Hawk Eyes Arrives: World's Number One

"Now—"

"I declare this is my ship."

Inside the 'Baratie', a revitalized Krieg commanded loudly to everyone.

"Finish your last meal quickly, then get off my 'ship'!"

Turning his back without mercy, greedy and domineering. Truly the spirit of a pirate!

"Ah, right."

"I still have a group of subordinates on that dilapidated ship over there, about a hundred who haven't starved to death."

The tall man, Krieg, pointed at the cooks present.

"Go, prepare a hundred portions of food for me."

Faced with these absurd demands, the cooks here naturally refused! Moreover, they weren't weaklings; they were 'combat chefs' who dealt with pirates daily, so:

The cooks immediately drew their weapons and charged!

The result:

"A bunch of cowards, daring to defy me?"

Bang bang bang bang!

In just a few minutes... no, after a few seconds. The battle was over, and the cooks lying on the ground proved with their actions that the man named Krieg daring to call himself the overlord of the East Blue wasn't without reason.

So, after the owner of this 'restaurant' produced a hundred portions of food, Krieg, satisfied, threw down a sentence:

"If you don't want to die, abandon this place and get out."

"I'm sorry... Mr. Sanji... I'm sorry."

Torn between his leader and his benefactor, Gin knelt in pain on the ground amidst the messy restaurant.

"My leader promised me he wouldn't lay a hand on this place..."

"It's alright, no need to apologize, Gin."

Sanji, the blond man, lit a cigarette and stood up.

"Giving food to the hungry is a cook's duty."

"However, if that person becomes an aggressor after eating," the man named Sanji said, tapping his heel. "Then I won't let him off."

"Krieg, I'll take care of him!"

"Brother Zoro, Brother Luffy, Brother Roman!"

"This is bad!!"

Meanwhile, Joseph and Johnny, who had just swum to the 'Baratie' from the sea, anxiously found Roman and his group who were watching the show.

"The ship... the treasure... all of it..."

"Don't rush," Roman said, flipping his hand and handing them two white 'paper towels'.

"Wipe your faces and speak slowly."

"Phew, you guys—"

"Nami... she took the Going Merry!"

"And I saw her take the money from the other ship too..."

???

"Ah, this..."

Roman couldn't react for a moment.

"If it's lost, it's lost. What's so strange about that—"

"Hey, hey, Roman, if we don't have a ship, how are we going to sail the seas!!!"

Usopp, who cared the most about the Going Merry, was the first to be unable to accept it! For him, the Going Merry wasn't just his first ship; it carried his longing for his hometown!

"Isn't there still another ship over there?" Roman tilted his chin.

That's right, Nami had taken the Going Merry, while the unnamed merchant ship they had been using all along was still docked safely on the other side.

"But Nami stole all the money from that ship too..."

"It's just money. If you want it, there are ways to earn it."

Joke! When had a Transmigrator ever worried about money?

Moreover, Roman believed that as long as he continued to develop his Devil Fruit ability, he could even compete with Gild Tesoro (the Gold-Gold Fruit user) for the title of the world's richest man.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as 'generous', or perhaps 'open-minded', as Roman.

"Damn it, I thought she'd gotten more honest lately... I got careless!"

Zoro said, his face filled with anger.

"We're doomed, we're doomed! Once Krieg brings his men to take over this ship, if we can't run fast enough, we'll definitely be thrown into the sea..."

Usopp said, his face filled with despair.

"Roman,"

Luffy, the Captain, didn't offer an opinion, but rather pressed down on his Straw Hat.

"Can you track the Golden Merry?"

"Yeah, Roman's paper cranes..."

"No, I can't sense any of my paper cranes."

Before Usopp could get happy, Roman doused him with a bucket of cold water.

"Nami probably got rid of them all."

"We're doomed, we're doomed..."

"However," Roman changed his tone, "I can try to locate Nami herself. She injured her shoulder a while back and used my healing paper strips."

Speaking of which, when Nami let him treat her that time, she had specifically covered her other arm...

"Excellent, Roman."

Luffy, his face serious, looked up, filled with the authority befitting a 'Captain'.

"Set sail on the merchant ship and chase Nami down!"

"Forget about her. What's the point of chasing a thief like that?" Zoro waved his hand. To him, the most unforgivable thing was 'betrayal'.

"The ship... the ship is what's important..."

As for Usopp, the Golden Merry was the most important thing.

"No,"

"I just want her to be our Navigator!"

Faced with Luffy's resolute words, Zoro had no choice but to cover his forehead.

"Alright... what a willful Captain."

"No problem, leave it to me."

Roman also nodded.

"I'll bring her back."

"Joseph, Johnny," Roman said, turning to the two third-rate pirate hunters.

"Help me get that merchant ship over there moving, we're about to—"

Swish

"Huh?!"

Suddenly, a 'light' flashed by!

This light wasn't conspicuous, yet it connected the sky and the sea! It had no color, yet it seemed to contain every color. Before Roman could even react, it sliced through Krieg's warship, which was docked nearby like a giant cruise liner, in an instant! Yet, it disappeared into the distance as if it had never appeared.

RUMBLE!

With a deafening roar, the giant warship, resembling a castle, was split in two! Everyone was captivated by the spectacular sight of the giant ship splitting apart, but only Roman frowned as he looked at the sea:

A perfectly straight 'line' appeared on the surface of the sea. The waves rose and fell, surging violently, but they moved separately on either side of this line, looking as if:

"Even the invisible water has been divided?"

This is too exaggerated!

In the face of such power...

"Ahhhhhhh~~"

"It's that guy—"

"Leader Krieg, that guy is catching up!"

"The one who destroyed fifty of our warships..."

It was him!

Roman looked at the giant ship slowly falling to either side of the ocean and saw a small boat... no, a man sitting on a raft.

His sharp yellow eyes, like an eagle's, a short beard, wearing a black top hat adorned with white fur, a wine-red patterned shirt, a black trench coat, white trousers, and black boots. A cross hung on his chest, and a giant cross on his back.

Roman knew that was his sword, the world's strongest black blade - Yoru!

Dracule Mihawk.

The World's Greatest Swordsman!

No need for flashy introductions, just a simple and brutal 'World's Number One'.

"Hoo~~~"

"I knew I'd run into you here, but..."

Without even exchanging a glance, just seeing the other person slowly approaching on a raft gave Roman the urge to turn and run!

This wasn't a matter of strength anymore; it was the pressure of a being on a completely different level.

"Ahhh, it's over, it's over!"

"What did we ever do to you?"

"Why are you chasing us like this...?"

Facing the wailing, bewildered Krieg pirate crew, the man on the raft calmly uttered four words.

"Passing the time."

No, no, no, it must be that the Krieg pirate crew saw your shameful past of using a black blade to row a boat, and that's why they're being silenced, right?

"What a sharp sword!"

As Roman was complaining internally, Zoro had already untied the bandana from his arm and tied it around his head. This meant he was going all out.

"This person—"

"Three swords? Is that the 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro..."

It had to be said, compared to the World's Greatest Swordsman 'Hawk Eyes', the name 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro was much more famous in the East Blue.

"Don't you have plenty of free time?"

Just as everyone was stunned by Hawk Eyes' unparalleled entrance, Zoro had already strode forward, pointing his Wado Ichimonji at the man on the raft.

"Fight me to the finish!"