest swordsman—Hawk-Eyes.
He quickly asked, "Did he have eyes like a hawk?"
"Yes."
Ren sucked in a sharp breath.
He had always known Teresa was monstrously strong, but he hadn't expected her to be this strong.
Mihawk hadn't yet become the world's greatest swordsman, but he was already one of the strongest swordsmen in the world.
And Teresa had fought him to a draw.
From the newspapers, Ren already knew Mihawk had been challenging famous swordsmen all over the seas.
If Ren had known Teresa had only released ten percent of her Yoki, he would have been even more shocked.
Then he hurriedly asked, "Teresa, are you hurt?"
Teresa raised her greatsword and said, "I'm not hurt. But my sword is damaged. I'm afraid I won't be able to use it anymore."
Ren looked at the nearly broken blade and knew it had to be the work of Mihawk's weapon—Black Blade Yoru.
But he had no easy answer for this problem.
He had been in the One Piece world for quite a while now, but he hadn't even seen one of the fifty Skillful Grade swords, let alone one of the twelve Supreme Grade blades.
After all, the world of One Piece was vast, but there were fewer than a hundred truly famous blades in existence, and most of them were already in the hands of powerful people. Finding one without an owner was incredibly difficult.
And even then, a named blade from this world might not suit Teresa.
She had always used oversized, heavy greatswords.
That left Ren with a headache.
For a swordsman, losing their weapon meant losing ninety percent of their power.
Then Ren suddenly looked at Martha.
A thought flashed through his mind.
Could Martha use her ability to multiply the ultra-hard alloy inside her body and forge Teresa a suitable greatsword?
The moment the idea appeared, Ren asked her directly.
Martha's answer was simple.
Yes.
But it would take some time.
Only then did Ren finally notice the bespectacled man again.
"Who's this?"
Teresa briefly explained what had happened before Ren arrived.
Ren glanced at the man and said flatly, "If he's a World Government agent, then kill him."
"Alright."
Teresa carried it out without the slightest hesitation.
Ren then immediately took out six Skill Extraction Cards and placed them on the corpse.
He had drawn quite a few of those cards before, but because their condition required a target to already be dead, he'd rarely had a chance to use them properly.
After all, anyone weak enough to kill easily usually didn't have any worthwhile skills for him to extract.
This time, though, he had finally found someone who knew the Six Powers.
He wanted to use the chance to complete the set.
That way, even if he didn't use them himself, he could give them to others later—especially Martha.
Martha's attack power and defense were already excellent, but speed was one of her weaknesses.
If she gained a skill like Shave, her combat power would rise dramatically.
Using all six Skill Extraction Cards at once gave Ren the complete set of the Marine Six Powers.
Not far away, a member of the Tresia Pirates asked nervously, "Captain... they killed the first mate and so many of our people. Aren't we going to avenge them?"
Tresia looked at him as if he wanted to slap him.
A swordswoman who could fight Mihawk to a draw.
A powerful ability user.
A terrifying sniper.
How exactly were they supposed to take revenge against people like that?
When someone reached Mihawk's level, numbers stopped mattering.
Because for someone like that, killing ten people and killing a hundred people was only the difference between swinging their sword once and swinging it several times.
Tresia finally said, "Prepare a gift and take it to the Myriad Worlds Pirates. Tell them that tonight I wish to host a banquet in their honor. I hope they will attend."
"Captain... they killed the first mate and so many of our people, and we're still inviting them to dinner? Isn't that..."
Tresia shot him a look.
"Didn't you hear me?"
"Yes, Captain!"
Then Tresia added, "And when you go, show respect. Don't provoke them. Understood?"
"Understood, Captain."