"Now—"
"I declare this my ship."
In the Baratie, the recovered Krieg loudly gave his orders to everyone.
"Finish your last meal and get the hell off my 'ship'!"
Heartless, greedy, and tyrannical. A true pirate indeed!
"Oh, right."
"I still have a group of men on that battered ship nearby. There are about a hundred of them left who haven't starved to death."
The tall man, Krieg, pointed at the chefs present.
"Go prepare a hundred portions of food for me."
Naturally, the chefs here refused such absurd demands! And they were not helpless men either, but "combat chefs" who dealt with pirates every day, so:
The chefs immediately drew their weapons and rushed forward together!
The result:
"A bunch of rats dare defy me?"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
After only a few minutes... no, a few seconds, the battle was already over. The chefs sprawled all over the ground proved through their actions that there was a reason the man named Krieg dared call himself the overlord of the East Blue.
So after the owner of this "restaurant" brought out food for a hundred people, Krieg tossed out a satisfied remark:
"If you don't want to die, abandon this place and get lost."
"Sorry... Mr. Sanji... I'm sorry."
On one side was his leader, on the other his benefactor.
Amid the wrecked restaurant, only Gin, torn between loyalty and gratitude, painfully knelt on the floor.
"The leader clearly promised me he would never lay a hand on this place..."
"Enough. You don't need to apologize, Gin."
The blond man, Sanji, lit a cigarette and stood up.
"Feeding the hungry is a chef's duty."
"But if someone turns into an invader after eating," Sanji tapped his heel against the floor, "then I won't let him go either."
"Krieg, I'll take you down!"
"Brother Zoro, Luffy Big Brother, Brother Roman!"
"This is bad!!"
Meanwhile, Joseph and Johnny, who had just swum up from the sea onto the Baratie, anxiously found Roman's group, who had been watching the show.
"The ship... the treasure... it's all..."
"Don't panic." Roman flicked his hand and handed them two white "paper towels."
"Wipe your faces and tell us slowly."
"Phew, brothers—"
"Nami... she sailed the Golden Merry away!"
"And I saw her take the money from that other ship too..."
???
"Uh..."
Roman did not react for a moment.
"If it's gone, it's gone. What's so strange about that—"
"Hey, hey, hey, Roman, how are we supposed to sail without a ship?!!!"
Usopp, who cared the most about the Golden Merry, was the first to lose it! To him, the Golden Merry was not only the first ship of his life, but also carried his memories of home!
"Isn't there still one over there?" Roman raised his chin.
That was right. Nami had sailed away in the Golden Merry, while the unnamed merchant ship they had been using before was still safely docked on the other side.
"But Nami stole all the money from that ship too..."
"It's just money. If we want it, there'll naturally be ways to earn it."
What a joke! Since when had a proud transmigrator ever worried about money?
Besides, Roman believed that as long as he kept developing his Devil Fruit ability, he would have no problem competing with Gild Tesoro, the user of the Gold-Gold Fruit, for the title of world's richest man.
Unfortunately, not everyone was as "generous" as Roman—or perhaps as able to let things go?
"Damn it, I thought she'd become more honest lately... I let my guard down!"
That was Zoro, full of anger.
"It's over, it's over. Once Krieg brings his men over to seize this ship, if we don't run fast enough, we'll definitely be thrown into the sea..."
That was Usopp, full of despair.
"Roman."
Luffy, as the captain, did not offer an opinion. Instead, he pressed down his straw hat.
"Can you track the Golden Merry?"
"That's right, Roman's paper cranes..."
"No. I can't sense any of my paper cranes anymore."
Before Usopp could celebrate, Roman dumped a bucket of cold water over his head.
"Nami must have disposed of them all."
"It's over, it's over..."
"However," Roman changed the subject, "I can try locating Nami herself. Her shoulder was injured some time ago, and she used one of my healing paper bandages."
Come to think of it, when Nami had asked him to treat her that time, she had deliberately covered her other arm...
"Good, Roman."
Luffy raised his head with a serious expression, filled with the authority of a "captain."
"Start the merchant ship and bring Nami back!"
"Forget her. What's the point of bringing back a thief like that?" Zoro waved a hand. To him, betrayal was the most unforgivable thing.
"The ship... the ship is what matters..."
To Usopp, the Golden Merry was what mattered most.
"No."
"I only want her to be our navigator!"
Faced with Luffy's resolute words, Zoro had no choice but to cover his forehead.
"Fine... What a willful captain."
"No problem. Leave it to me."
Roman nodded as well.
"I'll bring her back."
"Joseph, Johnny," Roman said, turning toward the pair of third-rate Pirate Hunters.
"Help get that merchant ship over there moving. We'll immediately—"
Whoosh.
?!
Suddenly, a flash of "light" streaked past!
The light was not dazzling, yet it connected sky and sea! It had no color, yet seemed to contain every color. Before Roman could even react, it flashed through Krieg's warship beside them, docked there like a massive cruise liner, and vanished beyond the horizon as if it had never existed.
Rumble!!
Amid a thunderous roar, the gigantic warship, like a castle, was split cleanly in two! Everyone was drawn to the spectacular sight of the ship breaking apart, but Roman alone frowned as he looked toward the sea:
A straight "line" had appeared on the water. Waves rose and fell, the sea churned wildly, yet they surged separately on either side of that line, making it seem as though:
"Even the formless seawater was split apart?"
That was far too ridiculous!
Before such power...
"Ahhh~~"
"It's that guy—"
"Leader Krieg, that guy caught up to us!"
"The one who destroyed fifty of our warships..."
It was him!
Roman looked toward the massive warship slowly toppling into the sea on both sides. A man sat on a small boat... no, it would be more accurate to call it a raft.
Sharp yellow eyes like an eagle's, a short beard, a black top hat trimmed with white fur, a wine-red patterned shirt, a black coat, white trousers, and black ankle boots. A cross hung on his chest, while an enormous cross rested on his back.
Roman knew that was his sword, the world's strongest black blade—Yoru!
Dracule Mihawk.
The World's Greatest Swordsman!
There was no need for any fancy introduction. Just one simple, blunt title: "World's Greatest."
"Phew~~~"
"Though I knew I'd meet him here, but..."
He did not even need a glance. Just the sight of the other man sitting on the raft and slowly approaching made Roman want to turn around and flee!
This was no longer a matter of who was stronger or weaker. It was the pressure of beings existing on entirely different levels of life.
"Ahhh, it's over, it's over!"
"What did we ever do to offend you?"
"Why are you chasing us so relentlessly..."
Faced with the wailing and bewilderment of the Krieg Pirates, the man on the raft merely spat out four calm words.
"Killing time."
No, no, no. The Krieg Pirates must have witnessed Your Excellency's embarrassing history of using a black blade to row a boat, so they were being silenced, right?
While Roman mocked him internally, Zoro had already untied the bandana around his arm and tied it around his head.—That meant he was going all out.
"This man—"
"Three swords? It's Zoro the 'Pirate Hunter'..."
Truth be told, compared to Hawk Eyes, the World's Greatest, "Pirate Hunter" Zoro was much more famous in the East Blue.
"Aren't you very free?"
While everyone else was stunned by Hawk Eyes' overwhelmingly domineering entrance, Zoro had already strode forward. The Wado Ichimonji in his hand pointed at the man on the raft.
"Fight me!"
Before you continue